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 Jacob Collier, Jerskin Fendrix, Jay Som, NoSo and Blawan.

Jacob Collier – The Light for Days

After wrapping up his Djesse album series, the latest from Jacob Collier sees him offer a record that was recorded almost entirely on a five-string guitar. The result, as shown on songs like the stunning ‘I Know (A Little)’ is an album where tender songs show off a beautifully restrained side to the musical polymath.

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

Jerskin Fendrix – Once Upon a Time… in Shropshire

Jerskin Fendrix’s new album tells the unfiltered and stunningly frank story of his childhood, from blissful memories of countryside adolescence to being tainted and re-coloured by grief. It’s all transmitted through beautifully crafted music from the Oscar-nominated Poor Things composer. He told Rolling Stone UK: “I wanted it to feel pastoral, and to have this sense of the landscape, this wideness of the space, and the overwhelming feeling you get from these really beautiful natural spaces.”

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

Jay Som – Belong

After becoming the most in-demand hired hand in indie rock (playing in the Boygenius live band and making a name as a producer), Jay Som is back with her first new album under the name in six years. As she told Rolling Stone recently, Belong is the sound of her shedding the exhausting pursuit of originality and sounding like herself, even if it means sounding like others too. “I want to sound like other people,” she says. “Some people get really confused when I say that because they’re like, “Why would you want to sound like someone else?’ And I’m like, ‘That’s why I make music’….”

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

NoSo – When Are You Leaving?

The second album from LA-based musician Baek Hwong sees them up the musical ante for something that’s far more bolder and bigger than their 2022 debut. Here, they aim for a wider palette of eclectic disco moments, ballads capable of breaking your heart and rockier sounds, with the latter shown on the brilliant ‘Don’t Hurt Me I’m Trying’. It’s a huge evolution of their artistry.

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

Blawan – SickElixir

Barnsley-born producer Jamie Roberts, aka Blawan, has become a pioneering figure in UK techno over the last 15 years. New album SickElixir, out on XL Recordings, sees him continue to veer away from the genre and into a more wide-ranging sound that pulls from each and every corner of dance music. Within this sound is a theme of his recovery from drug addiction and reflecting on its impact on his life.

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