Welcome to the new music review where we connect you with some of the best new music spinning on Breakfast, The Daily and Drive programs.

ALBUMS:

Tim Shiel – Distractions One (FEATURE ALBUM)

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The Aerial Maps – Intimate Hinterland
Ausecuma Beats – Musso
Cong Josie – Cong!
Helado Negro – Far In
Joan as Policewoman – The Solution Is Restless
Charm of Finches – Wonderful Oblivion
The War on Drugs – I Don’t Live Here Anymore

SINGLES:

Blu. Collective – Rising Above
e4444e – ‘Wear No Flag
Georgia Fields – Find Your Way Back
Julia Why? – My Grrrl
Velvet Bloom – Run

Following on from their captivating singles, “Heavy” and “Canyon”, Melbourne sisters Charm of Finches return with their 3rd Album. This is a deeply personal and ethereal journey through folk melodies and striking vocal harmonies. Their incredible and almost meditative pacing tells of heartache and letting go across almost 40 minutes of entrancing of lyrical storytelling. Wonderful Oblivion is out now via Antifragile Music.

Legendary Nigerian Drummer Tony Allen sadly passed away in 2020, but on Joan as Policewoman’s “The Solution is Restless” we are left here with one of the last pieces of his musical legacy. Recorded in 2018 in Paris, this is the 8th Studio album for New York trio fronted by Joan Wasser, and joined in this instance by Dave Okumu. A collaboration that came about as a happy accident, the mutual respect between the artists shines through. It’s a hazy and smoky affair, equal measures Funk, Jazz and Neo-Soul. Fusing the uplifting and the tender in the instrumentation and laid over Allen’s masterful drumming. It’s out now via PIAS Recordings.

Riding into town behind a herd of synthesisers and drum machines, the debut album from Cong Josie, aka Nic Oogjes of NO ZU, delivers this brash and strutting fusion of styles. Throwing together elements of EBM, Rockabilly and Rave, Cong! is a wild ride from start to finish. The opening single “Cong the singer” give you a taste for what “Cowboy Futurism” entails, there is much more to enjoy throughout the album. It hits some wonderful and frenetic heights, as much a concept album as dancefloor hedonism. Highly recommended and out now via IT.

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