With so much good music being released all the time, it can be hard to determine what to listen to first. Every week, Pitchfork offers a run-down of significant new releases available on streaming services. This week’s batch includes new albums from Johnny Blue Skies, Clairo, Cassandra Jenkins, Jake Xerxes Fussell, Remi Wolf, Brijean, Tink, Chris Cohen, Font, and Salute. Subscribe to Pitchfork’s New Music Friday newsletter to get our recommendations in your inbox every week. (All releases featured here are independently selected by our editors. When you buy something through our affiliate links, however, Pitchfork earns an affiliate commission.)
Johnny Blue Skies: Passage du Desir [High Top Mountain]
Sturgill Simpson once swore that he would release only five albums of original music. Technically, he wasn’t lying. The Kentucky-born singer-songwriter found a loophole by creating Johnny Blue Skies, his new country moniker, and recording an LP of new tracks. Passage du Desir is fittingly wistful and forlorn, a romantic take on the fundamentals that have made bluegrass, Americana, and outlaw country such a key part of American music history.
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Clairo: Charm [Clairo]
Claire Cottrill’s third album as Clairo is a muted, soft-rock record that finds its strength in its quietest turns. For Charm, Clairo turned to a new producer, Leon Michels, who gives discreet depth to her gentle take on the genre. Charm, as previewed on the singles “Nomad” and “Sexy to Someone,” is a collection of cheeky flourishes and cushioned instrumentation that sounds best when winking at the listener from across the room.
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Cassandra Jenkins: My Light, My Destroyer [Dead Oceans]
Cassandra Jenkins debuts on Dead Oceans with My Light, My Destroyer, the singer-storyteller’s formal follow-up to breakout LP An Overview on Phenomenal Nature. Her third album draws lyrical inspiration from Anne Carson and Maggie Nelson and takes musical cues from artists that range from Annie Lennox to Robert Ashley—as well as her “high school CD wallet” of Radiohead, Breeders, and Pavement records. “I’m becoming better at letting myself explore ideas before self-editing,” she added in press materials. “While I was writing, I wasn’t afraid to laugh at my own jokes, which makes the process of sharing these songs that much more free and fun.” She worked with producer Andrew Lappin across the record; other invitees include Palehound’s El Kempner, Hand Habits’ Meg Duffy, and Katie Von Schleicher.
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Jake Xerxes Fussell: When I’m Called [Fat Possum]
Jake Xerxes Fussell fingerpicks his way through the folk continuum on When I’m Called, the North Carolina singer-songwriter’s follow-up to 2022’s Good and Green Again. Fussell’s richly observed tales nestle into unpolished songs that gleam as if by accident, assisted by contributors including Blake Mills, Joan Shelley, Robin Holcomb, and producer James Elkington.
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Remi Wolf: Big Ideas [Island]
Remi Wolf kicked the Big Ideas era into gear with an arresting performance of the block-party-starting single “Cinderella” on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert (along with a music video starring Mac DeMarco as an ice cream vendor). The similarly breezy “Toro” followed, along with languid ballad “Motorcycle” and the alt-rock singalong “Alone in Miami.” The album continues in eclectic fashion, with production from Kenny Beats, Leon Michels, and the Dap-Kings.
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Brijean: Macro [Ghostly International]
Brijean is the outré-pop project of Mitski’s live percussionist Brijean Murphy and producer and multi-instrumentalist Doug Stuart. The duo’s fourth album sashays between haunted bossa-nova ballrooms and disco-powered warehouse parties, occasionally nipping out for a breather in the ambient room. Lead single “Workin’ on It” features voice notes received from fans, layered in among Soulwax-style percussion and vocals that swap Murphy’s chilly Trish Keenan sing-song for dancefloor-rallying chants.
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Tink: Winter’s Diary 5 [Winter’s Diary/WD/Empire]
Tink returns with the long-awaited fifth installment of her Winter’s Diary mixtape series. The Chicago-born artist launched the project back in 2012, and released the fourth edition in 2016. In addition to her Winter’s Diary chapters, Tink has shared a number of projects including her Voicemails mixtape, from 2019, 2021’s The Heat of the Moment, 2022’s Pillow Talk, and Thanks 4 Nothing, from last year. Winter’s Diary 5 features an appearance from Summer Walker on “Songs About U.”
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Chris Cohen: Paint a Room [Hardly Art]
Chris Cohen’s first solo album in five years renders his trademark fiddly earworms under a sophistipop gauze, with hints of XTC-style pop and a little baroque jazz. As well as his longtime bandmates—bassist Davin Givhan, drummer Josh da Costa, and keyboardist Jay Israelson—the former Deerhoof member brought along Jeff Parker for the horns on “Damage” and Josh Johnson for woodwind throughout.
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Font: Strange Burden [Acrophase]
Font make the kind of uptempo industrial punk that could tear open a portal from a dingy rock club to a celestial new dimension. Thom Waddill leads the Austin quintet, his wretched wails clambering through a dense network of synths, strums, and noise, all propelled by dual drummers who can work up an anthemic frenzy. Early single “Sentence 1” features, but its jittery post-punk transpires to be an entrée to a sound that is uncontainable and new.
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Salute: True Magic [Ninja Tune]
Salute proceeded into True Magic with a pair of high-profile collaborations, linking with Rina Sawayama for “Saving Flowers” and Disclosure for “Lift Off!” After hours dredging YouTube for old Japanese car adverts, the England-based Viennese producer-songwriter formed an album concept of driving old Japanese cars in a race called True Magic, bringing along additional guests including Empress Of, Léa Sen, and Karma Kid for the ride.
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