Don’t Miss New Albums From Mac Miller, The Weather Station, David Gray & More

Balloonerism is the second posthumously released album by late rapper Mac Miller, released today by Miller’s estate and Warner Records. Miller’s seventh album overall was recorded in 2014 and follows the previous posthumously released album, Circles. The rapper born Malcolm James McCormick, who died in 2018 at age 26, appears as his alter ego Delusional Thomas on the track “Transformations.” The song “DJ’s Chord Organ” includes the album’s only featured guest, SZA. A short film was released alongside the album. Regarding the project, Miller’s estate shared the following statement:

“Many of Malcolm’s fans are aware of Balloonerism, a full-length album that Malcolm created around the time of the release of Faces in 2014. It is a project that was of great importance to Malcolm — to the extent that he commissioned artwork for it and discussions concerning when it should be released were had regularly, though ultimately GO:OD AM and subsequent albums ended up taking precedence.

“We believe the project showcases both the breadth of his musical talents and fearlessness as an artist. Given that unofficial versions of the album have been circulating online for years and that releasing Balloonerism was something that Malcolm frequently expressed being important to him, we felt it most appropriate to present an official version of the project to the world.”

The Weather Station — the project of Toronto-based Tamara Lindeman — released Humanhood via Fat Possum. Recorded in Toronto in late 2023, Lindeman and co-producer Marcus Paquin combined drummer Kieran Adams, percussionist Philippe Melanson and bassist Ben Whiteley, the powerhouse rhythm section from Ignorance, with new music improvisers Karen Ng and Ben Boye. The overdubs folk interpreter Sam Amidon, ambient artist Joseph Shabason and British fingerstyle guitarist James Elkington on lead.

David Gray released his new album, Dear Life, through his label Laugh A Minute Records/Secretly Distribution. The British singer-songwriter recorded the follow-up to 2021’s Skellig with producer Ben de Bries. Sessions were held in a makeshift studio located in Norfolk, which sits two hours away from London. Talia Rae, who will provide support on Gray’s upcoming European tour dates, appears on the single “Plus & Minus.”

“A lot has happened to me,” Gray said. “There’s been change on so many levels, all the ups and downs and dramas and tragedies and joys that the slow movement through life brings. This record has been a reckoning with stuff that’s been building up like static for years. But I say this with joy and a smile on my face. I know what I’ve done is as good as anything I could possibly do.”

Singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Victoria Canal today released her highly-anticipated debut album, Slowly, It Dawns, through Parlophone Records/Elektra. The 26-year-old Spanish-American is a self-described “third culture kid” who has resided around globe, calling Shanghai, Tokyo, Amsterdam, London, Dubai Atlanta, New York and Forth Worth, Texas home throughout her life. The 12-track Slowly, It Dawns was written over the past three years and recorded in London and Los Angeles. Speaking about the album and its title, Canal said:

“Life does feel like the sun rising. You come into the world with very little clarity on the way things are – everything’s a little hazy and confusing. Then, as you get older, your eyes adjust to what life is; it gets messy and complicated, then spiritual and expansive.”

Héritage is the fourth album by the northern Mali-native rock band Songhoy Blues. The follow-up to the four-piece outfit’s 2020 album, Optimisme, with producer Paul Chandler was recorded at Remote Records Studio and Studio Moffou in the Mali capital of Bamako. The “desert blues” band enlisted the services of local musicians who played native instruments like kora (harp), soku (one-string fiddle), kamalengoni (eight-string youth harp), flute, Senufo xylophone and calabash percussion, while others were backing singers.

“The mixing up of cultures didn’t begin today!” said lead guitarist Garba Touré. “We are artists, we observe our society and we comment on it, giving advice and critiquing where necessary. This is our role.”

Ela Minus arrives with her sophomore album, Día, available today through Domino. Minus spent three years writing the follow-up her 2020 debut, acts of rebellion, in her native Colombia, during a brief stint living in Mexico, and at various short-term apartments and hotel rooms in North America and Europe. Thinking the album was ready to record, Minus instead restarted the composition process during a trip to California’s Mojave Desert and a month-long hotel and small studio stay in Los Angeles, plus stops in New York, a seaside home near Seattle, and visits to Mexico City and in London.