8 albums you need to hear this week
With music by Fred again.., Fauness, and Let’s Eat Grandma
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 Fred again.., Fauness, and Let’s Eat Grandma.
beaux, how can i sleep? i’m wide awake EP
On his fourth EP, Dirty Hit signee beaux provides a perfect encapsulation of what he does best — passionate bedroom pop paired with glitchy alternative sounds. “I just want to make sure my music is self-sustaining over the long term,” he has said of the new EP. “I don’t care about being really rich, I just want to be able to tour and make music forever.”
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music
Benjamin Clementine, And I Have Been
Benjamin Clementine has said that this third album, which outwardly appears to be exactly that, is not one at all. “Indeed this is not an album or my third album because that’s already recorded and will be released possibly early next year,” he put it this year. Well, whatever it is, this collection of songs is among Clementine’s finest to date. The soaring ‘Delighted’ is a true highlight and allows his vocals — often both delicate and dark at the same time — to shine. He has said that his next release will be his next in music, but that will be a crying shame if this special set of songs is anything to go by.
Listen on: Spotify | Amazon Music
Dylan, The Greatest Thing I’ll Never Learn
Dylan’s debut mixtape sees her combining huge pop hooks with edgier alternative sounds to provide a brief showcase of why she’s being tipped as one of 2023’s biggest voices. ‘Nothing Lasts Forever’ boasts a massive chorus, but offers a terse lesson on life’s futilities, while ‘Blue’ shows that a more tender, ballad-led side to her sound can exist too. She may have toured as a support to Ed Sheeran, but it’s hard to shake the feeling she’s on that very same path to stardom herself.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music
Fauness, The Golden Ass
Fauness’s debut album The Golden Ass is full of smart and subtly subversive pop songs. Fauness — the alias of London-based art historian and singer-songwriter Cora Gilroy-Ware — draws from folk, country, and soft rock music and is infused with a certain amount of fantasy and melancholy, with lush production from Jam City.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | Bandcamp | TIDAL | Amazon Music
Fred again.., Actual Life 3 (January 1 – September 9 2022)
The third and final part of Fred again..’s Actual Life trilogy comes off the back of the recent success of ‘Danielle (smile on my face)’, built around a unique utilisation of an acappella from 070 Shake’s ‘Nice to Have’. That track is included on Actual Life 3, which sees the in-demand producer and live performer hone his distinctive style of emotionally charged, diary-like electronic music, fragmented with samples and homemade field recordings.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music
Let’s Eat Grandma, The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself (Original Soundtrack)
For their first time composing for TV, Norwich duo Let’s Eat Grandma craft a 25-track score for The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself, a new Netflix series written by Giri/Haji’s Joe Barton based on the Half Bad books by Sally Green. In a press release, the band’s Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth described writing the score as “a very informative process and a wonderful new experience which has shaped and broadened the way we write and think about music”.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music
PYTKO, The Way We Blush
Polish-born, London-based artist PYTKO released her debut album via DJ and producer Erol Alkan’s Phantasy Sound label. The Way We Blush features nine emotional, experimental, and atmospheric dream-pop songs, thematically exploring subjects like PYTKO’s own feelings of outsiderdom in the United Kingdom, evoking artists and sound practitioners like This Mortal Coil.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | Bandcamp | TIDAL | Amazon Music
Scout Gillett, No Roof No Floor
On her debut album, Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Scout Gillett offers a blend of indie-folk that proves almost as haunting as its cover art, which sees her dressed as a Miss Havisham-esque bride. Large swathes of the record play off sinister synths against strong guitars, while the striking ‘Slow Dancin’ leans into classic Americana sounds.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | Bandcamp | TIDAL | Amazon Music