OFM New Music: May 2021

This month’s must-catch new releases from the artists you already love and the musicians you need to know.

St Vincent: Daddy’s Home

Annie Clark, aka St Vincent, re-emerges as the embodiment of all we want served this summer: authentic, raw, rough, cutting, edgy, and honest. Queers, prepare as you are delivered a delicious dose of fierce and finely finished funk  with Daddy’s Home. 

Everything you know and love about St Vincent is not lost in the modern and complex artist’s sixth studio album. Innovative and intriguing, the first single, “Pay Your Way in Pain,” is an arousing and fiery  experience that continues to see St Vincent push boundaries of both appeal and disapproval. Evoking a lustrous albeit piercing persuasion of sex, love, and rock ‘n’ roll, nothing familiar or repetitious is to ever be expected, and Daddy’s Home is no exception.

Using her own life as inspiration, the title track of the new record is based on the experience of taking her father home from prison after nine years of incarceration. Leaning into the notion that we are all but flawed people doing our best,  St Vincent abandons perfection for exposed candor, which, in this case, creates unforgettable art.

No powers of persuasion necessary, listeners will eagerly buy into all the decadence that lives within the folding layers of sonic dissonance, sugary sweetness, and steamy sections chock full of heavy guitar and euphoric melodies.

Weezer: Van Weezer

The fifteenth studio album by American rockers Weezer is an homage to the band’s influence Eddie Van Halen. The tracks feature heavy guitars and lean into an arena-rock style that is a welcoming return to the heavier sound of  the veteran group. Originally slated for a 2020 release, the album was postponed due to the ongoing COVID pandemic. Get ready for some steadfast shredding and eager riffs, which is a lean into the crowd-favorite experience. A raucous, metal-centric LP is a warm welcome to spring.

Sons of Kemet: Back to the Future 

The U.K.-based, modern-jazz, super group’s sophomore release showcases harmonically elegant compositions coupled with a ferocious drive. The political themes are enveloped within the lush, African rhythms and modes that are expertly woven into Caribbean dub and Middle Eastern timbres. Featuring vocalists such as Kojey Radical on the single “Hustle,” Black to the Future is an enticing, sonic poem of power, remembrance, and healing.

Fatima Al Qadiri: Medieval Femme

Invoking a simulated daydream through the metaphor of an Islamic garden, Qadiri is inspired by the classical poems of Arab women. Exploring the border between depression and desire, Medieval Femme weaves a supernatural story that is of the present, past, and future. Shaded with color and subtle friction, the album dives into themes of melancholic longing and transports listeners to a place of reverie and desolation. A true crossing into celestial sorrow and celebration.

Juliana Hatfield: Blood 

Featuring a collection of songs that are a reaction to how seriously and negatively people have been impacted by the last four years, Hatfield has used this project as a way to be influenced by the fun of writing music. Playing off the puzzle of melodies and lyrics, Blood explores the connection between beauty and softness with darkness and depth. Having written and recorded the album in her home in Massachusetts, she explores dark themes of modern, human psychology and behavior in the 19th studio album release.

Lord Huron: Long Lost 

Indie-folk quartet Lord Huron spent months alluding to the new release and have delivered a dreamy, country-Western aesthetic that proves the band is back and better than ever.  Strumming guitars accompany the unique vocal crooning and harmonic melodies in Long Lost that is a signature mixture for the band. A reminiscent pining lives on in the new tracks, and time both stands still and moves fluidly throughout the album. The echo of a memory, the tracks recall times that may have been a dream, or perhaps more …

k.d. lang: makeover 

In celebration of the soon-coming Pride Month, the LGBTQ legend will release makeover, a new collection of classic dance remixes of some of her iconic tracks. With lang’s muse being the memories of how community was built before social media and dating apps, she recalls the days of underground, dance clubs and relives that essence in the music. Connecting with a variety of producers, the memorable, hit tracks are reborn and will stand the test of time.