ALBUM OF THE WEEK
JOANNA NEWSOM
Divers
Drag City
Laudably impervious to the demands and constrictions of the music industry, Joanna Newsom has taken more than five years to follow Have One on Me, the triple album that cemented her position as one of alt-pop’s most uncompromising (and opinion-dividing) artists. As if intent on flaunting her shackle-free individualism, the Californian spent two of those years finessing the overdubs — harp, obviously, but massed harmonies, woodwind and strings, too — that give Divers its incredible textural lushness and complexity. Thematic the album may be, but good luck deciphering what unites its 11 sprawling, tangential songs. This is Newsom, after all: a notoriously elusive (and allusive) writer. The connectivity of generations and locations, the inevitability of loss, hubris, candour and concealment course through songs such as Time, As a Symptom, Goose Eggs and the title track. Musically, Divers is just as disparate, taking in piano balladry, Scottish jigs and courtly waltzes. Understanding it takes time and requires patience. Both will be richly rewarded. DC
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JOHN NEWMAN
Revolve
Island
You can’t blame Newman for wanting hits, but the relentless HERE COMES THE HOOK chorus explosions of Revolve get rather tiring over a whole album. Is it anachronistic to suggest that a man with such a soulful voice might try to make an actual album — a collection of songs that take you on a journey — rather than a cavalcade of one-dimensional tracks all auditioning to be the single? Perhaps it is. In which case, judged on its own terms, Revolve delivers on the funky Lights Down, the party soul of Come and Get It, and the cunningly structured We All Get Lonely. Elsewhere, however — Tiring Game, Give You My Love, Killing Me — the standard drops. ME
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LAURIE ANDERSON
Heart of a Dog
Nonesuch
This is the soundtrack to a new movie by Laurie Anderson about the recent death of a loved one. The first line is: “Hello, little bonehead. I’ll love you forever.” This turns out to be her pet name not for her husband, Lou Reed, who died in 2013, but for her dog, Lolabelle, who died in 2012, and who sparks a wider meditation on life and death. The track From the Air, for example, recalls a moment when a hawk swooped on Lolabelle, and the dog became aware that danger “could come from the air” — Anderson jumps from here to post-9/11 Manhattan. Full of deft juxtapositions, Heart of a Dog is thought-provoking, moving and strangely calming. ME
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JEAN-MICHEL JARRE
Electronica Part 1: The Time Machine
Columbia
The intriguing thing about these collaborations between the electronic-music pioneer and 15 other artists isn’t the technology, but his decision to eschew so much of it. In an age when sound files are routinely emailed round the world, Jarre chose to visit each musician in their studio. The result is that no one here is “phoning in” their contribution; instead, what we get are genuine collaborations, including Little Boots and Jarre concocting sweet synth-pop on If..!, Massive Attack’s 3D and Jarre slipping and sliding through the fractured Watching You, and Air and Jarre oozing Gallic cool on Close Your Eyes. ME
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SELENA GOMEZ
Revival
Polydor
Pre-Bieber, Selena Gomez made clever teen pop that showed she was more than a Disney actress with a sideline in singing. Post-Bieber, she opted for undistinguished EDM that suggested the opposite. Revival wisely returns her versatile voice to the fore on sultry, groove-based R&B ballads that tread Janet Jackson territory, minimalist electro-pop and quality club fodder. The hypnotic Good for You was her biggest hit to date; the Charli XCX co-penned Same Old Love has the potential to top it. LV
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STEVE MARTIN & EDIE BRICKELL
So Familiar
Rounder 7237395
Yes, the same Steve Martin who made the transition from demented comic to Hollywood dad. If you’ve caught his bluegrass shows with the Steep Canyon Rangers, you’ll know he’s no slouch when it comes to his beloved banjo. His collaboration with the singer-songwriter Edie Brickell (alias Mrs Paul Simon) is a more radio-friendly affair, amiable enough, but hard to distinguish from many a journeyman Nashville set. Maybe the musical that inspired the album — due on Broadway next year — will display more light and shade. CD
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THE HOT 8 BRASS BAND
Vicennial: 20 Years of the...
Tru Thoughts TRUCD318
Traditionalists will be reassured to see Royal Garden Blues on the list. Far from being a museum piece, though, the New Orleans outfit have always been visceral and funky. Having survived tough times — four members have been lost to violence or illness — the band are in celebratory mood as they prepare to launch a UK tour this month. Two Temptations covers — Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone and Just My Imagination — are suitably streetwise. There’s a splash of old-time gospel, too, while Rasta Funk teeters on the right side of cheesiness. CD
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DEBUT OF THE YEAR?
BORNS
Dopamine
Polydor
One of the most arresting debuts of 2015, Dopamine posits this treehouse-dwelling, LA-based singer as the helium-voiced product of a genetic experiment involving Sam Cooke, the Beach Boys, the Osmonds, glam-era Bowie, the Bee Gees and Scritti Politti. Tracks such as Dug My Heart, Past Lives and Electric Love are the antithesis of the formulaic, corporate dance and soul music now dominating the charts. The way Garrett Borns takes each song right to the edge of commerciality, manipulating his voice so its sinuous seductiveness becomes almost asexual, is audacious and unnerving. This is pop, but not as we know it. Breathtaking. DC
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Must-have reissue
PETER GABRIEL
Peter Gabriel
Real World
The third of four self-titled albums, this 1980 release sailed into the charts on the back of the hit single Games Without Frontiers, and gave the former Genesis singer his first No 1 album as a solo artist. His erstwhile bandmate Phil Collins’s famed gated drum sound makes several appearances; other collaborators include Paul Weller and Kate Bush. Highlights such as Biko, No Self Control and Intruder still ambush you, 35 years on; and the German-language version, included here, only adds to the sense of fearless experimentalism.
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Dan Cairns
Breaking act
BEACH BABY
Who are they?
One of the best new bands in Britain, Beach Baby have two brilliant double-A singles — No Mind No Money/UR and Bruise/Ladybird — under their belt, and now drop the sublime Limousine. On the surface, they tick lots of lovely, if well rummaged-in, close-harmony, jingle-jangle boxes (the Beatles, the Beach Boys, XTC et al), but, unlike so many guitar-pop wannabes, they add distinctive twists. Watch this lot.
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When’s the music available?
Now, on Chess Club; soundcloud.com/beachbabymusic.
Dan Cairns
The hottest tracks
Jack Garratt: Breathe Life Set for stardom next year, the hirsute dubstep-soul singer releases another glitch-pop beauty.
Cash+David featuring Rome Fortune: Pains 4 U The Londoners limber up for their debut album with this dreamy slow-house lament.
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Petite Meller: Barbaric Baby Love was addictive enough. The Parisian’s irresistible follow-up single delivers the coup de grâce.
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DC
Hear and now
Listen to chief pop critic Dan Cairns’s new-music playlist at spoti.fi/dancairns