Hey. How’s everybody doing out there? I hope you’re happily binging on some fresh new series that you can’t get enough of (Where are my Normal People and Never Have I Ever people at?!), drinking your coffee (or cocktail—I don’t know what time of day it is where you are!) just the way you like it, cuddling with your beloved pet, burning a fancy ass candle that you paid too much for or just feeling as good as you can feel right now. Now more than ever, it truly is the little things that have the power to brighten our days! And while music can certainly be a big thing, it’s nice that every Friday still brings a fresh crop of new albums for us to snack on—it’s a simple routine that lingers from the “before-times,” but it’s a comforting one nonetheless. Today is an especially stacked New Music Friday with new albums from heavyweights like Charli XCX, Future and Jason Isbell as well as an incredible new pop album from Perfume Genius, the anticipated second part of Moses Sumney’s new double album, the debut LP from a buzzy Brooklyn band and an album by a folk artist our critic is calling “bewitching.” It all sounds great, right? Find all these releases and more below, and may your weekend be as soothing as this Instagram account.
1. Charli XCX: how i’m feeling now
It’s been just over a month since Charli XCX announced she’d be recording a quarantine album with a month-and-a half deadline. how i’m feeling now is finally here, ahead of singles like “I Finally Understand,” “Claws” and “Forever.” —Austin Jones
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2. Future: High Off Life
Future is today releasing his first album since Future Hndrxx Presents: The WIZRD (save for an EP, SAVE ME EP). High Off Life features quite a cast of guests including Drake, Travis Scott, DaBaby, Young Thug, Lil Uzi Vert, YoungBoy Never Broke Again, Lil Baby and Meek Mill. DJ Esco produced the record. —Ellen Johnson
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3. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit: Reunions
We could use a little Jason Isbell right now. Thankfully, the Alabama-bred/Nashville-based country singer and beloved songwriter is back today with a new album. His new project with his ace country-rock band the 400 Unit, Reunions, arrived a week early exclusively at indie record stores and is the follow-up to 2017’s critically adored The Nashville Sound. —Ellen Johnson
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4. Jess Williamson: Sorceress
About two-thirds of the way through the title track on her new album, Jess Williamson sings, “Yes, there’s a little magic in my hat / But I’m no sorceress.” Agree to disagree. Williamson is, at the very least, bewitching on Sorceress, her fourth album. It’s a blend of folk and country, with a dash of psychedelic rock, that brings together the strongest elements of her previous work—all the hints and glimpses of something deeper musically, and vocally, that never felt completely explored—into a fully realized collection of 11 songs that are at once polished, precise and visceral. —Eric R. Danton
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5. Moses Sumney: græ (Part Two)
On part one of his double album græ, Moses Sumney embodied the graceful disregard for genre constraints. The first 12 tracks were an emotional revelation—parsing the intricacies of intimacy, masculinity and structural hurdles in many forms—and as for the eight-track part two, we can only expect more candid confessions and free-spirited sounds. —Lizzie Manno
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6. Nahko And Medicine For The People: Take Your Power Back
Nahko, who has been performing solo or with his band Medicine for the People since he left home as a teenager, today releases a new batch of music that is “proof positive that our true power—spiritual, physical, and emotional—inevitably comes from within,” in his own words. Born of Apache, Puerto Rican and Filipino heritage, he mixes folk and hip-hop into a one-of-a-kind style of music with a beautiful message of social healing. The band’s new album Take Your Power Back is out today. —Josh Jackson
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7. Nick Hakim: WILL THIS MAKE ME GOOD
Nick Hakim’s music is just as enigmatic as himself. His 2017 Paste Studio live performance might be the most delightfully weird session we’ve ever broadcast. Sitting on a stool with a mic in his hand, Hakim focusedly fiddled with a tape machine through amazing lo-fi renditions of songs from his breakthrough debut, Green Twins, and only when it was done, did he seem to notice that he’d been surrounded by Paste’s collection of tapes and recordings; he proceeded to wonder in amazement. It was a fitting moment for the eccentric who writes vivid explorations of the mind’s eye, like his latest single, “CRUMPY”, which even features Mac DeMarco on guitar?! No doubt about it, Hakim is ready to take us on another trip. —Adrian Spinelli
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8. Perfume Genius: Set My Heart on Fire Immediately
Perfume Genius’ Mike Hadreas is one of modern pop’s true boundary-pushing juggernauts. While No Shape saw him lean into bold, adventurous art-pop, Set My Heart on Fire Immediately sees him embrace American rock ‘n’ roll glory. It still preserves his enthralling tenderness and idiosyncratic pop palette, but it adds torched guitars and classic rock melodies. It’s Hadreas at his most abstract and carefree. —Lizzie Manno
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9. Public Practice: Gentle Grip
Ever since the release of their 2018 EP Distance Is a Mirror, Brooklyn-based Public Practice have proven their penchant for clever songwriting, instrumental prowess and, especially among New York fans, a live show that entrances so successfully that it’s almost physically impossible not to shake one’s ass. On Gentle Grip, the band’s debut full-length album, there’s a sense that the formerly embedded scrappiness and punk edge were sacrificed for slicker, more stylish sounds. —Natalia Keogan
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10. Retirement Party: Runaway Dog
Following their lead single “Runaway Dog,” and another single “Compensation,” Chicago three-piece Retirement Party have shared their new album via Counter Intuitive Records. Paste featured Retirement Party in our list of Chicago Bands You Need to Know back in 2018. “Compensation” contemplates how to remain authentic and well-intentioned in a world that’s almost always the opposite, and this weighty question is paired with propulsive, good-natured indie rock. —Lizzie Manno
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