Every week, 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 live on 88Nine at 10 p.m. every Monday on What’s All This: Adventures in New Music.
Singer-songwriter Madison Cunningham’s already-admirable songwriting chops kicked into the highest gear on her new album Ace, as she explored orchestral arrangements while delving into themes of falling out of love, heartbreak and recovery.
Cunningham shared that "leaving my marriage was maybe the second time I gave myself permission to fail" and that her new songs document her "young marriage, her descent into divorce and her push beyond its wreckage.”
Nowhere is that reflected better than on single “Break the Jaw,” underlining the tension of those times while giving the grit and confusion some levity and courage to push beyond it while pushing ahead. As usual, Cunningham’s powerful voice is the focal point, and those orchestral elements really ramp up the emotional rollercoaster.
Find Ace out now on Verve Forecast and “Break the Jaw” on the latest episode of What’s All This, which you can check out in full via the player at the top of the page. And be sure to stay tuned for a fresh batch of tunes next week on the newest episode of What’s All This: Adventures in New Music at 10 p.m. Mondays on 88Nine.
Best new indie music this week
- The Mountain Goats, “Cold at Night”
- Lande Hekt, “Favourite Pair of Shoes”
- Massage, “Daffy Duck”
- Preoccupations, “PONR”
- Austra, “Siren Song”
- Yukimi, “All Over Me”
- Blondshell, “Arms (ft. Gigi Perez)”
- Lucy Dacus, “Losing”
- Madison Cunningham, “Break the Jaw”
- Goat, “Goatnoggin [remixed by human language)”
- Danger Mouse & Black Thought, “UP (ft. Rag ‘n’ Bone Man)”
- Sorry!, “Today Might Be the Hit”
