8 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 Dave, Lily Allen, Sigrid, Brandi Carlile, Just Mustard, Circa Waves, Nell Mescal and Henry Moodie.

Dave – The Boy Who Played the Harp

For his third studio album, Dave has brought together a collaborative cast of some of the UK’s most distinctive voices both old and new. Tems and Kano show why they’re still on top of their game, while James Blake continues to be a key collaborator for the rapper. On the song ‘No Weapons’, Dave also recruits new UK rap sensation Jim Legxacy. It’s an album that cements Dave as one of the UK’s best storytellers.

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

Lily Allen – West End Girl

On her first album in seven years, Lily Allen has created the most personal and perhaps incendiary record of her entire career. The context of it all is her divorce from Stranger Things star David Harbour earlier this year, and it makes for a record that packs one hell of a punch. Though Allen has said that it’s a mixture of fact and fiction within, there’s startling images like on ‘Ruminating’ (‘I can’t shake the image of her naked/ On top of you and I’m dissociated). It’s revelatory and frank stuff, but by the time it concludes with ‘Let You W-in’, Allen remarks that she can “I can walk out with my dignity if I lay my truth out on the table.” In laying out her truths, she’s mined the harshest of personal pain to deliver her best record in years.

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

Sigrid – There’s Always More That I Could Say

On her third album, Sigrid aimed to distance herself from the chasing of quick wins and her reputation as one of Scandi pop’s prominent stars of the last near-decade. Decamping to the countryside of her native Norway, she made a record that swerves away from the zeitgeist of the current pop moment but still manages to pack a real punch, most notably on the thrusting disco of lead single ‘Fort Knox’.

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

Brandi Carlile – Returning to Myself

Returning to Myself finds Brandi Carlile singer-songwriter at her most philosophically engaged, wrestling with the finite nature of existence while celebrating the messy beauty of interdependence. The title track establishes the album’s central paradox immediately. Despite its name suggesting solitary introspection, Carlile hints at co-dependency and togetherness. With a UK arena tour looming next year, she’s on the way to superstardom on these shores.

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

Just Mustard – WE WERE JUST HERE

Dundalk’s Just Mustard have become known as purveyors of dark and gloomy post-rock that flirts with the electronic music world. It’s been so successful that it’s made them a new favourite of The Cure’s Robert Smith, but on new album WE WERE JUST HERE, they turn towards the light. The band’s immersive atmospherics and innovative use of guitars remains here, but there’s a new lightness and positivity here, as vocalist Katie Ball sings, “I just wanna make it feel good” on the towering title track.

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

Henry Moodie – mood swings

On mood swings, Henry Moodie explores the journey so far and marks himself out as a singularly powerful songwriter, casting a lens on everything from love and heartbreak, to the reality of becoming an adult.It’s raw, powerful, and relatable in a way that you sense a legion of gen-z fans will able to latch onto.

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

Circa Waves – Death & Love Pt 2

The story of frontman Kieran Shudall’s brush with mortality after undergoing heart surgery looms large on the second half of this double album from Circa Waves. “I’d written so much stuff after all the heart incident stuff – there was a release of creativity,” Shudall. There were more songs than I’d ever written before, in one furious writing period.”

The result, as shown on songs like the booming ‘Cherry Bomb’ is a record that sounds, despite Shudall’s scary experience, full of life and unrepentant energy.

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

Nell Mescal –  The Closest We’ll Get 

On her latest EP The Closest We’ll Get where Mescal comes into her own like never before. It’s her first release since signing to Atlantic Records and a sprinkling of star power comes courtesy of Grammy-nominated producer Philip Weinrobe and – a personal hero of Mescal’s – Big Thief singer Adrienne Lenker. It’s heartbreaking at times, but equally euphoric. “It was an amazing experience and one that was really changed the way we work,” Mescal told RS UK.

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