BY: JOEY REAMS
On Fridays, the world is blessed with new music from a handful of artists. To help you find your next favorite album, we’ve discovered what new alternative and indie albums have been released. Some notable artists this week include The Fratellis, Glasvegas, and Major Murphy. Check out the list below:
Flock of Dimes – Head of Roses
Flock of Dimes, a solo project from Baltimore musician Jennifer Lynn Wasner, has announced its third studio album, Head of Roses via Sub Pop. The album is co-produced by Nick Sanborn, one of the two members of Sylvan Esso. Wasner is also known as one of the founding members of the band Wye Oak, with their last release, 2020’s No Horizon EP.
“For a lot of the music I’ve written in the past, I would reverse-engineer a feeling — I would think about a concept or idea I wanted to expound upon, then I would create that,” Wasner told New York Times. “All of a sudden, with this record, it came up from this other place.”
The Fratellis – Half Drunk Under a Full Moon
The Scottish rock group that brought you “Chelsea Dagger” is back with their sixth studio album, Half Drunk Under a Fool Moon. This is their first album since 20218’s In Your Own Sweet Time.
“These are by far the most colorful songs I’ve ever written,” says Jon Fratelli. “Lots of musicians claim to have that condition where you hear music in colors. I don’t, but I definitely associate certain types of melody with different colors and these ones were multi-colored.”
Glasvegas – Godspeed
Glasgow, also from Scotland, has released their fourth studio album, Godspeed, via GO Wow Records. The album was engineered, recorded, and produced by lead singer James Allan. It’s been eight years since the band’s last album, Later… When the TV Turns to Static.
“It took quite a while to get how I imagined it to be,” Allan tells NME. “I probably should’ve felt a lot more doubt – I don’t know if that’s confidence or stupidity or both. I never thought ‘this isn’t gonna work out’. If somebody would’ve told me seven years ago that this is how long it’d take me, that would’ve bothered me a lot. I didn’t intend to take this long.”
Major Murphy – Access
Major Murphy, based out of Grand Rapids, MI, have released their sophomore album, Access. This follows their 2018 debut album No. 1. The band released the title track from this album at the beginning of the year.
“It was just very in-the-moment and there wasn’t a lot of time spent on arrangements,” recalled frontman Jacob Bullard. “We wanted to try some new stuff. … With this album, I think we wanted it to have more texture, have more experimental sounds and stuff like that. So it’s a little more produced, I guess, and a little bigger.”
Moontype – Bodies of Water
Chicago trio Moontype have released their debut album, Bodies of Water, via Born Yesterday Records. This album became very anticipated when the band released their debut single, “About You.” Here’s what bassist/ lead singer Margaret McCarthy had to say about the single.
“When I wrote “About You” I was sitting in my apartment missing my friend who had gone abroad for the semester and thinking about all the moments that made our friendship so special. The glue between us started to form while on tour, walking through Richmond VA for hours one night past confederate monuments and art on building walls. The friendship began as a crush but it slowly melted into something more lasting – we made a synth together, we wrote songs together – and I really just wanted to be around them most of the time! There was this feeling of being two magnets, pulling towards each other, but the pull doesn’t stay that strong forever and I wanted to remember what it felt like at the start. I’m grateful I wrote it down in that way because now me and my friend fall in and out of touch but every time we play that song I remember how special they are and how important they are to me.”
The Snuts – W.L.
For a third time, we have another Scottish band releasing an album on this day. The Snuts, based out of West Lothian, have released their first studio album with W.L. The indie rock band has released several singles and EPs since their start in 2015.
“We didn’t want to put ourselves in a box,” singer Jack Cochrane tells NME. “If you record the same song over and over again, then people will just expect that from you. It was something that we were always cautious of while making this album.”