12 New Albums Out Now From Weezer, Brandon Flowers, Grace Potter & More

Weezer released their self-titled 20th album through Reprise/Warner Records. Nicknamed The Gold Album due to the color of its cover art, the 10-song LP is the band’s first full-length effort since 2021’s Van Weezer. The members of the group gathered at an Orange County rehearsal space to begin work on the LP after completing their 30th anniversary tour. Weezer was birthed out of those sessions, complete with tracks written by three of the band’s four members. When Weezer entered the studio they recruited Klas Ahlund and Kenneth Blume (FKA Kenny Beats) to co-produce the record. The single “We Might As Well Be Strangers,” was recorded in collaboration with Wednesday vocalist Karly Hartzman.

The Killers frontman Brandon Flowers shared a new solo album Thrasher. The singer-songwriter cut the record at Nashville’s Historic RCA Studio A with longtime collaborators Shawn Everett and Jonathan Rado producing. The record features ace Nashville players — David Rawlings (guitar), Bruce Bouton (pedal steel) and famed harmonica player Charlie McCoy — as Flowers returns to his country roots growing up in Nephi, Utah.

“As I’ve gotten older, I’ve found my way back to my father’s music – ‘Country-Western’ (as he called it) – and discovered that the stories I carry really feel most at home in the skin of this beautiful American tradition,” Flowers stated.

Grace Potter issued her seventh studio album, Trespasser, through Thirty Tigers. Considered by Potter to be the “spiritual sequel” to 2023’s Mother Road, Potter’s husband produced Trespasser at recording sessions held across multiple locations. Potter began at her Topanga Canyon home with Benmont Tench of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, continued in Nashville with Mother Road session players Nick Bockrath, Tim Deaux and Matt Musty, and concluded in Vermont with members of her live band, guitarists Indya Bratton and Ricky Dover Jr., bassist Kurtis Keber, and drummer Jordan West.

“We’ve always been taught that the trespassers are the bad guys, but to me it’s not about reckless rebellion — it’s about exploring, physically and mentally and emotionally, and being willing to step outside the narratives we’ve accepted,” Potter said. “Because in my experience, the places we’re told not to go are exactly the ones that show us who we really are.”

Lambchop issued a new album, Punching The Clown, on Merge Records. Project leader Kurt Wagner and Lambchop’s Andrew Broder wrote the 12 tracks on Punching The Clown, an intriguing mix of voice, banjo and other acoustic instruments. Additional contributions came from a choir and Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon on banjo. Vernon and the six-piece choir appear throughout Punching The Clown, which was cut at Vernon’s April Base studio in Wisconsin with producer Ryan Olson at the helm. Percussion is absent from Punching The Clown save for lead single “Weakened,” which contains castanets. Wagner detailed the inspiration behind the new Lambchop album:

“in early 2024 i heard a song on the radio on my way to get some gas. just a minimal single chord strummed banjo and a small group of voices. it seemed perfect in the moment as the moment became perfect in itself. i never found out who it was, sounded kinda like early country gospel? in a time of searching i discovered a type of gospel singing known as lined out singing which is said to have begun in the late 1800s in scotland. it migrated to appalachia and became an obscure root of american gospel, country.…

“a spontaneous call and response type of acapella singing led by a clerk with a chorus of singers revealing the raw beauty and power of the human voice with its unique varieties its unadorned simplicity gave weight to the words as they were sung. i wanted to make a record that emulated this kind of music.”

The Afghan Whigs released their 10th studio album, Soft Control, via Royal Cream/BMG. Soft Control was recorded at Fireside Sound in Joshua Tree, Marigny Studios in New Orleans, Gold Diggers Sound in East Hollywood and Sycamore in Cincinnati. The album features contributions from former Afghan Whigs drummer Patrick Keeler as well as vocalist/violist Petra Haden, My Morning Jacket keyboardist Bo Koster and others.

“I’ve worked hard on my inner peace,” said Afghan Whigs frontman Greg Dulli. “I was an angry young man, and it fueled my art, ambition and my drive. I wouldn’t change anything because I can’t. But as I got into photography and other art forms, I realized that I’m not in competition with anyone – including myself. Now, I know what I’m doing and there’s a quiet confidence that comes with being able to back it up.”

Wild Pink (John Ross) returned with a new album, Still Coming Down, out today via Fire Talk. Ross recorded at Asheville, North Carolina’s Drop Of Sun studios with producer and engineer Alex Farrar (Bnny, Wednesday, Samia), Still Coming Down follows Wild Pink’s acclaimed 2024 LP, Dulling The Horns. The new record sees assists from Hand Habits’ Meg Duffy as well as MJ Lenderman and his The Wind bandmates Landon George and Xandy Chelmis.

Grammy-winning blues singer-songwriter and guitarist Keb’ Mo’ released his 17th studio album, The Breakdown, on Concord Records. Recorded at his home studio outside Nashville, the follow-up to his 2021 Grammy-nominated Good To Be… strips his recordings back to voice and guitar alone, with the Soweto Gospel Choir appearing on “Hand It Over” and gospel sextet Take 6 on “They Don’t Make ‘Em Like They Used To.” The record was written in the wake of life-saving open heart surgery and the end of his nearly 20-year marriage.”

“It felt like everything in my life was breaking down. My health, my relationship, my whole world. The only way I knew how to respond was to break the music down, too. I was struggling to breathe and thought there must be something wrong with my lungs. When I finally got off the road, I went to the doctor, and they sent me straight to the emergency room.

“It felt like death was tapping me on the shoulder. I’d been going around feeling healthy and strong all these years, and suddenly I had to face the possibility that I might not make it. I had to go through some difficult experiences to get these songs, but I learned a lot looking back on my life and my relationships and taking inventory of everything in a new light.

“I’m turning 75 this year, and I know I won’t be around forever. All you can do is make the most of what you’ve got and be grateful for every step of the journey.”

Minnesota-raised, Nashville-based singer-songwriter Brennan Wedl released her self-titled debut solo album via ANTI- Records. Co-produced by Katie Crutchfield of Waxahatchee and Brad Cook, the album was recorded live over 10 days at Cook’s studio in Durham, North Carolina. Previously a member of Dazey & the Scouts, Wedl’s solo debut features additional contributions from Colin Croom, Matt McCaughan and Snail Mail’s Lindsey Jordan.

“The archetype of Daddy is something I’ve been searching for all my life, but turns out, the daddy I’ve been looking for has been me all along,” Wedl said. “Be your own daddy.”

British singer-songwriter Sam Smith released their fifth studio album, Hazel Eyes, via Capitol Records. Co-produced by Smith alongside Simon Aldred and David Odlum, the follow-up to 2023’s Gloria was recorded in part at Electric Lady Studios in New York City, and is said to be Smith’s “heartfelt ode” to New York City where they currently live. Hazel Eyes features Feist on “My Guy,” “Moondance” and “Constant Companion,” with multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily and composer Rob Moose also contributing throughout.

“This album is an incredibly special record to me,” Smith said. “I have been writing it for over three years with a very small group of beautiful, dear friends of mine. This album is very personal, and I feel I have deepened myself as an artist through the making of it, through being a producer on the record, to walking alongside this record from the start to the finish and pushing myself at every single turn. This record and this music is incredibly romantic. I’ve learned so many life lessons through making this album, and I’ve documented it all through the music.”

Los Angeles composer and songwriter Julia Holter issued Materia through Domino. A companion album to her acclaimed 2024 release Something in the Room She Moves, the seven-track set was recorded with her band — Elizabeth Goodfellow (drums), Devra Hoff (fretless bass), Maia (flute), Chris Speed (saxophone and clarinet) and Tashi Wada (synthesizers) — and co-produced and engineered by Kenny Gilmore. The album includes two reinventions the Something in the Room She Moves track “Materia,” as well as songs written between tours and a pair of solo improvisations, including the 10-minute “My Twin,” recorded mostly in a single take.

Sacramento-born singer-songwriter Chelsea Wolfe released her eighth studio album, The Dark, via Loma Vista Recordings. Produced by Jennifer Decilveo (Hozier, Bat for Lashes), the follow-up to 2022’s She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She features collaborators from Nine Inch Nails, Queens of the Stone Age, Tori Amos and Air, and includes a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Death Is Not the End.”

ENHYPEN put out their eighth mini album, THE SIN : BLISS. The six-track set marks the K-pop band’s first release a six-piece following the departure of Heeseung in March. Heesung parted ways with Jay, Jake, Sunghoon, Sunoo, Jungwon and Ni-Ki to pursue a solo career. He has since rebranded as EVAN. The new mini album is the second installment in the group’s THE SIN series. ENHYPEN previously released THE SIN : VANISH in January.