Leading the pack of this week’s new releases is an comeback nearly a quarter-century in the making. After shifting their focus to separate projects, Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt resurrect Everything But the Girl for Fuse, their first album since 1999. Paul Janeway expands St. Paul & the Broken Bones‘ R&B sound to the cosmos on their fifth album, Angels in Science Fiction. British garage-soul rockers The Heavy mesh gospel harmonies with their signature thunder on AMEN. On their sixth album, In Between Thoughts… A New World, inventive guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela fold synths and strings into their distinctive, percussive technique.
Mott the Hoople leader Ian Hunter is joined by famous friends Ringo Starr, Jeff Beck, and more on the wry and reflective Defiance Part 1. Los Angeles-based minimalist Lael Neale percolates and meditates on Star Eaters Delight, her second full-length. Splitting time between New Orleans and Santa Fe, Esther Rose brings the heartland to life on Safe to Run. Inspired by the City Pop of Haruomi Hosono and the Space Age sounds of Stereolab, Pearl & the Oysters‘ Coast 2 Coast is a sleek and stylish collection of bubbling pop.
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