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Wyvern Lingo’s self-titled debut album arrives on Rubyworks with much fanfare based on hard work, a regular gigging schedule and crucially, great preview songs. If lead single ‘I Love You Sadie’ is a starting point, then the group spend the rest of the album fleshing out and expanding upon that polished R’n’B sound with harmonius intent and a keen eye to real-world events. Without a doubt, the most exciting Irish prospect at the moment. Listen to them interviewed about the entitlement of Irish male artists of the past in our recent podcast.

The modern-day supergroup is a rarity, however, head of XL Records Richard Russell has assembled an impressive team to create this eclectic album. Featuring a plethora of artists ranging from Kamasi Washington to Sampha to Ibeyi to Giggs, with all musical ground in-between covered, the final product is the wonderful and sometimes bizarre Everything Is Recorded. . Don’t go into this album expecting loyalty to any singular genre, Russell instead seems to be concerned only with bringing out the best from the artists on each individual track. When it works, it shines but it sometimes feels a little lightweight.

Most artists focus solely on moving forward, writing and releasing an album to move on to the next project. Car Seat Headrest’s Will Toledo makes the interesting choice to revisit and re-imagine an old project with this remake of 2011’s Twin Fantasy. The addition of a bigger budget allows some of the lo-fi elements of the original release to be tweaked and upgraded. A worthwhile listen for those interested in seeing how far the group have come over the past seven years.

Temet marks Algerian desert rock sextet Imarhan’s second studio album. The band’s name, translating roughly into “the ones I care about”, is reflective of the passionate music the group create. Employing a hybrid sound of Western surf-rock guitars with pan-African rhythms and vocal deliveries, this release finds the group sounding more polished than their debut album.

Setting out to soundtrack the end of the world, this collaborative project between American synth-pop group Polica and Berlin-based orchestral ensemble Stargaze results in a stunning collection of novel music. Released under the supervision of London label Transgressive Records, this short album is packed full of haunting melodies and evolving textures. Landing somewhere between industrial and modernist, the apocalypse has rarely sounded better than on this album.

Posted on February 26th, 2018

Tags: new albums

Artists: Everything is Recorded, Imarhan, Poliça, Rejjie Snow, Stargaze, Wyvern Lingo