A half dozen weekly fresh picks of tasty new music…

The Faux Faux – Cold Hearted Woman

The Faux Faux is the new solo project of Faith Vern from Manchester trio PINS and this first exposure certainly teases a tantalising sound with strong dramatic echoes of early Portishead. Of the inspirations for this Faith has said  “I’ve always been intrigued by Cindy Sherman, Sylvia Plath, Gregory Crewdson, Virginia Woolf, Nan Goldin to name a few, these writers, poets, photographers, artists, who have shown us the beauty and the desperation in the mundane”.

Feist – Hiding Out In The Open

The music for Leslie Feist’s new album ‘Multitudes’ had been developed and evolved during live shows from late 2021 and through last year. That these songs gestated in such public view may be a surprise when you hear how personal they often are, more so when you realise they were written with both the birth of her daughter and the death of her father in Leslie’s recent past. The end result is a wonderfully intimate and yet eloquently layered affair as heard on ‘Hiding Out In The Open’, which is accompanied by a video that also illustrates the complexity and thought that Feist subtly brings to her work.

Margo Price feat. Sharon Van Etten – Radio

Another top tune from the album ‘Strays’ released on the Lorna Vista label. The great thing about this stylishly retro clip, in which Sharon Van Etten features on a vintage TV set, is how Margo clearly doesn’t take herself so seriously in these films, she has a laugh with the format. Why not? Her music reaches way beyond the Country pigeonhole and does more than enough talking in itself.

Lael Neale – I Am The River

In reference to the Velvet Underground influence of his track ‘Queen Bitch’, David Bowie wrote about “some white light returned with thanks” on the rear sleeve of the ‘Hunky Dory’ LP. In letting that light break out through the cracks he unleashed a source that filtered into brilliant music for the next fifty years and beyond. It can be heard here too, as there is an irresistible Velvets feel in both look and sound to this brand new Lael Neale track, taken from her forthcoming album ‘Star Eaters Delight’, out April 21, 2023 on Sub Pop Records

Shana Cleveland – Walking Through Morning Dew

Another lush track from the ‘Manzanita’ album which is out now on Hardly Art. Shana is best known as the lead guitarist and vocalist for surf rock band La Luz, she was previously a member of The Curious Mystery but here in 2023, the haunting kaleidoscope of sounds and floating melodies on this solo release make it one that is already bursting with album of the year potential

Lankum – Go Dig My Grave

Lankum seem to have struck a satisfying balance with traditional tunes such as this, whereby they can utilise ancient instruments and songs but invest them with so much real world grit and trauma that they sound nothing at all like museum pieces. As the opening track on their new Rough Trade album ‘False Lankum’ this one packs quite the devastating punch. It is a song that dates back to the 17th century and will be familiar to anyone who has taken a passing interest in folk music as, particularly with the 1960’s generation, it was a mainstay in the repertoire but here, Lankum absolutely syringe every last drop of hurt and pain out of the story before burying you in the most mournful, jarring, unsettling, extended conclusions I have heard in a long time. This is powerful beyond words…