The Alternative Album Chart: The best new indie albums this week
What a year for music 2023 has been. Just when we thought 2021 and 2022 couldn’t be topped, a run of fantastic new releases arrived and quickly knocked them off their perch, and we’re only just entering the final quarter. A marvellous period for music that saw established acts reassert their standing and new artists pull up a seat at the table. Since the dark days of January, each week has arrived with new, refreshing sounds to keep us engaged. To improve the package this week, there’s even a tasty reissue from Leeds shoegaze legends Pale Saints.
Whilst September was a fantastic month for music, October has seamlessly taken the baton and continued the sprint to the finish line. Although we are heading feet first into the autumn, this week, plenty of music has arrived to perfectly soundtrack the leaves reaching the end of their cycle as the visual palette turns from verdant green to sombre browns and yellows.
In recent weeks, we’ve had excellent new albums from Mitski, Animal Collective and Guided by Voices. In this seven-day cycle, Sufjan Stevens has released yet another masterpiece with Javelin, Parquet Courts co-frontman A. Savage has returned with his second solo album, Several Songs About Fire and Dexter star Michael C. Hall’s group, Princess Goes, released their sophomore album, Come Of Age.
Without wasting any more of your precious time, we’ll leave you with the above releases and more for this week’s Alternative Album Chart. Behold the quality on offer.
The best new indie and alternative albums this week:
Javelin – Sufjan Stevens – 4
Fans of Sufjan Stevens’ well-loved 2015 release, Carrie and Lowell, will be excited to discover that the musician’s latest effort, Javelin, sees him return to a similar sonic palette. While Stevens has experimented with various genres over the years, he proves to be on top form when he is led by an acoustic guitar or gentle piano notes.
On Javelin, Stevens blends natural, pastoral imagery with themes of religion, love and longing, creating a profoundly evocative lyrical web of intimate yet universal meditations. Quite frankly, Javelin is a transcendent listening experience, with divine choral backing vocals, flutes and chiming sounds giving the soundscape a heavenly sensibility. Lyrically, Stevens lays his soul bare in a deeply personal way, yet simultaneously, his words are elusive enough for us to project our own meanings and experiences onto.
Stevens’ tenth album is proof that his long-spanning career has only allowed his songwriting talents to become even more magnificent. With Javelin, Stevens creates an intimate collection of tracks rich with emotion, yet there’s a sense of understanding and hopefulness at the heart of each track. [Words: Aimee Ferrier]
Goodbye, Hotel Arkada – Mary Lattimore – 2.5
Every piece of Mary Lattimore‘s work evokes more of a feeling than any music. Even though more than a few songs jump out because of their melodic counterpoints, the experimental harpist has toyed with her listener’s emotions across every one of her projects, whether through her music or how she constructs her tracks into musical exorcisms. Although Lattimore has carved out a unique place for herself, chipping away at her distinctive sound, Goodbye Hotel Arkada offers a mixed bag from what is expected.
Standing at only six tracks, the album feels like a natural extension of where Lattimore has been for the past few years. Working with Meg Baird again following their collaboration in 2020, they both seemed to have not missed a beat, creating a tapestry of sound that borderlines on shoegaze the more it glosses over.
Even though the album has many standout moments, it reads like the kind of album that works better when put into the background of certain events rather than being listened to on its own. Lattimore’s natural progression on Goodbye Hotel Arkada is certainly worth a spin for anyone mildly curious, but the seeds that Lattimore has planted here feel like she’s building towards something bigger rather than releasing her magnum opus. [Words: Tim Coffman]
Several Songs About Fire – A. Savage – 2.5
A. Savage says he imagines himself playing his second solo album in a small club that is “slowly burning”. On the intimacy his newest offering creates, he’s entirely correct. The largely acoustic venture is warm and inviting but often lacks the urgency its title evokes. “Fire is something you have to escape from, and in a way, this album is about escaping from something,” explains Savage. “This album is a burning building, and these songs are things I’d leave behind to save myself.” What we’re left with instead are smoky embers, suggestions of great indie rock numbers, that are suffocated by their own restraint.
Written in England alongside Modern Nature’s Jack Cooper, the tracks’ hushed qualities are largely owed to the fact they didn’t want to wake Cooper’s sleeping daughter as they worked through the night. The primary goal was to refine each of the album’s ten songs until they could be played just on acoustic guitar. The homespun quality it’s left with hums steadily off its most sedate numbers, like on opener ‘Hurtin’ Or Healed’ and ‘Mountain Time’.
Sweeping mountain landscapes are given the same fleshed-out descriptions as laundromats are, in another constant battle of juxtapositions. What’s frustrating is that the imagery is beautiful but buoyed by the music, which always crackles with near brilliance. “Silence is golden / But nothing quite roars,” he sings on ‘Hurtin’ or Healed’, in what feels like a fitting assessment of the record. For all its radiant lyricism, the fire it promises never fully catches. [Words: Poppy Burton]
Come Of Age – Princess Goes – 2
Princess Goes‘ most recent release, Come Of Age, presents a deeply complex and utterly perplexing listener journey. On the one hand, it encompasses all the elements of the new wave scene, featuring echoes of David Bowie, Depeche Mode, The Human League, and others, set against a backdrop of synth-pop and psychedelia, designed to expand your perspective and inspire contemplation about the beauty of existence. Everything is within reach, right before your eyes, but for some inexplicable reason, the puzzle pieces don’t quite fit together.
Led by the charismatic showmanship and distinctive vocals of Michael C. Hall, a multi-talented artist known for his roles in music, acting, and lyricism, this promising trio, also featuring keyboardist Matt Katz-Bohen and drummer Peter Yanowitz, skilfully amalgamates the finest elements of indie and rock music. Come Of Age captivates with its arrangements, while Hall’s expressive vocals offer a glimpse into life’s most perplexing inquiries.
Make no mistake: Come Of Age is not a bad album. In fact, it’s quite the opposite: it showcases so many brilliant elements that it becomes frustrating when it falls short of its true potential. What hinders this project is its struggle to establish a distinct identity. It masterfully incorporates the beautiful complexities of beloved and forgotten musical genres, serving as a love letter to each of these genres, but, in the process, it loses its own unique identity. [Words: Kelly Scanlon]
Reissue – Pale Saints – In Ribbons – 4
In Ribbons, the second of Pale Saints’ three studio albums, is seen by many as the band’s most consummate work. Balanced and complex, the 1992 album served as a pleasing extension or natural progression on the neopsychedelic ventures of The Comforts of Madness. In some moments, the album will have your mind drifting out the window on a pillow of clouds and in others, it’ll give you a violent shake with some heavy, effects-ridden guitar textures.
Pale Saints’ In Ribbons is a great record for the turntable. The versatile vibrations swagger between upbeat rock and ambient haze almost simultaneously, making it the perfect album for a Sunday morning, Friday night, and practically anything in between.
This underappreciated gem of the shoegaze era is set to be reissued on October 6th via the original label 4AD. The album is either available in a 1LP reissue with all the original tracks or as a 2CD or 2LP set with two sides of 12 bonus tracks, mostly comprising demos of tracks on the album and contemporary singles, including the popular hit ‘Kinky Love’.
You can see the full tracklist and pre-order the 2LP set here for £17.99. Far Out Magazine may earn from qualifying purchases. [Words: Jordan Potter]
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