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. This week’s notable artists include Lala Lala and Noah Gundersen. Check out the list below:
Efterklang – Windflowers
Efterklang, the Danish trio consisting of Mads Brauer, Rasmus Stolberg, and Casper Clausen, has released their seventh studio album, Wildflowers. This is the band’s first LP for City Slang. When the band announced the album, they shared the lead single, titled “Living Other Lives.” The band last released Altid Sammen in 2019.
“Living other lives started out as a jam in my Lisbon studio during Spring 2020 lockdown,” Clausen said about the lead single. “I was playing around with my 404 sampler, and I found that kind of groove that makes my head bop – put some samples on it, and I could listen to it forever – a good sign. So I was just having that on loop while scrolling through my Instagram feed. The lyrics sort of came out of that moment; living other lives, imagination jumping from one life/image to another, revisiting, updating myself, absolutely bodiless, while scrolling up and up with my thumb.”
Lala Lala – I Want the Door to Open
Lala Lala, the indie rock project of Chicago-based singer-songwriter Lillie West, has released her third studio album, I Want the Door to Open, via Hardly Art Records. West last released The Lamb in 2018, her first album with the record label. With the announcement, Lal Lala released their lead single, “DIVER,” back in July.
“[The album is] a musical quest undertaken with the knowledge that the titular door may never open; but it is through falling in love with the quest itself that one may find the next closest thing,” West said in a press release. “It’s a bold exploration of persona and presence from an artist questioning how to be herself fully in a world where the self is in constant negotiation.”
Matt Maltese – Good Morning It’s Now Tomorrow
Matt Maltese has released his third studio album, Good Morning It’s Now Tomorrow, via Nettwerk. This is the first time Maltese has released an album with this label. Last year Maltese released madhouse EP. He previously released Krystal in 2019 via sevenfoursevensix. Before that, he released his debut album Bad Contestant in 2018 via Atlantic Records UK. He’s released two singles before this release, including “Mystery” and “Shoe.” The new album was written and recorded between his London home and Echo Zoo studios in England.
“I’ve had to find more meaning out of the small parts of life. I want this record to celebrate the theatre in all the small things. It’s so cheesy to say it, but I think life is best when you try to make the ordinary extraordinary,” Maltese said about the new album. “The love songs in particular, I think feel in hindsight like they’re me stepping outside of the present, touching on moments in the past or daydreaming what tomorrow might look like. They’re everything I want and think love to be – too-romantic, genuine, strange, a little gross, silly, normal, imperfect, all at once.”
Noah Gundersen – A Pillar of Salt
Seattle-based singer-songwriter Noah Gundersen has released his fourteenth album, A Pillar of Salt, via Cooking Vinyl. He previously released “Sleepless in Seattle” before making the announcement, saying the song would be included in the new album. This album follows Gundersen’s 2019 album Lover. Gundersen will embark on a solo headlining tour starting in October and going through mid-December.
“I moved to Seattle in 2009,” Gundersen said of the city the song (“Sleepless in Seattle”) is after, “a small town kid, just 20 years old. I lived out of my sleeping bag in garages, under tables, on couches, until finally moving into a place in the Queen Anne neighborhood with some friends. There was a feeling that anything was possible. Over time, like all things, the city changed. The few bands that ‘made it’ moved away, while the less fortunate gracefully bowed out when the insurmountable odds finally stacked too high. Tech companies moved in and priced out the artists. The culture of the place I fell in love with slowly disappeared. When Covid hit in early 2020, all the bars closed and I finally realized my time there was over. So I packed up and left. And yet, like Lot’s wife, I can’t help looking back, the voice in my head taunting me with Springsteen’s ‘Glory Days.’ I loved Seattle. I miss it. Or I guess I miss the memory of it.”
The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die – Illusory Walls
The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die has shared their fourth studio album, Illusory Walls, via Epitaph. This is their first album in four years since 2017’s Always Foreign. The album will later be released on vinyl on Dec. 3. The Connecticut-based indie band previously released their lead single with the announcement titled “Invading the World of the Guilty as a Spirit of Vengeance.” The band has also announced a US tour starting October in Maryland and goes through mid-November.