10 great new songs you should hear right now

Lots of great new singles and releases coming out this week. You’d be forgiven if you were struggling to keep up. Don’t worry, we got you. Here are our favourite new tracks from this week.

As always, follow the Nialler9 Weekly playlist for access to the freshest new music.

1.

Thom Yorke

Suspirium

Thom Yorke has described working on the soundtrack of the upcoming remake of Italian horror film Suspiria as like “making spells”. ‘Suspirium’, our first listen from his work on the film is certainly enchanting, a piano waltz of ominous proportions, which wisely sidesteps Goblin’s original’s iconic prog rock soundtrack.

2.

Marie Davidson

So Right

Marie Davidson is a producer and singer who has the ability to make tough-percussive electronic music with spoken word vocal style. That’s one part to the musician (who is also one half of Essaie Pas). For new album Working Class Woman, due October 5th on Ninja Tune, the Montreal producer works a similar palette as before (” Italo Disco, to proto-industrial and electro”) while exploring her own sense of self. ‘So Right’ is a little bit softer than some of Davidson’s previous work yet while retaining that body work she’s known for. A John Talabot remix is on the B-side.

3.

Art School Girlfriend

Distance (Blank)

The Wrexham artist Polly Mackey aka Art School Girlfriend has a second EP on the way called Into The Blue Hour. ‘Distance (Blank)’ is a textured track that is reminiscent of Daughter in tone. The song’s production feels a bit claustrophic though, a struggle is close, as echoed in the line “lately I’m in over my head.”

4.

LOR

Lunar Orbit Rendezvous

“Lunar orbit rendezvous is a key concept for efficiently landing humans on the Moon and returning them to Earth. LOR’s basic premise was to fire an assembly of three spacecraft into Earth orbit on top of a single powerful rocket.” LOR is also the Belfast artist who has a full-length album this Friday loosely based on NASA missions. ‘Lunar Orbit Rendezvous’ is a celestial Kraftwerk-esque dance track that bodes well for such a concept. To the moon and back!

5.

Julia Holter

I Shall Love 2

From Julia Holter’s forthcoming album Aviary (October 26th on Domino), ‘I Shall Love 2’ is a hopeful song offered as a way of return. “I am in love… There is nothing else”. Holter plays the Button Factory on December 8th.

6.

Josin

Burning (For A New Start)

German composer and producer Arabella Rauch aka Josin is a new artist with a debut album coming in January 2019. ‘Burning (For A New Start)’ finds itself somewhere between classical contemporary (Josin was recently remixed by Kiasmos too) and pop and says the song is “a sarcastic conversation with yourself about the end of the world. You know that you are part of the bad but too comfortable to make a change. Like for example everyday habits that have an impact on our environment- we know they’re bad but we don’t quit them. The very consequence of those little lies is a run-down place that can’t be fixed and has to start all over again. Maybe without us. But that‘s not what I wish for of course – I want to draw an extreme picture of conscious self-destruction, hoping for the opposite.”

7.

Ava Luna

Childish

AVA Luna have been knocking around a while, they were one of the best acts I saw in Texas at SXSW in 2012, where I said they were “a raggedy misfit version of Dirty Projectors playing barbershop doo wop proggy oddness”. Things have naturally changed since then but some of that DNA is at play with the R&B vibe of ‘Childish’ (new album Moon 2 is out), one of the songs on the album inspired by “a crate of recordings of neo-pagan goddess chants from 90’s women’s lib groups” – an unusual influence indeed.

8.

Luka Palm

San Pelly

With the promise of a full-length release later in the year, ‘San Pelly’ finds the Softboy MC sounding more assured and focused than ever before. A smooth soul sample lies on a bedrock of warm bass sweeps, but clever production has always been a hallmark of Palm’s music. The improvement lies mostly in the lyrical content and delivery. An urban love ballad, Palm’s most engaging wordplay combines classic romance tropes with the idiosyncrasies of lust in a contemporary Dublin city. Check out the reference to Disney’s lady and the tramp describing the MC going out in a tracksuit with his love interest.

9.

DAWN

Jealousy

DAWN (formerly Dawn Richard) has a trilogy of solo albums of electronic R&B out in the ether, and much critical acclaim. She returns with new breed, a new project coming in January that dates back to her upbringing in New Orleans and the video for ‘Jealousy’ finds Dawn wearing a traditional Mardi Gras Indians chief headdress – not something women are traditionally allowed to do. The song doesn’t quite live up to that history-breaking mould, but it is a fine R&B song – a one-sided conversation to a lover’s ex, asserting her own character and worth in reflection informed by the jealousy of the title. “I wrote a letter to your ex-girlfriend on Instagram tonight / I shouldn’t post it though but I really want petty to win tonight.’ Jealousy gets the better of the singer.

10.

Mountain Man

Rang Tang Ring Toon

Fans of the electro-pop duo Sylvan Esso (and they are bountiful in Ireland) will be interested to know that singer Amelia Meath recently reunited with her band of sisters Mountain Man for a new album of folky a capella songs called Magic Ship, their first in eight years. ‘Rang Tang Ring Toon’ sounds like the call of the autumn after a busy summer season.