6 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 Louis Tomlinson, Mika, PVA, Dead Dads Club, Searows and Tolou.

Louis Tomlinson – How Did I Get Here?

On his third solo album – the sunny, electrifying How Did I Get Here? – Louis Tomlinson seems to have finally found his voice away from One Direction. Lead single ‘Lemonade’ bursts with summery energy and a vibrancy that defines the record. Tomlinson has described it as his “best chance” at a radio hit in the post-1D era, which has historically “been a fucking fight for me” in his solo career. Rather than come out swinging though, he goes about proving the doubters wrong by kicking his feet up and making his most luxurious and carefree music yet.

Read the full Rolling Stone UK review of How Did I Get Here? here.

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

Mika – Hyperlove

On his first English language album since 2019, Mika has created a record that goes big and provides a welcome reminder of his gift for making “alternative experimental pop” (his words) with utterly transcendent melodies (ours). The album’s thrilling lead single, for instance, ‘Modern Times’, references the ancient Egyptian sun god Ra and the homoerotic work of Italian writer-director Pier Paolo Pasolini.” The result is something consistently brilliant.

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

PVA – No More Like This

While debut album Blush saw PVA channel techno on a pulsating and unrelenting first statement, the London trio’s follow-up – No More Like This – is a more varied and rounded album, encompassing pop, R&B and beyond. Lead single ‘Boyface’ shows this shift best. A song about “the beauty and fragility of fleeting connections on the dancefloor,” it reaches these epiphanies through music that better soundtracks the walk home rather than peak hours in the club.

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

Dead Dads Club – Dead Dads Club

Inspired by the death of his father to addiction when he was 14 years old, the new project from Chilli Jesson (Palma Violets, Crewel Intentions and Fontaines D.C.’s live band) is his most personal and striking to date. Reflecting on how music has helped him both process and mask his grief, it’s a record that feels like his most honest and revealing work yet. Produced by Fontaines guitarist Carlos O’Connell, the sharp, scything noise of these rock songs adds weight and force to its subject matter.

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

Searows – Death in the Business of Whaling

There’s a fog that sits atop Death in the Business of Whaling, the debut album from Searows, that’s reminiscent of the notorious gloom of his native Pacific Northwest. The indie-folk songs of Alec Duckart are submerged in reverb and atmospheric, ambient noise that gives them spine-tingling resonance. “I started letting myself write about whatever I was interested in without worrying about whether it conveyed something personal in an obvious way,” he says of the album’s lyrical content, with the songs atmospheric and striking enough to project whatever feelings you wish onto them.

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

Tolou – Energy

On her debut album, Norwegian star Tolou delivers her unique sound which combines soft Scandi sensibilities with fiery Afrobeats capable of starting one hell of a party.

Speaking about the record, Tolou says: “My purpose is to uplift people, empower them to find their true confidence, trust their own energy, and trust God. My music is about energy, empowerment, and identity. Energy is the spark that starts everything.”

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