Don’t Miss New Albums From moe., The Weeknd, Lilly Hiatt, Cymande & More

moe.’s celebration of their 35th anniversary as a band includes today’s release of a new studio album, Circle of Giants, via Fatboy Records/ATO Records. The 10-track follow-up to 2020’s This Is Not, We Are marks the sextet’s 14th studio album and first since Nate Wilson joined moe. in 2023. Album tracks “Yellow Tigers” and “Giants” were written by Wilson. The past five years have been a turbulent time for moe. that has seen bassist Rob Derhak deal with personal loss and guitarist Chuck Garvey recover from a stroke.

Press materials shared moe.’s perspective on the new album:

In a nod to the band’s enduring resilience and musical evolution, Circle of Giants reflects on the journey of moe. through decades of highs and lows, bringing fans a fresh sound infused with introspective lyrics, masterful instrumentation, and dynamic energy.

Hurry Up Tomorrow is The Weeknd’s sixth album and completes a trilogy started with 2020’s After Hours and 2022’s Dawn FM. Singer-songwriter Abel Tesfaye has hinted the final trilogy installment could also be his last album under his The Weeknd moniker.

“You have a persona, but then you have the competition of it all,” Tesfaye told Variety. “It becomes this rat race: more accolades, more success, more shows, more albums, more awards and more No. 1s. It never ends until you end it.

“I don’t think I can stop doing [making music]. But everything needs to feel like a challenge. And for me right now, the Weeknd, whatever that is, it’s been mastered. No one’s gonna do the Weeknd better than me, and I’m not gonna do it better than what it is right now. I think I’ve overcome every challenge as this persona, and that’s why I’m really excited about this film, because I love this challenge. But I just want to know what comes after. I want to know what tomorrow looks like.”

Singer-songwriter Lilly Hiatt released her first new album in four years, Forever, through New West Records. Hiatt’s husband Coley Hinson produced Forever. The nine-song collection is Hiatt’s first since 2021’s Lately. In the post-pandemic time following the release of that album, the Los Angeles-born/Tennessee-raised Hiatt felt “overwhelmed and bewildered.” Hiatt responded by trying therapy and antidepressants and writing “dozens and dozens of songs about her feelings.” Hiatt eventually decided to attempt to quiet the noise and retreated to a rural spot outside Nashville where she recorded Forever with Hinson. The previously written songs were scrapped, with Hiatt and Hinson taking a one-song-at-a-time approach to recording.

Hiatt discussed the process of making Forever, stating:

“I fell in love, got married, adopted a dog, all the things I’d always dreamed of doing. But I felt like an outsider watching myself stumble through it all, just constantly critiquing myself to the point where I became so paralyzed I could hardly leave home.

“There was this intensity where I felt so jacked up all the time. Eventually, I just realized that my life was passing me by, that the love I was living in required presence to accept. So I started doing the little things you have to do to show up for the people in your life: listen, grow, change. I learned to expand my world.”

Highly influential British funk-fusion group Cymande return with their first album in 10 years, Renascence, out now via BMG. Formed in London in 1971 by guitarist Patrick Patterson and bassist Steve Scipio, Cymande released three albums in the early ‘70s before disbanding in 1974. But the group’s music continued to influence later funk and hip-hop artists. Ben Baptie produced Renascence, which sees guest turns from Jazzie B and Celeste.

Press materials described Cymande’s Renascence:

A true return to form and jewel in the crown of their iconic discography, Renascence picks up where their 1974 album Promised Heights left off – a spiritual and sonic follow-up, bringing a fresh modern edge to their iconic sound, which remains foundational to early hip-hop and funk scenes in the United States and U.K.

Singer-songwriter Bonnie “Prince” Billy (Will Oldham) takes a country turn with his latest album, The Purple Bird, which he released today through No Quarter. The 12-song set is just the second solo album Oldham has recorded with an outside producer. Nashville-based David “Ferg” Ferguson — who was a close associate of John Prine and Johnny Cash and has recently worked with Sturgill Simpson — produced The Purple Bird. The album sees Oldham joined by recent Country Music Hall of Fame inductee John Anderson and renowned bluegrass multi-instrumentalist Tim O’Brien.

Recalling his experience writing and recording with Anderson and Ferg, Oldham shared:

“I knew John was a great singer and hit-maker, but it was the Mekons cover of his hit ‘Wild and Blue’ that got me digging deeper and here we are so many years later, Anderson’s in the Country Music Hall of Fame and he welcomed Ferg and me into his home. we wrote two songs, the three of us, and then John fixed lunch. He’s a gentleman, a superstar, and one of the greatest country music singers of all time. Gratitude doesn’t begin to describe how I’m feeling right now.”

A Shaw Deal is the first collaborative album from Animal Collective’s and D.S. – “Sleepy” Doug Shaw (aka Highlife, formerly of White Magic and Janka Nabay). Released today by Drag City, A Shaw Deal presents seven tracks featuring Shaw’s guitar playing paired with Weitz’s electronic sound manipulations, synthesizers, loops and samples. Friends since the London-born Shaw arrived in New York City in 2003, the pair’s debut album began when Shaw recently posted short guitar clips on Instagram, catching Weitz’s attention who let them play on endless loops, eventually running them though his modular system, with the intent of giving them to Shaw as a birthday gift.

“I didn’t set out to make a Geologist record, or even a record anyone but Doug would hear,” Weitz revealed. “I didn’t add any new sounds beyond what existed, and just fed the raw materials through myself as a possible channel. That way, I could say, ‘Happy birthday. You made a record, you just didn’t know it.’”

Afrobeat legend Ebo Taylor is featured on a new album released today by the Jazz Is Dead record label. Jazz Is Dead producers Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad worked with the 88-year-old Taylor on Ebo Taylor JID022. Taylor, a pioneer of 1970s highlife and afrobeat music alongside West African musicians like Fela Kuti, toured the United States for the first time in 2022. The tour was produced by Jazz Is Dead, the record label and concert promoter founded in 2017 by Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammad of A Tribe Called Quest, Andrew Lojero and Adam Block. Taylor recorded Ebo Taylor JID022 during his stint touring the U.S. Among the additional contributors to Ebo Taylor JID022 was an ensemble of Ghanaian background vocalists, horn players, drummer Philip Andy Biney, percussionist Samson Olawe, bassist Emmanuel Ackone and others.

“Collaborating with Ebo Taylor is definitely a bucket-list accomplishment,” Younge said. “For me, it is the equivalent of working with musical genius Fela Kuti, because of how much I have studied both of their work and influence on the genre of Afrobeat. Seriously, recording the genius to analog tape while highlighting the raw recording styles of 1970s Africa is a dream I never thought could come to reality! It was also great to work with Ebo’s son, [keyboardist] Henry Taylor, who is a true musical force in his own right.”