New releases out today: John Glacier, Horsegirl, Kelela, Richard Dawson and more
Here’s a rundown of new Albums & EPs on DSPs and physical releases in record shops this week.
Nialler9 keeps a rolling list of Irish album releases for 2025.
It’s the first big release week of the year.
Let’s dive in.
Releases Index
New Albums
John Glacier – Like A Ribbon
London rapper, producer and poet John Glacier has been one of my favourite new artists of the last two years, so very excited to hear how it all sounds together on the new album.
Released on Young today, the album was co-produced and written by Vegyn, Kwes Darko and Flume, and features Sampha and Eartheater, Glacier draws from rap, punk, electronica, indie and soul to create a prism of her own making.
Kelela – In The Blue Light
An unplugged style recording of a live show from the future R&B artist performing songs from across her catalogue in a stripped back style.
A big part of Kelela’s appeal is the gargantuan honey-dewed voice that is is centre stage, on this live set recorded over two nights at Blue Note Jazz Club in New York.
Horsegirl – Phonetics On and On
New York-via-Chicago trio’s new album was produced by Cate Le Bon and pitched as “exploration of the lines between pop, minimalism, and playful experimentation.”
I like what I’m hearing so far of the light alternative indie pop style in their songs – a little bit Stereolab, Pavement, The Strokes.
It’s the band’s second album, released on Matador Records. They play Workman’s Club in Dublin on June 24th.
Richard Dawson – End of the Middle
English singer-songwriter Richard Dawson specialised in homespun songs that speak to the everyday details of modern living.
End of the Middle is partly inspired by his love of the films of Japanese director Yasujirō Ozu, the album focuses around a family unit.
“It zooms in quite close-up to try and explore a typical middle class English family home,” Dawson says. “We’re listening to the stories of people from three or four generations of perhaps the same family. But really, it’s about how we break certain cycles. I think the family is a useful metaphor to examine how things are passed on generationally.”
Various Artists – A Love from Outer Space
Andrew Weatherall (RIP) and Sean Johnston’s influential club night forms the basis of this compilation highlights tracks that helped define the sound of A Love from Outer Space (ALFOS) while also pointing toward its future, marking the 15th anniversary of this unique club night.
Sean Johnston plays Dublin next Friday at The Sound House B2B with Cian O’Ciobhain.
Oracle Sisters – Divinations
Paris-based dreamy pop three-piece Oracle Sisters – Julia Johansen, Chris Willatt & Lewis Lazar draw from the surrealist poetry of Baudelaire and Rimbaud to the introspective philosophies of Carl Jung with musical influences including Talking Heads, Air, and Leonard Cohen.
The album was written in response to what the band saw and felt on their 2023 US tour and Lazar shares, “imbibed in Blakean visions, biblical lore, and stream of consciousness writing Divinations is an ode to the poetic world of visionaries and dreamers who reach for the landscape of the imagination and the unforeseen in times of uncertainty. Sonically the album is a marriage of western music, country, French touch, rock n roll and the ethereal folk.”
Father John Misty – I Love You, Honeybear Demos, Etc
A digital-only release of demos that were initially released on cassette in 2015. It also includes a solo acoustic performance of Nirvana’s ”Heart Shaped Box” recorded for SiriusXM during the I Love You, Honeybear cycle.
Nyahh Records – A Collection of Slow Airs by Some Very Fine Fiddlers
Leitrim’s Nyahh Records second collection of trad music, . focuses on traditional fiddle Slow Airs – the style of tune that is slower and more melancholy. All the players on the compilation including Ultan O’Brien, Saileog Ní Cheannabháin,
Cormac Mac Diarmada and more recorded these songs themselves.
Alannah Thornburgh – Shapeshifter
Irish composer and harpist’s new album is inspired by the traditions of fairy folklore and mythology from rural Ireland, particularly her native County Mayo.
“I was always fascinated by the fairy fort behind my Grandad’s house,” Alannah shares. “A conversation with him about the tale of ‘Mick na mBréag’ (Mick the Liar), who crossed the fairy folk, inspired the composition of a piece that ultimately became part of this album.”
With the support of the Arts Council’s Next Generation Award, Alannah conducted interviews with nearly 50 historians, storytellers, and locals, collecting stories and experiences that inform her music. These conversations are woven throughout the album.
Musically, Shapeshifter draws heavily on traditional Irish and folk influences with jazz and specifically Seamus Fogarty’s The Curious Hand album cited.
The album features contributions from Laura Quirke (Lemoncello), Joshua Burnside, Lorcan Byrne (Basciville) and more.
Sean Mulrooney – This Is My Prayer
Former Humanzi and current Tau and the Drones Of Praise musician Mulrooney releasess a debut solo album inspired by Celtic mysticism, rooted in a blend of Irish psychedelic and folk medicine music.
“The album promises to draw on archetypal themes—Lover, Magician, Warrior, and King who plays the Fool, Fool who plays the King. These symbolic influences reflect a maturity earned through Mulrooney’s life and musical experiences, infusing each track with the depth of the spiritual and the rawness of the personal.”
Ann Cleare, Crash Ensemble – TERRARIUM
TERRARIUM is an immersive soundscape where geological history and human memory converge. Composed by Ann Cleare and performed by Crash Ensemble, the album invites listeners to experience the shifting landscapes of Ireland’s Midlands through a sonic lens.
Premiered live at New Music Dublin in 2024, TERRARIUM is the culmination of Cleare’s residency with Crash Ensemble. The work intricately maps the geological evolution of Ireland’s Midlands, transforming natural and industrial landscapes—from ice to lake to bog to urbanisation—into a dynamic sound world. The piece captures the forgotten and enduring myths that echo from this post-industrial terrain, creating an auditory portrait of time and place.
The project was created in collaboration with Kari Cahill and Hazel McCague from Lay of the Land and Laura Sheeran, Crash Ensemble’s filmmaker-in-residence.
Annika Kilkenny – Me In The Mud EP
The Kilkenny singer-songwriter with the county name, has found kinship in the jazz pop artist Laufey and her music, which documents a young adulthood, is similarly expansive.
Blue Slate – This Is How I Sleep At Night EP
Kildare alt-rock band’s new EP on Blowtorch Records (Adore, Search Results, Virgins) drawing influence from classic rock, with the title song reminiscent of Romance current-era Fontaines.
Also released today
- Alessia Cara – Love & Hyperbole
- Bartees Strange – Horror
- BLOND:ISH – Never Walk Alone
- Denison Whitmer – Anything At All
- Doves – Constellations for the Lonely
- Hifi Sean & David McAlmont – TWILIGHT
- Mallrat – Light hit my face like a straight right
- Manic Street Preachers – Critical Thinking
- Men I Trust – Forever Live Sessions Vol 2
- Rizzle Kicks – Competition Is For Losers
- Sabrina Carpenter – Short n’ Sweet (Deluxe)
- The Lumineers – Automatic
- THEY. – LOVE.JONES
- Yukimi (Little Dragon) – Stream Of Consciousness EP
- Westside Gunn – 12
