Tag: Reviews

John Darnielle Dreams Up Another Excellent Album

John Darnielle has explored “soft rock” and all of its modalities on recent albums. While his lyrical obsessions (survival, breaking free, and more) have persisted since he began recording under the Mountain Goats moniker more than 30 years ago, his music has changed from the lo-fi-voice-and-guitar-to-tape beginnings to something more sonically rich. But with new […]

November 17, 2025
0

Anna von Hausswolff Pushes Herself Towards Popular Songwriting on ‘Iconoclasts’

It seemed inevitable that Anna von Hausswolff would make an album inspired by This Mortal Coil, the 4AD collective that covered songs by Gene Clark, Alex Chilton, and more, injecting them with its gothic touch. Iconoclasts, the sixth album by the Swedish musician out October 31, may feel more like conventional music to those accustomed […]

November 3, 2025
0

Brandi Carlile Returns to Herself 

Enviable collaborations with the likes of Elton John and Joni Mitchell have inspired and elevated Brandi Carlile’s musical profile in the last several years. And at this point, the multi-Grammy award winner could easily coast along via the connections she’s made, putting out more duets and tributes, or songwriting for superstars and legends, like her […]

October 30, 2025
0

Cowboy Junkies Ride Unplugged… Again

Time has not diluted the Cowboy Junkies’ dreamy mix of tempestuous torch songs and soup-for-the-soul soundscapes, but it has given it a naturally more seasoned feel and bittersweet bite that fans (and those who only knew their music in the ’80s and ’90s) should appreciate.  The Canadian band’s latest reintroduces and reimagines one of their […]

October 28, 2025
0

‘Cornucopia Live’ Captures Björk At the Height of Her Live Power

The best concert albums bring home the excitement of the live experience. Though the songs might not sound as polished as the studio versions, live records present us with different iterations of music that have continued to gestate long after the producer has applied the finishing touches. On triple-live album Cornucopia Live, released October 24, […]

October 27, 2025
0

Rafael Toral Is Murdering the Classics

Rafael Toral’s most recent album, 2024’s Spectral Evolution, consisted of a single 42-minute track, divided into loose, flowing movements, but based on the chord changes of the Gershwin chestnut “I Got Rhythm.” On his follow-up, Traveling Light (October 24), the Portuguese guitarist works smaller, refashioning six jazz standards using his “space instruments”— electronic contraptions of […]

October 24, 2025
0