Every Friday, On Vinyl features 88Nine music director Erin Wolf and Lilliput Records co-owner Tanner Musgrove delivering their top picks and a list of this week’s other releases, so the can’t-miss new albums don’t pass you by.
Sylvan Esso, Ow ∞
Written across four years in the woods of Chapel Hill, N.C., electro-pop duo Sylvan Esso’s new album Ow ∞ (“Ow Infinity”) sees them leaning more heavily into creating with friends and first vocal takes for lead singer Amelia Meath. The result is a leveling-up moment of sorts, with a refreshing layer of humanity and clarity alongside a neverending sense of motion to the songs.
Incubated at their North Carolina studio with musical pals Glenn Kotche, Matt Douglas, Jenn Wasner, Joe Westerlund, Jake Luppen, Daniel Aged and drummer TJ Maiani, Ow ∞ marks the first time Sylvan Esso have had full control of the album’s creation from start to finish, even while stretching their arms to include others. Their fans get to feel included when the duo hit the road this fall, with a stop in Milwaukee scheduled for Oct. 21 at the Riverside Theater.
This Is Lorelei, The Singer In My Band
New York singer-songwriter Nate Amos is delightfully hard to pin down genre-wise, as his tastes stretch from lo-fi bedroom indie to brash hyperpop and hushed alt-country to experimental post-rock. He’s been likened to Alex G and garnered buzz at the Cameron Winter/MJ Lenderman level, so it’s been to see the excitement brewing for this album under his solo project (versus his group work with Water From Your Eyes.
The Singer In My Band just might be his most cohesive-sounding record to date, marrying introspective lyrics and classic folk-rock sounds with grunge-y undertones. Lead single “Billy Came Back” also feels like it could be a Tom Petty b-side (and we’re all about the Petty vibes.)
Ibibio Sound Machine, Chopping Mountain
The London collective’s sixth album is being called “the clearest rendering yet of [their] longstanding mission to promote love, unity and resistance through music.” It’s also the first to feature Max Grunhard as producer since 2019’s excellent Doko Mien. Grunhard is also part of the band as a co-founder/saxophonist, and he along with singer Eno Williams truly lead the listener on a journey across the new songs.
Collectively, they fulfill that promise of love, unity and joy as an act of resistance while combining delectable disco-tinged beats, classic West African highlife and electronic textures, Afrobeat, post-punk and soul.
Lilliput Pick: The Tubs, Hard Life
London-based, Celtic-jangle boy band The Tubs return with their third album and first for American indie label Merge Records. Hard Life has been dubbed “shimmering, virtuosic indie rock,” which hits like Elvis Costello in some moments, Hüsker Dü in others and Waterboys in still others, making for winningly buoyant and cerebral sounds.
This new album further refreshes their trademark folk-tinged college-rock anthems and, in staying true to their roots, also employs folk-centric instrumentation like the fiddle. This one’s a fun, modern take on a blast-from-the-past era that feels life-affirming and also makes the perfect soundtrack for a night out at the local pub (er, bar).
More of our picks
- Angela Autumn, Believer
- Bloc Party, Anatomy of a Brief Romance
- Brian Fallon, Not Bad for New Jersey
- Ezra Collective, Here Because of Hope
- Pretty Sick, Anarchy
- WU LYF, LYF024
