Alternative Album Chart: The best new indie and alternative albums this week
In the contemporary era, the music industry is being pushed toward unfettered consumption as the powers that be are dictating proceedings through a tiny widget on our phone screen. We are being dragged away from attentively listening to and fully experiencing records, all in the name of the green idol. However, there are some fanning the flames of insurrection against these commercial behemoths, with Claire Rousay one of the most emphatic. Her new album, Sentiment, is a masterpiece that can only be fully unlocked with complete engagement.
It’s not often that an album leaves you wholeheartedly affected, but that is certainly the case as the closing microtones of Sentiment ring out. A masterfully constructed arc that elevates her distinctive ’emo ambient’ genre, with the auto-tune more potent, the music more emotive and the field recordings closer to home than ever, like life itself, it’s a constantly evolving journey that reveals as much about the songwriter as it does ourselves. To straddle the line between personal and universal so astutely is a remarkable achievement. While it is undoubtedly challenging, the fruits of Rousay’s labour and your attention are potent.
Following such a resounding effort, Manchester mainstays A Certain Ratio have released what might be their finest opus to date in It All Comes Down to This. When so many acts of their generation have fallen by the wayside regarding remaining relevant, the perennial post-punk innovators have displayed why they are not going anywhere and, more importantly, still have much to add to the creative conversation.
Elsewhere, sludge pioneers Melvins are another widely influential act that have produced yet another compelling album in Tarantula Heart, with Dublin’s Pillow Queens releasing their consequential mission statement in Name Your Sorrows, which is a must-listen. The art of the album is very much alive.
Find this week’s Alternative Album Chart below.
The best new indie and alternative albums this week:
Sentiment – Claire Rousay – 4.5
In a world where lines are blurred, and tags finally begin to fade into obsolescence, musicians are following suit. Alternative music is moving into an era where artists are channelling a more authentic essence of themselves into their sounds, facilitated by the inherent scope technology allows sonically, emotionally, and otherwise. People are creating their own contexts, kicking back against convention and revitalising the craft by doing so. That’s precisely what Claire Rousay has distilled on Sentiment.
One of the album’s greatest triumphs is the arc that Rousay leads us on. There is simply no way of telling how it will pan out at the outset, and in an astute mirroring of the meandering nature of living, by the end, you’re left feeling changed as the album gradually opens up into an immense astral plain, unlocking a series of core memories.
Conjured across many different abodes, bedrooms and private spaces, the Los Angeles-based musician has confirmed once again why she is a musician for our times. Give Sentiment time, and it will unfold in ways that you could not imagine.
It All Comes Down to This – A Certain Ratio – 4.5
We’ve all been there. You go to a concert to see a band of a certain vintage, they announce some new material, and half the audience promptly leaves for the bar. The sad fact seems to be that most artists’ creativity deteriorates with age, and as such, their work becomes half-hearted regurgitations of something they had first conjured up as hopeful adolescents. Curiously, Manchester’s A Certain Ratio are one of the few groups whose new material continues to, in many ways, eclipse their early work, as It All Comes Down To This exemplifies.
For the uninitiated, you might come into this album with a certain set of prejudices. Given that A Certain Ratio first formed in 1977, you would be forgiven for thinking that this album is a simple rehashing of a sound that went out of style decades ago. To an extent, It All Comes Down To Thisdoes contain some sense of nostalgia for those early days of post-punk electronica, but it is also steadfast in its desire to drive the sound forward into the future. Awash with innovation and experimentation, the record is representative of a group at the top of their game. [Words: Ben Forrest]
Final Summer – Cloud Nothings – 4
Pure songwriting is increasingly rare in the contemporary era, as electronic instruments and their facilitatory essence change the dimension of the art form. However, some figures remain traditionalists in that the process starts with fooling around on a guitar, and all else follows. That is the case with Dylan Baldi and his outfit Cloud Nothings, who release their eighth album, Final Summer, this week. It is a testament to his natural ability to conjure potent riffs, choruses and dynamics from his fretboard.
Perhaps the most significant reflection of Baldi’s essence as a songwriter is that Final Summer is a record that continues to impress upon you with every listen. The pieces change context, and your favourites shift as exquisite subtleties are discovered. You might say it’s nothing you’ve never heard before, but it’s also a splendidly complete set of songs that seem to have serenely come together with consummate ease.
Name Your Sorrows – Pillow Queens – 4
In the poem ‘Atlantis’, Irish writer Eavan Boland searches for a specific word “to convey that what is gone is gone forever and never found” through poetry. Alongside borrowing a name for the title of the album, Name Your Sorrow navigates the complexities of language and its restriction when it comes to capturing emotional feelings.
Although Name Your Sorrow can be enjoyed at surface level, it is within the various stretches of imagination that it truly shines. Pillow Queens perform at a significant time in both Irish and queer culture, and such musings become immortalised in the quills of their wider musical tapestry. Any band can claim to be more authentic and richer than ever, but here it presents itself, its holistic execution a testament to their complex web of musical excellence.
Before, Pillow Queens may have felt less of a fully-formed outfit, bouncing ideas off audiences to see which direction felt the most natural. This time, the lack of teasing worked out well, as Name Your Sorrow feels like the band’s official ‘we have arrived’ moment. The record may oscillate between various states of mind, but it’s truly Pillow Queens at their best: unapologetic and turned up to the max. [Words: Kelly Scanlon]
Tarantula Heart – Melvins – 3.5
Irrevocably linked to that era of alternative rock where everything changed, Melvins have always been true pioneers. Influencing everyone from Nirvana to Slipknot, it’s easy to get lost in their sludgy soundscapes. Sometimes, it’s as though you’re wading through the mud yourself, with security and stability in your grasp. Other times, you’re trampled by the heaviness, struck down by thick, grungey riffs with enough manpower to make you feel as though you’ve been slammed by a tank.
While some moments are considerably less interesting than others, overall, Tarantula Heart is a compact album that is sure to please all sludge metal aficionados. There’s never a moment that feels explicitly boring; rather, certain songs cut much deeper than others.
After multiple decades, Melvins haven’t got any less impressive. Taking a new approach to songwriting for their 27th album, the band have tried to keep things fresh, and fans will certainly not be disappointed by this staggering collection of murky, speaker-breaking cuts. [Words: Aimee Ferrier]
But I’ll Wait for You – Local Natives – 2
Around a decade ago, indie reigned supreme. From Bombay Bicycle Club to Arctic Monkeys, audiences couldn’t keep themselves away from catchy guitar melodies and songwriting that veered between real and romantic. We’re already calling back to that era, pining for a return to its rougher side, to kitchen sink lyricism and art rock, but there’s less of a desire for that softer, more polished indie sound that Local Natives have opted to return to on their latest offering.
If the California-born band had released But I’ll Wait For You in the early 2010s, when we all had Real Estate’s ‘It’s Real’ on repeat and lauded Grizzly Bear’s Blue Valentine soundtrack, it would have gone down a treat. It’s soft and subdued throughout, romanticising cinema trips and ephemerality through melodic harmonies and impossibly polished production, but there’s something missing.
But I’ll Wait For You is too polished for the contemporary indie scene, which prioritises rawness and vulnerability, experimentation and innovation. It’s lacking in any real sense of emotion, pulling its punches on the listener. As a consequence, the record feels a little stagnated and a little outdated. It’s understated to a fault, with moments of beauty obscured by monotony. It passes you by without ever really enticing you in. [Words: Elle Palmer]
