Flock Of Dimes – Long After Midnight

We begin this week with a delightfully simple video idea that is startlingly effective alongside the lyrical premise of the song. In ‘Long After Midnight’ singer Jenn Wasner is caressing a gentle acoustic ballad in which the narrator is willingly giving everything she owns in an unshakeable loyal commitment to an ailing loved one. Viewed here, we see her offering these caring gestures whilst behind her the room is stripped bare, piece by piece, of belongings and furnishings. Jenn’s Flock Of Dimes project, which she has maintained alongside her indie duo Wye Oak, has long been a font for personal and musically bold exploration and so the new album from which this comes, ‘The Life You Save’ out now on Sub Pop Records, brings a sonically warm and personable new chapter to the project and is well worth a deep listen.

David Byrne – Everybody Laughs

David Byrne’s post Talking Heads solo career has seen many sudden gear shifts and changes in direction. His art-rock leanings have ensured he would remain an artist uncomfortable with sitting still or falling into a repetitive routine. Despite this though, he cannot shake that knack of his for creating a slice of celebratory, genre-defying and downright catchy pop such as this. It is to be found on the essential new album, his first in seven years, ‘Who Is The Sky?’ Every now and then in the career of an art rocker (I’m thinking of albums like Peter Gabriel’s ‘So’ or David Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance’) they put out an album with the intention of catching some mainstream attention, these are often surprisingly pleasurable listens. David Byrne may just have pulled that punch here, for the album is overflowing with melodious ideas and electrifying musings. That is what we hear on this one, an insistently bouncy number that runs through a shopping list framework of shared human experiences.

Walter Trout – Sign Of The Times

In a career that spans five decades Walter Trout has deservedly earned a reputation as one of the electric juggernauts of blues music. With a deep solo catalogue but also an impressive collaborative CV that has seen him shine during stints with Canned Heat and John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers (stepping into shoes previously filled by legends Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor), Trout deserves his place in the pantheon of modern day blues elder statesmen. That firecracker style of his is still blazing as it takes aim at the disconnect in a modern day society with their heads buried in screens, apparently oblivious to the wider world around. This is also the title track from Walter’s newly released album which is one of the strongest collection of new songs you will find in 2025. It features lyric writing contributions from his wife Marie all of which help shape an emotional core in tracks responding to the external chaos and internal battles we all feel living in these modern times.

Wednesday – Bitter Everyday

It is not only the older generation who are feeling disillusionment these days. Now already up to their sixth album, the newly released ‘Bleeds’, Wednesday sound typically punch drunk and cheesed off on this crunching highlight from the record. Frontwoman Karly Hartzman does seem to have definitively found her writing voice on the last two Wednesday albums and it is with good reason their “Wednesday creek rock” sound is beginning to win some wider acclaim and recognition. Still, the band are not without inner turmoil with some line-up changes; they were possibly a little wrong footed by the rising solo career of MJ Lenderman over the past couple of years. He remains a studio member but will no longer be touring with the band. Still, despite these bumps in the road, they sound more determined and likely than ever to break on through.

The Onlies – You Climb The Mountain

There is swingin’ old-time string band action aplenty from the US right now too, here in the hands of some lively young pickers, pluckers and slashers named Vivian Leva, Leo Shannon, Riley Calcagno, and Sami Braman. ‘You Climb The Mountain’ is the bands fourth album, although the first two were recorded before they could drive. They are all 27 years old now but got their start twenty years ago, with Vivian drafted in on guitar ten years later, as a kid band; this might be a clue as to why their playing is so tight and infused with passion and feel, what with two decades of practice and refinement behind them. The bands Riley says that “there’s a careful balance between crazy intensity and melancholic peace, I like that both of those exist on the album.” This pulsating, string-laden steam train of a modern folk and bluegrass album is out now.

Jalen Ngonda – All About Me

Finally this week are some sumptuous new laid-back vintage reggae vibes from soul singing supremo Jalen Ngonda, released on Daptone Records. He is joined by veteran keyboardist and producer Victor Axelrod and the pair wrote the lyrics then recorded the vocals all in one night. It already has the aura of a reggae classic to it, the song is a direct pitch for entry into the catalogue for bragging and self-aggrandisement songs. With lyrics like “I may cloud up your day, yet I light up your night and by the morning I make you feel alright” there is no modest humility being portrayed by Jalen here, it is a peacocking strut in every sense and he nails it with his vocal. The genius in the performance is appearing in the final verse, for all his posturing and bravado, there is a little crack in Ngonda’s voice that tells you, he really wants this. This may well be a new route away from the Motown sophistication Jalen has previously shown, but it is no less wonderful for it, so dig in.