5 albums you need to hear this week

In the age of streaming, it’s never been easier to listen to new music — but with over 60,000 new songs added to Spotify every day, it’s also never been harder to know what to put on. Every week, the team at Rolling Stone UK will run down some of the best new releases that have been added to streaming services.

This week, we’ve highlighted records by Arlo Parks, Bon Iver, Dermot Kennedy, Thundercat and Angine de Poitrine.

Arlo Parks – Ambiguous Desire

On her third album, Arlo Parks ventures on a journey of self-acceptance, wrestling with feelings of guilt, yearning and longing. She says of the album: “We are all alive because there is something or someone we want.” In her case, that something is the past and that some-one is the partner in the relationship which fell apart. Atop a backdrop of electronic production inspired by the dance floors of Brooklyn, Los Angeles and London, Parks moves on from the bedroom indie, jazz-adjacent stylings of her debut album Collapsed in Sunbeams to instead embrace the heat, sweat and hedonism of the club.

Read our full review of Ambiguous Desire here.

Listen on: Spotify | ‎Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music

Bon Iver – VOLUMES: ONE (SELECTIONS FROM MUSIC CONCERTS 2019-2023 BON IVER 6 PIECE BAND)

For anyone first drawn in by the soft and sweet heartbreak of Bon Iver’s debut album For Emma, Forever Ago, seeing the band live in recent years might have been an almighty shock. With Justin Vernon pulling the strings, the band’s six-piece live setup is a muscly, robust and experimental sextet that turns songs from across the Bon Iver catalogue into complicated but powerful new versions. They have now been immortalised in a long-overdue collection of live albums, the first of which arrives today. Vernon says: “This is what we became. This is really us at our best. This is it.”

Listen on: Spotify | ‎Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music

Dermot Kennedy – The Weight of the Woods

Ahead of a huge summer which sees him play a sold-out stadium show in Ireland and arenas in the UK, Dermot Kennedy’s third record includes the soul-baring ‘Honest’ and the raw emotion of lead single ‘Funeral’. It’s the kind of album that will bring fans to tears and lift their souls at those big gigs this summer.

Listen on: Spotify | ‎Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music

Thundercat – Distracted

When discussing how to listen to his new album Distracted, Thundercat simply said: “Just enjoy it and have fun and just know that the struggle is real and changes shape, but just to keep pushing forward.” The album – the multi-disciplinary artist’s first in six years, is hyper-aware of the always-on world into which it’s being born. With the help of A$AP Rocky, WILLOW, Tame Impala, Channel Tres, Lil Yachty and a posthumous collaboration with Mac Miller, he leans into the distraction age while making something rich and bountiful enough to reach beyond it and leave a lasting impact.

Listen on: Spotify | ‎Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music

Angine de Poitrine – Vol.II

Through word of mouth, this anonymous Canadian duo have become one of the most talked about bands on the planet. We know that they are called Khn and Klek, they favour distinctive polka-dot outfits and they claim to be not of this world. The gimmick could easily wear off, but there’s no risk of that happening when the music is good as this. As they show on volume two, the pair are vastly accomplished musicians and consistently deliver something which flits between mind-bending techno, funk and all out rock. They are an irresistible oddity.

Listen on: Spotify | ‎Apple Music | TIDAL