Published on
October 25, 2024
Category
Features
Essential weekend listening.
This week’s rundown is by VF’s Kelly Doherty and contributors Annabelle Van Dort, Emily Hill and James Hammond.
Laura Marling
Patterns in Repeat
(Chrysalis / Partisan)
Warm and domestic, Laura Marling’s Patterns in Repeat moves further in the direction of 2020’s intimate outing Song For Our Daughter. Recorded after the birth of her daughter, Patterns in Repeat contains some of Marling’s best work to date. Examining motherhood and love through refreshingly direct lyricism, Patterns in Repeat feels lived-in and real, exploring the well-trodden path of motherhood through generations gone and those yet to come. – KD
Catherine Christer Hennix
Further Selections from the Electric Harpsichord
(Blank Forms)
The 2010 release of Catherine Christer Hennix’s 1976 work The Electric Harpsichord sparked a much-welcomed retrospective of the Swedish polymath’s extraordinary works for just intonation and alternate tunings. With Further Selections from the Electric Harpsichord, Hennix’s magnum opus is returned to once again with a recently unearthed and comprehensive live recording. Benefitted by a longer duration than the previously released version, this transcendent ferment of justly tuned keyboards and tape feedback is essential listening for fans of minimalism and adventurous sounds. – JH
Soccer Mommy
Evergreen
(Loma Vista)
On her fourth album, indie mainstay Soccer Mommy dials it back for a deeply intimate record. Recorded following a personal loss, Evergreen is a raw account of grief and its effects. Authentically balancing pop melodies with emotional ’90s-flecked indie, Evergreen plays to Soccer Mommy’s strengths while adding a new level of openness. – KD
Félicia Atkinson
Space as an Instrument
(Shelter Press)
With Space as an Instrument, Félicia Atkinson follows the generous prompt of her title through a subtle patchwork of sound drawn from a wide net of inspiration. Looking to poetry, gardening and the timeframes of icebergs within these pieces, piano melodies take a guiding role in an open-eared and wide-eyed approach to sound and the ineffable. Intertwining the piano with voice, synth and environmental recordings, this is another work of sensuous interplay from Atkinson that’s happy to rest between worlds. – JH
Juliet Lawson
Boo! The Early Recordings
(Soul Jazz Records)
Soul Jazz Records uncover a lost folk-rock gem from London-born singer-songwriter Juliet Lawson with their reissue of her 1972 album Boo!. With her raw soprano and cerebral, poetically unrestrained lyricism, the parallels between Lawson and Joni Mitchell are apparent, but Lawson brings her own earthy English folky spin to the well-trodden Laurel Canyon template. Featuring two bonus 7-inch singles produced by ex-Yardbird Paul Samwell-Smith, Boo! The Early Recordings is a must-listen. – AVD
DJ Lycox
Guetto Star
(Príncipe)
Príncipe’s Parisian ambassador DJ Lycox steps up with a genre-bending ten-track album Guetto Star. Blending kuduro and tarraxo with drill-dominated bass lines and textured sound design, this body of work is an incredibly satisfying follow-up to his highly sought-after 2017 album Sonhos & Pesadlos. – EH
Maghreb K7 Club
Disco Singles Vol. 3
(Bongo Joe)
Maghreb K7 Club, Geneva’s Les Disques Bongo Joe and Lyon’s Sofa Records’ impeccable series of Algerian dancefloor nuggets returns for a stellar third instalment. A groove-filled journey across 1980s Algeria, the A-side features two boogie-inspired tunes produced by Khaled Barkat— a multi-instrumentalist and composer from Algiers. On the flip, things really heat up with “El Hammam Dub”, a genre-bending collaboration between noted Raï vocalist Cheb Tati and legendary producer Dennis Bovell. – AVD
214
Easing Into The Night
(Frustrated Funk)
The elusive Frustrated Funk imprint consistently keeps things on the downlow, springing music into the ether when it’s ready to detonate on the dancefloor. American artist 214 aka Chris Roman steps up to the plate with three otherworldly jams aptly collated under the banner Easing Into The Night. Sitting on the edge of being slightly sinister in its electro-styled vibrations, it walks a supersonic highway in “Movement of Stillness” before rounding off nicely in a state of euphoric bliss. A super solid selection from the void. – EH
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