10 New Albums Out Now From Sylvan Esso, This Is Lorelei, Bonobo & More

Sylvan Esso shared their first album in four years, Ow ∞, which is also the duo’s first LP issued on their Psychic Hotline label. Ow ∞, which follows 2022’s No Rules Sandy, was produced by Sylvan Esso’s Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn. The 12-track full length marks the longest Sylvan Esso has gone between album releases and was tracked at the band’s studio, Betty’s, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Meath and Sanborn were joined by BJ Burton (Bon Iver, Charli XCX), Matt Douglas (The Mountain Goats), Glenn Kotche (Wilco), Jake Luppen (Hippo Campus, Samia), Jenn Wasner (Wye Oak, Flock of Dimes), Joe Westerlund (Megafaun), TJ Maiani (Weyes Blood, Neneh Cherry), James Mapley Brittle (GRRL), Buddy Ross (Frank Ocean, Bon Iver) and Daniel Aged.

Meath provided the below statement regarding the album:

“One of my favorite ways of producing in general is to come up with an idea and then take out a third of it. One, it makes things interesting and exciting, but also it makes your ear ask a question. And it kind of forces the listener to be creative as well. To try to fill that space with something, which I find as a listener to be really exciting and interesting. Particularly with pop music, because it’s all about fulfilling a promise. You know this melodic structure, you know, we’re going to the four here. Not doing it is always the thing that makes people fall in love with a song or a person.

“Living hurts forever, and then it stops. But also it’s a little silly. And that’s how I feel. If you’re going to keep participating in the world, and in your life, you have to commit to being hurt. And if you aren’t putting yourself in the way of potential hurt, you miss out on a lot of potential opportunities. So in some ways it’s like a rallying cry, saying ‘I’m gonna get hurt forever, and that’s okay.’”

Singer-songwriter/producer This Is Lorelei (Nate Amos) released his third studio album, The Singer in My Band, via Matador Records. Engineered, produced and performed entirely by Amos – save for a banjo lead on the title track by his father, bluegrass musician Bob Amos, and occasional vocals from his sister Sarah Amos and partner Al Nardo – the follow-up to 2024’s Box for Buddy, Box for Star was written while touring the globe in support of projects from both This Is Lorelei and his band Water From Your Eyes.

“It’s funny, I sent my dad the album after I finished it, and he said it was kind of an ‘on the road beatnik’ album and that reframed it for me,” Amos said. “It really is like a collection of chaotic experiences that you have while travelling. They’re also very much little works of fiction with elements of truth to them.”

Bonobo (Simon Green) put out his eighth album, Distance In Static, through Ninja Tune. The British musician, producer and DJ continues his long history of eclectic collaborations on the follow-up to 2022’s Fragments. The newly available 13-track LP includes collaborations with Arooj Aftab, Joy Crookes, Nilüfer Yanya, Ichiko Aoba, Nicole Miglis and Aanya Martin. Distance In Static was recorded during sessions held in Los Angeles, Tokyo, London and beyond, with lyrics appearing in English, Urdu and Japanese alongside Iranian samples and guzheng recordings. The bulk of the album was completed at Neil Young’s famed Broken Arrow Ranch.

“It’s quite a mental place,” Green remembered of the facility. “There’s this picture of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young all jamming there with their shirts off in their 20s, and it’s like you see the picture and then you look over and there’s the place and there’s the studio and there’s the tape machine. There’s something quite magical about it creatively.”

London electronic Afrobeat collective Ibibio Sound Machine composed of vocalist Eno Williams, saxophonist/keyboardist Max Grunhard, guitarist Alfred Bannerman, bassist/keyboardist PK Ambrose, drummer Joseph Amoako, percussionist Afla Sackey, trumpeter/keyboardist Scott Baylis and trombonist/synth player Tony Hayden, released their sixth studio album, Chopping Mountain, via Merge Records. Produced by Grunhard and recorded primarily at the band’s Vanguard Studios in South London, the follow-up to 2024’s Pull the Rope features Dele Sosimi of Fela Kuti’s Egypt 80 on “Give Me Peace.”

Esteemed singer-songwriter, producer and guitarist Buddy Miller returns with his first solo album in 15 years, the self-titled full-length released today by New West Records. Buddy Miller boasts an impressive array of guests including Emmylou Harris, The War and Treaty, Lee Ann Womack, Shawn Colvin, Ashley Monroe, Elizabeth Cook, Jim Lauderdale, Dan Penn, Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams. The record’s core players are drummer Fred Eltringham, bassist Viktor Krauss, keyboardist Tim Lauer and pedal steel guitarist Steve Fishell along with appearances from The McCrary Sisters. Produced by Miller, the self-titled album marks his first solo LP since 2011’s The Majestic Silver Strings.

Estonian jazz composer and multi-instrumentalist Misha Panfilov released Where the Birds Fly. Recorded between January and April 2026 and produced by Panfilov, who plays piano, guitar, lap steel, bass, organ, harmonium, Mellotron and more throughout. The album also features contributions from Ilja Gussarov (flute, tenor saxophone, clarinet), Leonid Galaganov (drums), Sasha Petrov (tenor saxophone), Anna Dotsenko (vocals), Volodja Brodsky (vibraphone), Tomo Katsurada (guitar, cello) and Joe Harvey-Whyte (pedal steel).

“Every composition feels like a surprise to me,” Panfilov said. “I often leave a lot of room for chance, sometimes starting with whatever I happen to have around me that day. If my music stops surprising me, it stops being fun. The final result almost never sounds the way I originally imagined it and that’s a great thing.”

Announced days ago, Westside Whimsy is Los Angeles-based R&B singer-songwriter Jhené Aiko’s fourth studio album. Out today via ARTium/Def Jam Recordings, the release marks her first studio album since 2020’s Grammy-nominated Chilombo. The 20-track set features Kendrick Lamar on “So Good,” his first appearance on an Aiko project since 2013, Larry June on “Neighbors,” Ab-Soul and Tyga among others.

London indie rock band Bloc Party released their seventh studio album, Anatomy of a Brief Romance, through Contagious/Virgin Music Group. Vocalist Kele Okereke, guitarist Russell Lissack, drummer Louise Bartle and new bassist Harry Deacon recorded the album with producer by Trevor Horn. The follow-up to 2022’s Alpha Games is said to be a concept album structured as a chronological account of a year-long relationship from first glance to heartbreak and farewell.

“Every lyric you’re hearing on this record was something that actually happened to me,” Okereke revealed. “I had to tell the story, from start to finish.”

Valerie June released a new EP, Brighter Blue, on Concord Records. The Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter honors musical tradition on a three-song collection celebrating timeless American songs through her distinctive roots-inspired lens. June recorded what she titled, “Smokestack,” a fresh interpretation that combines Howlin’ Wolf’s blues classic “Smokestack Lightning” with the traditional folk song “In The Pines.” Along with “Smokestack,” the EP reimagines “I’ll Fly Away” and “Trouble In Mind” for the follow-up to her 2025 full-length studio album Owls, Omens, And Oracles. June enlisted Sam Amidon to contribute fiddle, banjo and backing vocals to “Trouble In Mind.”

Guitarist Terry Haggerty released a new solo album, Family, through Little Village. The record, built from songs spanning his decades-long career, was made with his brother, Tim Haggerty on keyboards and bass, and nephew Aaron Haggerty on drums. Terry Haggerty built his reputation as guitarist for Sons of Champlin, a San Francisco band known for blending rock with R&B and a horn section. Guests appearing across Family include vocalists Phil Perry, Mike Duke and Cliff Payne, as well as Sons of Champlin’s Bill Champlin. Additionally, David Aguilar plays guitar on several tracks. For Family, the Haggerty trio stripped the vocals from older recordings and rebuilt the songs, in some cases substantially. “Tears Of Time” began as an operatic, heavy-metal-leaning track in the 1980s before becoming a ballad. Other reworked songs include “Who Can You Trust,” “Greater Plan” and “Dogs Are Us.” The album’s three instrumentals include “Wish You Were Here,” “Latin Hags” and “New Frontiers.”

“Throughout my musical career I’ve been primarily known as the lead guitarist for the seminal ‘60s and ‘70s band, the Sons of Champlin,” Terry Haggerty said. “I have wanted to do a CD of my songwriting for a while now, and here I have the opportunity to do just that. My brother and I, with help from his son, Aaron, have taken my favorite tunes, reimagined and replayed them. I’ve included three instrumentals that represent some of the different styles I enjoy.”