EMF
The Beauty and the Chaos (EMF Records)
When we first heard that Brit indie band EMF would be releasing new music, we were extremely excited. This is, after all, the band that gave the world 1991's classic Schubert Duo album and the smash hit "Unbelievable." Somehow, 2022's comeback Go Go Sapiens album had passed us by, but this news made us tingle. Then we restrained ourselves, desperate to avoid disappointment.
We needn't have worried. From the moment the single "Hello People" dropped, it was clear that EMF isn't phoning the new material in. This is prime EMF--all big hooks, trippy vibes, and gloriously droning harmonies. That single opens the album, while "21st Century," with it's "I woke up in the 21st century:" refrain, captures the mood of a generation.
The highest praise we can heap on this album is that, when they perform live, the new songs are as anticipated (by us at least) ads the oldies.
Tracy Bonham
Sky Too Wide (A Woody Hollow)
According to her press bio, alt-singer-songwriter Tracy Bonham is a classically trained violinist and pianist. That tracks, when listening to her new album Sky Too Wide. Not that it's an orchestral album. But there are touches, moods, occasional flourishes, that hint at the classical background.
The jazzy piano on opening track "Give Us Something to Feel," for example, is beautifully subtle and emotive. Less is more and all that.
"This album is really about getting back up after some major personal challenges," Bonham said in a statement. "I am more aware and awake than I have ever been."
Boy, is she! Songs such as "The Uncertain Sun" and "Damn the Sky" spell out some of the turmoil she was experiencing, which is also offered up in the form of the front cover art which depicts Bonham falling from the sky. It's a stark image that works devastatingly well here.
"Dear God, Should I Hit Send" might be the most human, relatable song conceived in some time.
The vinyl, meanwhile, is blue and glittery, and furthers the "empty space" vibe. The whole thing is beautiful, painful and ultimately rewarding.
The Hallelujah Ward
Everybody Swoons (Foreign Leisure Records)
The opening song on this new album from Milwaukee indie rockers The Hallelujah Ward, "Your Uncertain Shadow," is also the first single that they released from this record. Touching on the subject of mental health, it's a thoughtful, quite hopeful song that this writer, for one, needed.
"Make your bed and take your time, fill your lungs with hope and rhyme," goes the chorus. Will do, guys. Will do!
The song is inspired by Frightened Rabbit vocalist Scott Hutchison, who took his own life in 2018. "This song started shortly after his death and just before my 44th birthday," said HW vocalist Mark Waldoch. "That darkness is a depth of feeling that goes both ways. It's your most profound strength and an intense weakness."
Those conflicting feelings, that dichotomy, is a theme throughout. At times downbeat, a shoegaze fans dream, the album is also awash with good advice: "Don't add to the panic" on "Diet Suicide," and "I'll find a home in the morning" on "The Ring of Brightest Angels, Around Heaven," are two solid examples.
This is the classic "onion" album--repeated listens will reveal new layers. And there's enough to intrigue on the first spin to keep you flipping the lovely marbled vinyl.
