Spring Albums to Look Forward to
new music that you should get excited about :)
It’s dark and grey outside most days and the thing that keeps me hopeful is looking forward to spring. Living in Sweden is quite rough this time of year and I’m excited to see flowers again. To feel sunlight on my skin and wear lighter clothes. There is lots of new music coming out and that’s what’s motivating me at the moment. Here are a few album releases that I think should be on your radar <3
Bright Future by Adrienne Lenker. March 22nd 2024:
Adrianne Lenker is releasing a new solo project. I’m a big fan of Big Thief, as well as her solo music, especially songs and instrumentals. The singles Ruined and Sadness As A Gift are stunning and I’m looking forward to hearing more. It seems like it’ll be another heartwrenching folk album which is perfect and exactly what I want from Adrienne Lenker. The cowboy hat on the cover also makes me speculate that it may be a country album which I wouldn't be mad at.
My favourite of the singles is definitely Sadness As A Gift. It’s nostalgic and melancholic in a sweet way. I think it’s necessary to see sadness as well as other uncomfortable emotions as a gift in order to cope with them in a semi positive way. Feeling deep sadness means you are capable feeling immense joy and you can’t really have one without the other. Being sad and nostalgic just means the love for whatever it is that you miss was or is strong and I think that’s a stunning but also heartbreaking perspective.
I have been seeing a lot of TikTok videos at the beginning of this year of people who are taking a songwriting class which is hosted by Adrienne Lenker. I love hearing all of the folk songs they write in class and it’s nice to see TikTok be used in a way that’s productive. It seems like a really nice community of songwriters.
RATKING by Brimheim. March 22nd 2024:
Brimheim is a Danish artist whom I have been keeping up with for the past two years. Her record can’t hate myself into a different shape is one of my favourites of all time and I trust that I will like this one as well. The first three singles Literally Everything, Brand New Woman feat. eee gee and Normies are out. The aesthetics of the album seem more colourful than her debut. The songs are more upbeat and pop-leaning as well compared to can’t hate myself into a different shape which was more of a classic indie-rock record. It makes for an interesting contrast to have dark lyrics to a sparkly and beat and colourful outfits.
The song Brand New Woman feat. eee gee, another one of my favourite Danish artists, is about wanting to leave a toxic relationship but not knowing how to speak up for yourself. It's aspirational but in a way that's desperate and sort of pathetic. The narrator wants to change so badly but she is also ashamed to admit that she might not have the confidence to become this ideal “brand new woman”. The “brand new woman” might just be a fantasy built to conceal her own self hatred and the belief that she actually deserves to be miserable. The video is full of rage, desperation and hunger and I absolutely love it.
Found Heaven by Conan Gray. 5th April 2024:
In an interview with Zach Sang, he explained that the album title has a double meaning. He has found heaven as in fallen in love and found happiness but also found heaven as in died. Basically, the album is about heartbreak. Story-wise this is interesting since Conan Gray is kind of famous for talking about being single. He used to say frequently in interviews that he had never even kissed anyone and that all of the stories of love and heartbreak in his songs were more or less made up. One of his biggest songs is called People Watching. A song about watching other people fall in love and waiting for your turn. I’m interested to see how his perception of love has changed and grown and how his writing is changing now that he has more life experience.
Found Heaven is also quite different sonically, from both Kid Krow and Superache. The style seems to be 80’s synth-pop. Conan has expanded his vocal range and is now singing in a more deep voice. When I heard Never Ending Song for the first time this really surprised me and I didn’t like it. Since then it has grown on me. The album seems to be more upbeat as well. He said in the interview that he is moving away from whisper songs. By whisper songs, he is referring to songs that are similar to those in the sad girl genre. Heather was mentioned as an example. If you want to read more about my thoughts on sad girl music I have written about it in Thoughts on Going Through It by Eliza McLamb and the genre of sad girl music. I applaud Conan for trying something new. Lonely Dancers is a fun, playful and theatrical track and it's brave of him to release something that might be very off-putting to his audience. The opinions amongst his fans seem very mixed and it’s cool that he is pushing some boundaries.
I’M DOING IT AGAIN BABY! by girl in red. April 12th 2024:
My relationship with girl in red has changed a lot over the years. If you’re a lesbian or queer and has spent any time on the internet, you’ll remember back in 2018 when girl in red was the thing that everyone in the LGBT community was listening to. I used to listen to girls and I wanna be your girlfriend in secret and I know I wasn’t the only one. Her music reminds me of being in the closet and that’s a big reason why I have distanced myself. My music taste has also evolved and I have found a lot of other lesbian and queer artists that have gotten my attention instead. In August, I saw her at All Points East in London and it really reignited my love for her music. I may or may not have sobbed when she played the 2018 hits. Her energy live is amazing and it made me really excited for her new album which has now been announced.
The first single is called Too Much. I watched the video today and it made me smile. I really like her personally and it’s cool to see her make something that’s very professionally produced, in comparison to the bedroom pop songs and home videos that made her famous. Selfishly, it makes me happy to see a Scandinavian lesbian get worldwide success. It’s quite unbelievable that she has gone from making songs in her bedroom in Norway to opening for Taylor Swift on The Eras Tour. It’s so cool and it reminds me that lesbian representation has actually progressed a lot in the past few years.
Don’t Forget Me by Maggie Rogers. April 12th 2024:
Maggie Rogers is one of my favourite artists ever and to get a spring album from her is a blessing. One thing that I like about her is that she describes her albums in colours, textures and element. That’s such an interesting way to view music. Don’t Forget Me is an earth album whilst her previous albums Heard It In A Past Life was air if I remember correctly and Surrender was fire. To me, an earth album insinuates that this album will be grounded and possibly quite simple in comparison to the more loud, vibrant and dramatic Surrender. Full of acoustic guitar, raw vocals and honest lyrics.
The first single Don’t Forget Me came out a few days ago and it definetely fits the earth theme. In the song she sings that all of her friends are getting married and she doesn’t even feel ready for a serious relationship yet. She wants the simple things, such as a good lover or someone that’s nice and is not looking for a partner that she’ll be with forever. Maggie’s vocals really shine on this track. It sounds raw, real and honest. In a way it reminds me of the songs that she recorded in high school that are on Notes from the Archive: Recordings 2011-2016 such as Kids Like Us and Satellite. Songs that were made way before she was famous, when she had no idea that her voice would be important to people all over the world in the future.