JACK’S FAVORITES
GUTS – Olivia Rodrigo
Olivia Rodrigo and frequent collaborator Dan Nigro team up once again on sophomore effort, GUTS. Released two years after her breakthrough debut, SOUR, Olivia returns with a tight, punchy collection of wise-beyond-her-years anecdotes on teenage heartbreak, growing up and grappling with fame. Musically, the album is a strong step forward for her in many ways: “Bad Idea Right?” is laden with cheeky humor and personality, while “Vampire” starts as a piano-driven sequel to “driver’s license” only to shift gears midway into a frantic Queen-like rock opera. Her voice is more confident, her sound more distinctive, and her writing as raw and honest as the album’s title would suggest.
Javelin – Sufjan Stevens
On his 10th studio album and first sung work in three years, Sufjan Stevens concocts an album that seemingly sums up sounds across the discography of his multi-decade career – choirs, religious invocation, mystical instrumentation, orchestral elements, and his trademark melancholic and idiosyncratic lyrics. Dedicated to his late partner Evans Richardson IV, who passed away just a few months prior to the album’s release, Javelin is not only a tribute album, but also an ode to love and life. The album takes the full spectrum of life experiences in stride as best as he can even in tragedy, from the reminiscing on a first kiss (“A Running Start”), to contemplating the consequences of past mistakes (“So You Are Tired”, “Javelin”), to finding solace in grief and staying open to life’s opportunities (“There’s a World”).
Calico – Ryan Beatty
On his third studio album, Calico, Ryan Beatty returns to his California roots for inspiration. In a departure from previous works, the album’s tracks are primarily organic and minimalist. Co-produced by Ethan Gruska (also a former collaborator of Phoebe Bridgers), the album juxtaposes dark, profound and sad lyrical content with brighter guitar strings and atmospheric effects. These magnify the sentiments of the songs in different ways. In “Ribbons”, it works to heighten the sense of heartbreak; when the lights turn on after a escapist Saturday night of dancing, he finds himself back where he started the night – alone and shattered. Yet later on the wistful “White Teeth”, the acoustic sounds become the silver lining, as he comes to terms with his former relationship (“some left, but the right ones stay”). Despite the album’s relatively short length (33 min, 9 tracks), the emotions conveyed in Calico are unassumingly potent and complex, allowing the listener to uncover new layers with each subsequent listen.
JOSH’S FAVORITES
The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We — Mitski
Mitski’s recent move to Nashville seems to have profoundly influenced her eighth album, The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We. It’s not just the pedal steel guitar featured on the viral hit single, “My Love Mine All Mine” and several other tracks on the album. It also is evident in lyrics that evoke the sights and sounds of southern nights: fireflies, mosquitoes, barking hounds, moonlight and freight train horns. The album captures the loneliness embedded in these heartland landscapes, along with transcendent moments of love and human connection. Mitski has called The Land… her “most American album”. It might also be her best.
Norm — Andy Shauf
Andy Shauf honed his talent for writing vivid vignettes with two concept albums — The Party (2016) and The Neon Skyline (2020) — that both follow the interactions and inner monologues of their characters on a single night. After all of that fictional world-building, Shauf set out to make a “normal” record of unrelated songs. But his storytelling instincts proved to be irrepressible. Norm is an even more ambitious — and much darker — concept album than the ones that preceded it. Its three main characters are an aimless stoner on his way to becoming a menacing stalker; an innocent neighbor in danger of becoming his first victim; and God, who narrates and intervenes in the story in surprising, troubling ways. By reminding us of the awful things that people claim to do “in the name of love” — human or divine — Shauf makes listeners question their own understanding of what love really is. Norm is a tremendously enjoyable listen from start to finish, even though its storyline can be hard to follow. Playing a plethora of instruments, including his trademark clarinet, Shauf’s catchy chamber-pop arrangements sound cheerful and soothing at first, but quickly reveal more sinister undertones.
The Greater Wings — Julie Byrne
Julie Byrne creates timeless music at the intersection of folk and New-age, graced with her resonant voice and wise lyricism. The Greater Wings, Byrne’s first album since 2017, has the same tranquility and ethereal beauty of her previous work. It is also heavily laden with grief. After her producer and former romantic partner Eric Littmann died suddenly in 2021, Byrne chose to finish the album they had started recording together with a new group of collaborators. The Greater Wings is Byrne’s deeply personal tribute to this particular friendship, but it speaks to the universal experience of the bereaved. How can we keep loved ones alive in our memories, while learning how to live without them? Byrne’s record of her ongoing mourning is disarmingly honest, heart-wrenching, and ultimately hopeful.
MORE OF JOSH’S FAVORITES:
Red Moon in Venus — Kali Uchis
3D Country — Geese
Under Construction — Jack Novos
All of this Will End — Indigo DeSouza
Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd — Lana Del Rey
Joshua Tree Music 