Don’t Miss New Albums From David Byrne, Big Thief, El Michels Affair & More

David Byrne released Who Is The Sky, his highly anticipated first new album since 2018, through Matador Records. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer and Talking Heads frontman enlisted the members of New York-based chamber ensemble Ghost Train Orchestra to arrange the songs on the follow-up to 2018’s American Utopia. Byrne tapped Kid Harpoon (Harry Styles, Miley Cyrus) to produce the 12-track album.

Who Is The Sky? features contributions from an array of Byrne’s musical friends, including Ghost Train Orchestra, St. Vincent, Paramore’s Hayley Williams, The Smile drummer Tom Skinner and American Utopia percussionist Mauro Refosco.

Big Thief issued their sixth studio album, Double Infinity, through 4AD. The band – Adrianne Lenker, Buck Meek and James Krivchenia – recorded Double Infinity last winter at Power Station in New York City. Longtime band collaborator Dom Monks produced, engineered and mixed the nine-track follow-up to 2022’s Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You. The trio rode their bikes between Manhattan and Brooklyn over a three-week period which saw the band joined by Alena Spanger, Caleb Michel, Hannah Cohen, Jon Nellen, Joshua Crumbly, June McDoom, Laraaji, Mikel Patrick Avery and Mikey Buishas.

Nine-hour days of live recording resulted in what became Double Infinity, which features limited overdubs. A description of the process detailed their participation:

Laraaji created drones with zither and an iPad and sang intuitive vocal melodies. Joshua Crumbly played bass; Mikey Buishas made live tape loops and played keys; Mikel Patrick Avery, Jon Nellen, and Caleb Michel played percussion; Adam Brisbin played guitar; and Hannah Cohen, June McDoom, and Alena Spanger sang background vocals.

Producer Leon Michels enlisted the services of several special guests for the new El Michels Affair album, 24 Hr Sports. Released today through Big Crown Records, contributing musicians include Norah Jones, Clairo, Rogê, Shintaro Sakamoto, Florence Adooni and The Roots trumpeter Dave Guy. Late legendary jazz saxophonist Rahsaan Roland Kirk is posthumously featured as well. According to the album’s description:

“I think the evolution of my sound is this: It’s coming from old records, so it references the past a lot, but I’m not a purist, I’m a fan of modern technology,” Michels said. “I think what I’m doing is new. It’s a merging of the past and present, not unprecedented, but a good mix of then and now.”

Australian electronic/synth-pop band Cut Copy return with their seventh album, Moments, released today on their Cutters Records label. The follow-up to 2020’s Freeze, Melt, features Kate Bollinger on the single “Belong To You.” Cut Copy’s Dan Whitford spoked about the new record:

“Since our last album release, 5 years have passed. In that time I had a child, people around me fell in and out of relationships, the world went through a global pandemic and there has been a myriad of social and political upheaval. So I guess there’s been a fair bit on my mind, and for me making this album has been a way of processing it all.

“Stylistically everyone in the band loved the sonic palette of the last album. It felt clean, modern and emotive, but still like Cut Copy. We tried to keep that modern approach, but turn it into something more energetic, psychedelic and euphoric; seeing how that approach could evolve and work on a dance floor, not just an ambient context…

“Dance music is about connecting with one another after all. Euphoria bubbles away under the surface in most of the songs and I think that’s the Cut Copy DNA shining through.”

British singer-songwriter Tom Odell issued his seventh studio album, A Wonderful Life, today through UROK. Odell and his bandmates recorded the 10-track effort live during sessions held Church Studios, HOXA and RAK Studios’ renowned Room One. The follow-up to 2023’s Black Friday presents compelling lyrical components, which Odell went to immense efforts to achieve.

“I labored over every line,” Odell confessed. “I went in on those words every day, just refining and refining and refining. I can be a bit obsessive, and the obsessive part of me is probably the worst part of me and the bit that I would pay so much money for a therapist to tell me how to lose. But it’s also the bit that does not give up on songs.”

Brit rockers shame released a new album, Cutthroat, today through Dead Oceans. The band consisting of childhood friends — frontman Charlie Steen, guitarists Sean Coyle-Smith and Eddie Green, bassist Josh Finerty and drummer Charlie Forbes — worked with highly sought-after producer John Congleton on the 12-track LP. The band held sessions with Congleton at Salvation Studios in Brighton, England.

“This is about who we are,” Steen said. “Our live shows aren’t performance art — they’re direct, confrontational and raw. That’s always been the root of us. We live in crazy times. But it’s not about ‘Poor me.’ It’s about ‘Fuck you’.”

The Avett Brothers co-founder Seth Avett assumed his Timothy Seth Avett as Darling moniker for his new solo album, Feathe. Avett and Dana Nielsen co-produced Feathe (rhymes with “breathe”), with the pair playing guitar, bass, drums, piano, and synthesizer across its 11 tracks. Written by Avett over the past several years, the songs on Feathe showcase his “ongoing autobiographical narrative, experience-based philosophy, and musical evolution.” Guest vocalists Jessica Lea Mayfield and Charissa Nielsen can be heard alongside Avett, who rapped over hip-hop beats on the singles, “Education” and “It’s Natural.”

NYC-based Escaper released their latest studio LP, Still Time, through Ropeadope Records. The core of guitarist Will Hanza and keyboardist Phil Kadet was joined by lespecial bassist Luke Bemand and Brazilian Girls’ drummer Aaron Johnston. The band co-produced the eight-song album with John Davis during recording sessions he engineered at The Bunker Studio in Brooklyn.

Pennsylvania-based guitarist Jon Fadem shared his first solo album, Thankful, today via Label 51 Recordings/Flatiron Recordings. Fadem, who is the guitarist for Talking Heads’ tribute band Start Making Sense, among other endeavors, played guitar, bass, keyboards, mandolin and dulcimer, Thankful, with drummer John Kimock the only other contributing musician. Fadem provided the below insights into his debut solo album:

“This album is a collection of original, guitar-oriented, instrumental songs taken from different periods in my life. After many years of playing and touring nationally with different cover bands, I decided to make an album of my own music, and it is a very personal project to me. It took countless hours over two years to complete the album, and make sure it sounded exactly how I wanted it to sound. I played all of the instruments myself, with the exception of drums and percussion, which were played by John Kimock, who plays with Mike Gordon of Phish, and Oteil Burbridge of Dead and Company.

“The template for the overall sound of the album was my favorite music from the seventies, specifically these three albums: Jeff Beck’s Blow by Blow, Stevie Wonder’s Talking Book, and Joni Mitchell’s The Hissing of Summer Lawns. I wanted it to be an album that people would enjoy listening to. Theoretically, they would be able to either sit down and listen to it carefully and enjoy it, or just put it on and go about their day, allowing the music to become part of the fabric of their life. Either way, I sincerely hope that people like it, and that it finds a welcome home in people’s lives.”