Notable Releases of the Week (3/7)

It’s been another busy week. We got the Best Friends Forever lineup, which confirmed reunions from multiple bands (Texas Is The Reason! Minus The Bear! Marietta! Empire! Empire! (I Was A Lonely Estate)) (the exclamation points and parentheses are part of the band name in that last one). We at BrooklynVegan announced our SXSW showcase (with a day party TBA), and we also talked to Turnover’s Austin Getz about the 10th anniversary of Peripheral Vision on the BV podcast and launched pre-orders for an exclusive vinyl variant of the album’s expanded 10th anniversary reissue.

As for this week’s new albums, I review 7 below and Bill tackles more in Indie Basement, including Bob Mould, the Swervedriver EP, The Tubs, Moreish Idols, JJULIUS, LAKE, and the Marie Davidson album that came out last week. On top of those, this week’s honorable mentions include Jethro Tull, Sasami, Hamilton Leithauser, Combust, Black Soprano Family & ILL Tone Beats, Apollo Brown, Matt Embree (RX Bandits), Staticlone (Blacklisted), Guiltless (A Storm of Light), Michael Cera Palin, Arny Margret, Star 99, TOKiMONSTA, Destruction, Jad Fair & Samuel Locke Ward, JB Dunckel (Air) & Jonathan Fitoussi, Lust For Youth & Croatian Amor, Kinski, Spiritbox, Benmont Tench, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, evilgiane & Harto Falion, Kedr Livanskiy, Smith/Kotzen (Iron Maiden), JENNIE (of BLACKPINK), Chase Petra, Divorce, KenTheMan, Vundabar, Hot Wax, Marina Zispin, Takuro Okada, Fust, Frogg, Fredo Bang & TEC, This Gift Is A Curse, Melin Melyn, Tobacco City, Dead Hour Noise, Worn Through, Violeta Garcia, Franc Moody, Errth, Siyahkal, Pale Blue Eyes, Will Stratton, Annie DiRusso, Caylee Hammack, Taxidermists, Rose Betts, Clara Mann, Consumables, Black Foxxes, the Pain of Truth/Sunami split EP, the En Love/Rabbit split EP, the A Place For Owls/Birthday Dad split EP, the Crown Magnatar EP, the Icewear Vezzo EP, the Jana Mila EP, the Machinedrum remix LP, the lost ’70s Neil Young album Oceanside Countryside, and the reissue of De La Soul’s Clear Lake Audiotorium.

Read on for my picks. What’s your favorite release of the week?

Jason Isbell – Foxes in the Snow (Southeastern)
Following a divorce, Jason Isbell delivers his rawest, messiest album yet with nothing more than his voice and an acoustic guitar

Jason Isbell is on his own again, in more ways than one. Last year, he and fellow musician Amanda Shires divorced after 11 years of marriage that were filled with highly publicized ups and downs, and his first album since the separation finds him without his longtime The 400 Unit. The last time Jason went solo, for 2013’s Southeastern, also followed a monumental period in his personal life, one in which he went to rehab to beat alcoholism forever this time, and also one in which he married Amanda Shires. But that solo album and its 2015 solo followup Something More Than Free still both featured members of the 400 Unit in his backing band, and they were ornately-constructed albums that became Jason’s breakthroughs. On Foxes in the Snow, it’s just Jason and his 1940 Martin 0-17 acoustic with no accompaniment, and it’s a raw, messy album that doesn’t sound like it’s going for anything close to perfection. It sounds like it was meant to capture Jason’s wounds while they were still open, however imperfect or unflattering they may be.

The album’s opening song and lead single is a vintage-style folk-blues dirge called “Bury Me” with a tropey Country Western hook (“I ain’t no cowboy, but I can ride/And I ain’t no outlaw, but I’ve been inside”), so there’s a little escapism in Foxes in the Snow too, but the more the album goes on, the more Jason’s personal life and his new music become seemingly inseparable. On “Eileen,” he holds up a mirror to his own actions (“My own behavior was a shock to me/I never thought I’d have the nerve”). On “Gravelweed,” he ends the chorus with the kind of Isbellian tearjerker that’s made him tug at the heartstrings of so many people for so many years: “I’m sorry the love songs all mean different things today.” On “Don’t Be Tough,” he offers up an “advice” song in the spirit of 2023’s “Cast Iron Skillet.” It sounds like he’s either addressing himself, or his and Amanda’s daughter Mercy, and the wisdom within this one sounds directly inspired by the end of his marriage (“Don’t say ‘love’ unless you mean it/Don’t say ‘sorry’ unless you’re wrong”). By the album’s penultimate song, “True Believer,” he gets unpoetically blunt in a way he rarely does on record: “All your girlfriends say I broke your fucking heart and I don’t like it.”

As is often the case with breakup records, there’s some new romance within Foxes in the Snow as well (not to turn this album review into a tabloid article, but Jason is now in a relationship with the high-profile painter Anna Weyant, who created Foxes in the Snow‘s album cover). There’s also vivid imagery and metaphor and storytelling and hummable melodies–all the things that make Jason’s music appealing whether or not you know or care about his personal life. For some of us, it’ll be impossible to listen to this album without thinking about how it relates to the end of Jason’s marriage and how Amanda might respond on her next album, but you don’t need to know those details to feel impacted by this music. Just like Jason’s more fleshed-out, labored-over material, this is powerful songwriting that transcends context.

Foxes in the Snow by Jason Isbell

Lady Gaga – Mayhem (Streamline/Interscope)
Picking up where ‘Chromatica’ left off, Gaga delivers the kind of album-oriented, artistic pop music that she was born to excel at

After 2013’s divisive Artpop, Lady Gaga seemed dead set on doing anything but making more of the sinister synthpop that defined her instant-classic early years. She tackled country, jazz, soundtrack albums, acting–you name it–and she did it all with care and finesse, proving to be not just a pop music fad but a true renaissance woman. As impressive as it all was, a lot of us craved to hear just a little more of where The Fame and Born This Way came from, and we finally got that on 2020’s Chromatica, an album that saw Gaga returning to dance-pop on her own terms. It didn’t have a single song as world-conquering as “Bad Romance” or “Poker Face,” but as a full album, it was the kind of near-filler-less artistic statement that Artpop was poised to be. Five-ish years later, we got the new singles “Disease” and “Abracadabra” that sounded even more overtly like Old Gaga, and now those songs and 12 others make up her new album Mayhem, which picks right up where Chromatica left off. Like its predecessor, Mayhem is more art pop than Artpop; it embraces the synth-fueled sounds of her early days in a way that feels more personal than even her most classic singles. “Disease” and “Abracadabra” are the first two songs on the album, and from there it goes deeper and deeper into Gaga’s tasteful love of pop music as she channels Prince, Bowie, New Order, Daft Punk, and Nine Inch Nails through her own distinct lens. She made the whole album primarily with Andrew Watt (Rolling Stones, Ozzy Osbourne), Cirkut (Miley’s “Wrecking Ball,” Charli XCX’s Brat), and her partner Michael Polansky, and one song is a collaboration with French electronic wiz Gesaffelstein (and that’s not the only song with a clear French house influence). Mayhem isn’t without filler–“How Bad Do U Want Me” sounds like an undercooked Taylor Swift imitation, and the chart-topping, Grammy-winning Bruno Mars duet “Die With A Smile” feels tacked on just because it’s already so popular–but for the most part, this is the kind of album-oriented, artistic pop music that Lady Gaga was born to excel at.

Alabaster DePlume – A Blade Because A Blade Is Whole (International Anthem)
The genre-hopping musician explores meditative jazz, sweeping orchestral chamber pop, and more as he attempts to bring a little healing to this world

In the lead-up to the making of his new album A Blade Because A Blade Is Whole, Alabaster DePlume would ask fans of his work “what do people need?” and an answer that came up again and again was “healing.” DePlume used that as a launching point, first to work on healing himself, and then to explore how he could help others heal. His efforts resulted in a book of poetry, Looking for my value: Prologue to a blade, and poetry from that book has now been repurposed as lyrics on his new album. Even outside of the lyrics, healing comes through in the instrumentals. DePlume has built up a reputation for ignoring the confines of genre and Blade is no exception; it moves from meditative, spiritual jazz to sweeping orchestral chamber pop (with strings by Macie Stewart) to the Arab Strap-style speak-singing that the Mancunian musician has become known for. As ambitious and overwhelming as it sounds on paper, Blade is a cohesive, concise album. Genre-hopping works like this one tend to be seen as erratic, but the way DePlume morphs one style of music into another is natural, serene, and, well, healing.

A Blade Because A Blade Is Whole by Alabaster DePlume

Ingrown – Idaho (Closed Casket Activities)
One of the heaviest bands in America gives us a whiff of that Idaho air on their sophomore LP

It’s no secret that some of the heaviest music in America comes from non-coastal locations, and Ingrown are wearing that badge loudly and proudly by naming their sophomore album Idaho, named after the state that they formed in 10 years ago. The cover artwork shows the mid-section of a gun-toting, denim-clad man that looks like it could be the artwork for an old Western, and the album-closing title track is an instrumental acoustic song that connects the dots between traditional Irish folk music and American bluegrass. Ingrown really want to make sure that this album gives you a whiff of that Idaho air. But they also want to rip your face off, and that’s exactly what they do throughout the first 10 songs, which mostly clock in at under two minutes a piece. On each one, they toe the line between death metal and hardcore in a way that sits nicely next to peers like Terminal Nation and Kruelty, and they pull it off in a way that’s both nuanced and stupidly heavy. And in addition to hometown pride, Idaho also shows off that heavy music runs in the family. One of its highlights is “Asylum,” a cover of the 1988 song by vocalist/guitarist Ross Hansen’s father’s band S.O.C. This isn’t just kickass music (though it’s also definitely that); it’s an album that shows the world who Ingrown are and where they come from in more ways than one.

Idaho by INGROWN

Harrison Gordon – Spring Break! EP (self-released)
The Normal, IL emo band follow their 2023 debut LP ‘The Yuppies Are Winning’ with a fun, quick, and emotional new EP

Harrison Gordon have been making noise in the new-school Midwest emo scene for a bit, and today they follow their great 2023 debut album The Yuppies Are Winning with a new six-song EP. They go for the rawer, scrappier, basement-dwelling side of emo, but they’ve got big hooks and big feelings (and big guitar solos) buried within all the noise. The song that stands out the most to me is actually the acoustic song that closes the EP, “Cheerwine For Good,” which shows off just how deeply emotional this band’s songwriting is. It’s there in the more energetic songs too, and it’s what makes this EP hit as hard as it does.

Downward – Downward (New Morality Zine)
Shoegaze, slowcore, and emo meet on this Tulsa, Oklahoma band’s dusty sophomore LP

Downward just hit the road a few days ago opening Movements‘ spring tour alongside Citizen and Scowl, and a few days later they surprise-released their sophomore album (which, like their 2018 debut album, is self-titled). It pulls from shoegaze, slowcore, and emo with downer vibes and a dusty exterior in a way that sounds like Cloakroom at their most Codeine-obsessed or a hazier Pedro the Lion. If any or all of that sounds up your alley, don’t sleep.

Downward by DOWNWARD

Frog Eyes – The Open Up (Paper Bag)
The Canadian indie/art rock vets do what they do best on their second album since returning from hiatus

Carey Mercer’s Frog Eyes project never got the same recognition as peers/collaborators like Wolf Parade, Destroyer, and The New Pornographers, but the aughts-era Canadian indie/art rock scene wouldn’t have been the same without him and we’re lucky that he’s still making music, especially because he was diagnosed with cancer over a decade ago and then retired Frog Eyes for four years before reviving the project with a new lineup for 2022’s The Bees. Now he releases his second new album since returning (and his 11th overall), and it finds him doing what he’s always done best. From the revved-up rock of opener “Television, A Ghost In My Head” to the twitchy “I’m A Little At A Loss” to the whimsical balladry of “I See the Same Things” to the towering mini-epic “Trash Crab,” The Open Up is brimming with all the nervous energy that’s fueled Frog Eyes for years, and in the forefront is Carey’s unmistakably shaky voice, sounding as expressive and distinct as ever. “Indie rock” means a lot of different things to a lot of different people, but for those who come to the genre for its inhibition-free ambition and eccentricities, you’ll be happy to know that Frog Eyes still have both in spades.

The Open Up by Frog Eyes

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Read Indie Basement for more new album reviews, including Bob Mould, the Swervedriver EP, The Tubs, Moreish Idols, JJULIUS, LAKE, and last week’s Marie Davidson album.

Looking for more recent releases? Browse the Notable Releases archive.

Looking for a podcast to listen to? Check out our new episode with Turnover’s Austin Getz celebrating the 10th anniversary of Peripheral Vision.

Pick up the BrooklynVegan x Alexisonfire special edition 80-page magazine, which tells the career-spanning story of Alexisonfire and comes on its own or paired with our new exclusive AOF box set and/or individual reissues, in the BV shop. Also pick up the new Glassjaw box set & book, created in part with BrooklynVegan.

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