Every Monday, 88Nine music director Erin Wolf shares a sonic gem she found using her nearly 20 years of new-music exploration experience. You can hear all her discoveries every Sunday on What’s All This: Adventures in New Music.
Dijon is back with those classic ’80s- and ’90s-flavored modern vibes on his brand new, low-key surprise album, Baby, his first since 2021 debut Absolutely.
Maybe this one was a bit unexpected because, just before this, he was busy making big contributions to Bon Iver’s latest, SABLE, fABLE and Justin Bieber’s Swag. Maybe it was time intentionally? Work up a little hype and then unleash something solid? Incubating a project takes time and care, too, and Dijon’s newest release is showing that the wait for another new full-length has been worth it — and that perhaps some hype-building was well-warranted.
Prince, Jai Paul and Bon Iver at his most heady all are calling cards on Baby and tracks like “Another Baby!” Dijon throws a lot of sonics at the proverbial wall, but most of them stick. And if you sense a theme with all the “baby” stuff? You’d be correct. This collection of songs is very much centered on home life and commitment.
Produced with Andrew Sarlo (who’s notably worked with Big Thief and Nick Hakim,) Dijon collabed heavily on Baby with Mk.gee, Tobias Jesso Jr., BJ Burton, Jim E Stack, and Jenn Wasner, with those last three having also worked with Bon Iver recently. So maybe this Dijon album could be considered SABLE fABLE: Part Two?
Whatever it is, though, it’s a solid listen for a surprise album. It oozes with all the feels the Purple One was good at getting going but forges its own path in the voice of Dijon.
Find Baby out now on Warner Records and “Another Baby!” from Dijon on the latest episode of What’s All This, which you can check out by listening in full using the player at the top of the page. You’ll also hear another single from the record called “Yamaha” in regular rotation on 88Nine starting this week.
While you’re tuned in to 88Nine, make sure you keep it there heading into the weekend because I’ll have another collection of new tunes at 2 p.m. next Sunday on another episode What’s All This: Adventures in New Music.
Best new indie music this week
- Dijon, “Another Baby!”
- KAYTRANADA, “SPACE INVADER”
- Jay Som, “Cards On The Table (ft. Mini Trees)”
- Kitba, “Wolf’s Mouth”
- The Belair Lip Bombs, “Hey You”
- Shaki Tavi, “Breaker”
- Winter, “Hide-A-Lullaby (ft. Tanukichan)”
- Twen, “Godlike”
- villagerrr, “Ride Or Die (ft. Lydia Slocum of feeble little horse)”
- Hannah Frances, “Surviving You”
- Marissa Nadler, “New Radiations”
