Welcome to New Music Friday, where Clairo is queen, Katy Perry is back and so is Remi Wolf. Scroll down to see the best new release out this week. Keep reading to hear other great records and tracks worthy of a listen.
The Best of New Music Friday:
Clairo – Charm
The transition between the first and second songs on Clairo’s third album Charm is the exact moment the promised glamour of this record is fulfilled. Track one, “Nomad” is a whisper crescendoing into a fuller volume. The first chunk of piano on “Sexy to Someone” takes the sound up a whole notch.
It’s also here, near the beginning of the record, that listeners might notice how layered this soft rock LP is. Between the drums, slide guitars and beat-keeping keys, Clairo herself plays flute. Listeners can practically imagine her hitting those declining “buh-dah-doo, buh-dah-doo’s” that chime in throughout “Sexy to Someone.”
If it wasn’t obvious enough by the pianos and organs that make up the bulk of instrumentation on “Second Nature,” this is a key-heavy album. Pianos and synths carry everything from the appropriately labeled “Slow Dance” and funky songs like “Thank You.” A piano or key-centric record is a dazzling thing in the age of guitars. This focus on keys helps separate Clairo from many soft rock acts of her era. It’s a bold thing for many musicians to do. Arctic Monkeys bothered to try it after releasing the biggest guitar rock album of the 2010s. Clairo does it so seamlessly that nobody will kick up a fuss. Most people will likely enjoy and nod along to these tracks.
Perhaps it’s the aesthetical “holding a woodwind instrument in the forest” images that helped everyone see where Clairo was headed on her new album. It could also be the tone she set with the two singles she released before Charm’s full release, where she declared their characteristics were similar to what the rest of Charm would sound like. Whatever it was, this record is indeed charming for several new reasons.
Clairo leaned into her vocal expression and full-band vibe when she released her second studio record Sling three years ago in summer 2021. She connected with fans while touring that LP over the next two years. The band all get together and show off their many talents on “Terrapin,” a song that begins with a drumroll, glittery pianos, humming and harmonizing background vocals, tasty bass licks and the most guitar you’ll hear anywhere on this album. A spacey jazz tone follows on “Juna,” a well-produced and almost alarming track with panicky bells ringing and sharp notes abruptly being hit. It’s an example of Clairo having a back-and-forth freakout. “You make me wanna go buy a new dress” she sings in a tone that’s not fully confident. “You make me wanna slip off a new dress.” The band’s sound is equally perplexing. It’s a really smart and dynamic track.
There are just as many upbeat songs as there are slower tracks on Charm. Each one is like a carnival of sound. This is the perfect chance to sit back and enjoy the moment of a special musician entering a special era. Between its dynamic lyricism, excellent composition and Clairo’s superstardom, we dare say Charm is the smartest album released in years.
New Music Friday Top Picks:
Brijean – Macro [Ghostly International]
Cassandra Jenkins: My Light, My Destroyer [Dead Oceans]
Chris Cohen: Paint a Room [Hardly Art]
elijah woods – “2 thousand 10” [self-released]
Griff – Vertigo
Joe Goddard – Harmonics [Domino]
Katy Kirby – Blue Raspberry (Deluxe) [Anti-]
Katy Perry – “WOMAN’S WORLD” [Capitol]
Kučka – Can You Hear Me Dreaming? [LuckyMe]
Los Campesinos! – All Hell [Heart Swells]
Mas Aya – Coming and Going [Telephone Explosion]
Remi Wolf – Big Ideas [Island]
Sophie Powers – Glitch: Lvl 1 [Atlantic]
Tanukichan – “City Bus” [Carpark]
Which of these tracks from New Music Friday will you add to your favorite playlists today? Any we missed? Let us know in the comments or on Instagram!
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