Mono "Pilgrimage of the Soul (Rough Trade Publishing)"
Pilgrimage of the Soul is the 11th studio album in the 22-year career of Japanese experimental rock legends, MONO. Recorded and mixed – cautiously, anxiously, yet optimistically – during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in the summer of 2020, Pilgrimage of the Soul is aptly named as it not only represents the peaks and valleys where MONO are now as they enter their third decade, but also charts their long, steady journey to this time and place.
Lydia Hol "Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream (Rough Trade Publishing)"
Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream, Lydia Hol’s newest record, captures the strange paradox of Hollywood, and the illusion of utopian happiness. Societal fragmentation and darkness underneath the gloss are key themes of the record, with each of the nine songs offering a distinct lens to peer inside of, encapsulating the artificiality of the California dream.
Hawthorne Heights "The Rain Just Follows Me (Pure Noise)"
The Rain Just Follows Me, the eighth album from Ohio emo champs Hawthorne Heights, is a comfortable addition to their catalogue, one in which they create carefully calibrated mix of soft and heavy. The songs blend clean vocals and bright melodies with screams and brutal guitars seamlessly, like on Thunder In Our Hearts, which has a heavy opening, sparse verses and builds from there to a bouncy post-chorus.
Hayden Calnin "What it Means To Be Human (Nettwerk)"
On his sweeping third full-length album, the celebrated Australian electro-folk artist dives into the depths of what so many before him (and surely many after him) have also done: Exploring deep philosophical and existential questions for which there are no solid or singular answers, and finding meaning in the chaos that is our existence. Ambitious in vision and epic in scope, What It Means to Be Human is a beautiful reckoning: A breathtakingly intimate, emotional album of acceptance and rediscovery, stillness and wonder. Hayden Calnin has spent years honing his craft and vision; here, he comes to life as a brilliant architect of stirring, cinematic folk pop.