New Music Fridays returns with a round-up of the week’s biggest releases.
HOUSTON-based trio Khruangbin reunite with their Fort Worth friend Leon Bridges for the standout release this week, while living meme Oliver Tree persues internet stardom with his new record.
Khruangbin & Lean Bridges – Texas Moon
Psychedelic funk dreamers Khruangbin travel the astral plains with the soulful vocals of Leon Bridges for the second time on their EP Texas Moon, a follow up to 2020’s hugely popular Texas Sun. Two tracks from the EP, B-side and Chocolate Hills, were released as singles over the past two months, with the EP release revealing tracks Doris, Father Father, and Mariella.
Bridges and Khruangbin appear to be a match made in heaven and have found a groove that makes their music sound effortless. The EP has a little bit of everything in it – blues, funk, country, gospel, soul – adequately personifying the part of the world from whence it came.
Kendra Morris – Nine Lives
The style of New York singer and filmmaker Kendra Morris is rooted in soul and R&B with nods to psychedelic rock, making her another great potential link-up with Khruangbin. Her new record Nine Lives comes a decade on from her first LP and is an excellent showcase of Morris’ songwriting abilities.
Beach House – Once Twice Melody
The much-teased double album from Beach House comes out in its entirety today and is the most beach house album you’re ever likely to hear. The Baltimore duo of Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally have been making dreamy ethereal shoegaze music for almost 20 years now and have really homed in on the sound they want – Once Twice Melody is a one hour and 24-minute amalgamation of all that fine-tuning and experience.
Oliver Tree – Cowboy Tears
Oliver Tree and his new album Cowboy Tears represents a fresh era for country music. Initially championed by Lil Nas X and Old Town Road, the new style is almost tailor-made for TikTok, with catchy riffs and simple lyrics aplenty. Tree got his big break from the video app of course with the track Life Goes On, which has now racked up over 310 million streams on Spotify.
Cowboy Tears, while fronting as an acoustic country album, is just as much intended for a pop audience and general internet virality. Cowboy Tears was the single released a few weeks back and it is undeniably catchy, but Oliver Tree fails to conjure anything mind-blowing at this latest juncture on his quest for internet stardom.
Metronomy – Small World
Metronomy’s main multi-instrumentalist Joe Mount returns with another pleasing blend of electronica and indie. Small World is only a modest 36 minutes long, but it packs a lot of positivity into this post-lockdown project, with tracks like Things will be fine and It’s good to be back providing listeners with an uplifting sense of optimism.
Singles
Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak, Silk Sonic – Love’s Train