Image by: Alex Lake 

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:

Lisa Caruso – In Feelings (FEATURE ALBUM)
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The Budos Band – Long In The Tooth
Emmy the Great – April / 月音
Future Islands – As Long As You Are
The Green Child – Shimmering Basset
Kylie Auldist – This Is What Happiness Looks Like
Las Mar – Don’t Read Everything You Believe
Leah Flanagan – Colour By Number

SINGLES:

Carla Geneve – The Right Reasons
Kelley Stoltz – The Quiet Ones
Luluc – Emerald City
Mdou Moctar – Chismiten
Nothing – Bernie Sanders
Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings – Little by Little

In 2017, the London-based indie pop musician Emma-Lee Moss (aka Emmy the Great) travelled back to her birthplace of Hong Kong to visit her parents and write her fourth album, April / 月音. Moss takes inspiration from the man-made and natural environment of the city – from the skyscrapers set at the base of Victoria Peak; from the neon signs along Nathan Road – for a McCartney-esque pop album that highlights the singer-songwriter’s impressive craft. In the time between writing and its release, Hong Kong’s destiny has shifted and become uncertain; but April remains a beautiful tribute to the island city and to Moss’ divided life between British and Chinese culture.

The Darwin singer-songwriter Leah Flanagan returns with her sophomore album Colour By Number: a lush pop record that examines the singer’s experience as a biracial Indigenous woman in Australia. Flanagan plays in the same space of soft rock aficionados like Sade and Norah Jones, but she colours the palette with inspired touches: the opener ‘Colour By Numbers’ recalls the best of early D’Angelo; while the spirit of 1990s g-funk possesses the synth line on the ‘Linen Girls’ chorus. This melange of influences, as well as Flanagan’s powerful voice, make for a rich and compelling album from a musician at the top of her game.