Someone – “Shapeshifter” (Tiny Tiger Records)
The daring of the week comes from Tessa Rose Jackson, nicknamed Someone. Which may surprise at first, because it makes very silky-smooth folk-pop, with a sure taste and with so much psychedelic microdosing in the form of reverb waves and half-awake vocals that it paints a slightly moronic smile on your face. So what did she do? Something inexpressible. But we take a short breath and say it, as difficult as it is: She covered “Blowing in the Wind”. And quite traditionally with fingerpicking. Should there be a sadistic tendency behind this, we have a tip for the upcoming album: “Morning Has Broken”. But that little bit of perverse torture doesn’t make “Shapeshifter” (Tiny Tiger Records / Warner / ADA) any less lovely and skillful. So just a quick note to promotional writers: No debuting musician – really nobody, including someone – deserves to be compared with half a dozen famous colleagues before she has at least had the chance to show her own style. The Dutch-British singer-songwriter is definitely working on this, as the last and title track “Shapeshifter” shows, which provides the introverted sound with a nervous bass drive, expands into the orchestral and lets it fade away in an expressive coda. Juliane Liebert
Foy Vance – “Signs of Life” (Warner Music)
Fine concept: a separation song, template-like, almost phrased – at first glance. “You no longer make me happy / You no longer make me smile / You’ve taken everything, that’s good within me”. You don’t make me happy anymore No smile. All the best sucked out. That stuff. Fine, red-tinged, Northern Irish grief in the creaky, radiant folk voice. Including tranquil, sad harmonies. And then the phrase: “Gimme the hair of the dog that bit me”. Counter-half, one would say in Bavaria. Repair oath in Austria. In any case: land gently. Drinking to alleviate the misery after drinking. At some point the singer and songwriter Foy Vance took a few painkillers after all. Aspirin probably first. And then at some point stuff that is at least a little useful in an honest Irish hangover. At some point it was no longer possible without codeine. So cold withdrawal. Puking through for a couple of days. And then, there was Corona, what else should you do, another album. That has now appeared. It is called “Signs of Life”. A withdrawal album somehow, yes. Separation from drugs. And probably also a piece of pandemic music, introverted in the beginning, thrown back on himself (Vance played almost all of the instruments himself), the mood strongly dimmed. But also: departure, hope, wonderful piano voicings, heavily patched drums, precisely placed guitars, large, soul-cleansing choirs, somewhere between gospel, Gregorian chant and sea shanty. Check out tips: the theme song, or “It Ain’t Over”. The latter is, hopefully, really about a love affair. Jakob Biazza
Homeshake – “Under The Weather” (Sinderlyn / Cargo)
Otherwise there is new music from Peter Sager. Peter Sager, known as Homeshake, was already at home a lot before the pandemic. Hence his alias (don’t be surprised at the acumen, pop column authors are trained to recognize even the finest allusions). “Under The Weather” (Sinderlyn / Cargo) – an English expression for “not being quite fit” – doesn’t make music for a lockdown, but rather Peter Sager’s very own depression. It sounds like an exhausted Devonté Hynes (aka Blood Orange), like synthetic glittery soul with soft knees. This is surprisingly pretty nice. Which also applies to his video for the song “Vacuum”, in which an egg-headed figure with kneaded, red lips trudges gloomily through a neon-colored future city in the “Blade Runner” style. Juliane Liebert
Low – “Hey What” (Sub Pop)
“Hey What” sounds like “Blade Runner” in the broadest sense Low. Low are one of the best bands on the planet anyway, as you could already see on their cover of “Last Night I Dreamed That Somebody Loved Me”. A Smiths-Covering the song in such a way that you don’t want to hear the original is a feat in itself. Although: In the meantime you are very happy to be able to hear Morrissey’s songs without Morrissey. Their new album begins with the track “White Horses”, and the inclined listener immediately notices the white horses chasing through the noise of the guitar. A wild hunt, not like the band, but like the wild hunt from the folk tale, which was considered a harbinger of war, plague and general calamity and which draws the souls of those who sleep with it. “Hey What” definitely does that with its soundscapes, hypnotic voices and overlapping, finely adjusted noise. Juliane Liebert
Saint Etienne – “I’ve Been Trying To Tell You” (Pias)
If that’s too gloomy, you can indulge in Saint Etienne instead. Since their “Only Love Can Break Your Heart” cover, the band should be known to anyone who has ever been lovesick. “I’ve Been Trying To Tell You” is their seventh studio album and a film project at the same time. In him they conjure up the nineties. And they take their time with it, gradually making the world, in which one still had tube televisions instead of flat screen televisions, glow in warm tones. The heart has been broken and kneaded together so often that it has become a kind of indestructible rubber object that you can see bouncing through the pop room like a bouncy ball in slow motion. As long as you play this music, the wild hunt definitely can’t take you out of your dreams. Juliane Liebert