Arriving just one year after the Grammy-nominated *Weird Faith*, Diaz’s seventh album dramatically pares back her sound; much of the album is just her and an acoustic guitar, with full-band instrumentation making its return for the album’s cathartic closing title track. The minimalist structures of *Fatal Optimist* were born out of a breakup and a period of self-enforced solitude, and with co-producer Gabe Wax (Soccer Mommy, Zach Bryan) at the boards, these 11 songs ring out with warmth and quiet devastation. Diaz has always been known for emotional missives that cut close to the bone, but moments like the reflective pain of “Ambivalence” and the not-looking-back kiss-off “Lone Wolf” are as direct as she’s ever been on record.
The 24-year-old singer-songwriter has already lived a few lives—farmhand, nanny, door-to-door solar panel salesperson, account manager for an adult content platform, blogger, podcaster, full-time musician. The North Carolina native went viral on TikTok in 2020 for her wry, witty indie-rock breakthrough “Porn Star Tits,” going on to record a pair of EPs before releasing her debut full-length, *Going Through It*, in 2024. On its follow-up, *Good Story*, McLamb interrogates the impulse to narrativize her life, questioning the habit of self-victimization and wondering whether “doing it for the story” is worth the pain. “My stories kept me safe, but now I understand/A story is a lifeboat, and sometimes there is land,” she sings on the introspective “Every Year.” And yet, on the folksy “Talisman,” the compulsion persists: “What is there to do except to write it down?”
Hannah Jadagu’s second full-length takes on decidedly darker shades than its predecessor *Aperture* from 2023. The newly dusky sound is far from a coincidence; the songs on *Describe* were specifically inspired by a long-distance relationship as Jadagu toured to far-flung locations with peers like Wet and Faye Webster. Accordingly, there’s a sense of longing that runs through cuts like the easy-shaking “Doing Now” and the slow build of “Gimme Time.” Sonically, Jadagu’s music takes on more layers here as well—check the “Period, pooh” chants underneath the airy tones of “Tell Me That !!!!,” as well as the dissonant ambience that courses through closer “Bergamont” as Jadagu sighs with a tinge of hope, “Just keep me in your mind/When you go.”
“I feel like I’ve combined the best out of the two albums I have out already,” Norway’s pop queen Sigrid tells Apple Music, as she thinks about *There’s Always More That I Could Say*. “It’s the same carefree, joyful, childlike wonder, bursting with creativity from the first album. And it has the ambition and the nitty-gritty detail and expansive production from the second album with some of the harder lyrics.” The down-to-earth star isn’t entirely comfortable talking about her music in such glowing terms, but she should be. Working with longtime collaborator and good friend Askjell Solstrand, she’s produced 10 perfect pop tracks, from Norwegian summer jam “Jellyfish” to the heartfelt breakup ballad that’s the title track. Unleashing herself from the studio was a key move for Sigrid as she and Solstrand headed out into coffee shops, parks, and remote places to write. “I really loved making this album,” she says. “Some of the lyrics are funny and silly, taking the piss out of myself. And other ones are raw and vulnerable. It’s never felt like work with Askjell and that line in ‘Jellyfish’ that says, ‘We’re just two kids in a crowded room’ is about him. It was super cathartic to make music out of pure joy.” This time around, Sigrid doesn’t shy away from writing about love in a deeper way. “It’s the thing that connects us all as people and it’s fun to write about because it’s a hard nut to crack,” she says. “But it’s also an album about how you respond to love, friendships, finding more out about yourself, and who you’ve become. Every time I talk to my mother, she’s like, ‘Why don’t you write about the hike you went for the other day or cooking?’ I tell her that’s not stadium-worthy. I want to write these big songs with larger-than-life lyrics.” Read on as Sigrid takes you through the album, track by track. **“I’ll Always Be Your Girl”** “We’d spent the whole of 2024 recording this album in cafés, parks, and studios. There’s one of the best studios in Ålesund called Ocean Sound Recordings where some of the songs are written, but we also had a makeshift studio in my parents’ house. The order of the tracklist landed in January 2025 and it felt like ‘I’ll Always Be Your Girl’ had to be the opener. I wrote that guitar line when I was in Tooting Broadway, South London—I was in the studio with Nick Hahn \[Rita Ora, Mimi Webb, James Blunt\], who I worked with before on \[2023 EP\] *The Hype*. It’s a song about having a crush and being irritated.” **“Jellyfish”** “‘Jellyfish’ sounds like a Scandinavian summer: breezy and never too warm. I think you can hear that in the song. It’s lighthearted, fun, and cute, but it has this urgency to it. I thought I was writing about flirting with someone, but then I realized it’s about how beautiful friendships are. It’s about my friends, my band, my crew, the producer, and writers that I work with and how we collaborate together. Sonically, it’s the first song we wrote for the album where we felt like, ‘OK, I think this is what it can sound like.’ You always have that one song that starts a new era. I never set out thinking, ‘Here’s the title, here’s the vision for it,’ I just sit in a corner and I write.” **“Do It Again”** “‘Do It Again’ is moving into the more reflective part of the album. It’s a fun pop song. I was thinking a lot about Keane and Gorillaz, where ‘Jellyfish’ is more Lykke Li and early Peter Bjorn and John. Scandipop is not only electro, it’s this indie-cutesy thing. This song is about thinking, ‘I could just do this over and over again, even if it isn’t the best idea, but fuck it.’ I was with Martin Sjølie, who I wrote most of my first songs with. We had a rendezvous again in the studio, which was so lovely, together with Will Taylor from the British band Flyte.” **“Kiss the Sky”** “‘Parody of myself’ was the first line I had for that song, and that came to me when I was out driving in Oslo. Then I had a session with a Norwegian writer and producer called Whammyboy. He’s really cool, and this song came out on our first time writing together. It’s about blowing everything up and riding into the sunset. This was the hardest song to produce—I remember I rewrote the verses with Nick Hahn, but me and Askjell nearly hit the wall with it. We ended up with something straight to the point, and that’s exactly what the song needed.” **“Two Years”** “We usually write in this really old studio in Bergen. It’s like a shed and there’s definitely mold on the outside, but I love it. It makes me feel like 19 again because it’s the studio we’ve been working in since day one. That’s where ‘Fort Knox’ was written, but we were like, ‘Maybe we should go somewhere else and get some inspiration.’ So we went to Tokyo and rented this really cool studio, and I had this idea for a piano hook. I knew the rhythm I wanted, referencing some of my favorite French dancey-but-cool songs, like Phoenix and Justice. It’s written from someone else’s perspective, and I’m trying to see the situation from another point of view, but it’s also this chaotic dance. It was basically a competition for me and Askjell to see how many key changes we can fit into this song. Towards the end, it spirals.” **“Hush Baby, Hurry Slowly”** “‘Hush Baby’ is a song that came around the time where I was having writer’s block. This album has taken me three years to get out: one year of writing, a year of overthinking it and another to wrap it up. Askjell, my bestie, was like, ‘I know what you need. I’m pulling a writing camp together.’ We were with Edvard Førre Erfjord, who wrote a lot of the Little Mix hits, Anders Nilsen, who comes from a bangers-only background, and Harald Sørebø, a Norwegian rap producer. We had the best two weeks. I can be a bit of a micromanager in the studio, but I felt so free because I approached it like I wasn’t writing for myself. Usually, I don’t like singing until I know exactly what I’m doing, but I got on the mic and freestyled, so basically I wrote it in one take.” **“Fort Knox”** “I’d been traveling a lot the summer I wrote this. I was really angry and I had to let it out. I was running around the studio, shouting and screaming and those vocals made it onto the record. It was important that we recorded it on the handheld mic. I tried to record it on the classic studio mic standing still, but I was like, ‘That’s not the vibe of this song.’ I feel more comfortable singing in a live environment because I love the feeling that I have one chance. And if you fuck it up, it happens. I think I have a good skill of pulling myself together when it’s needed, so I like it to feel like I’m on stage and imagine everyone watching. Production-wise, it’s a very dramatic song with Davide Rossi, who did the strings on Coldplay’s ‘Viva La Vida,’ doing the arrangements. He’s amazing.” **“There’s Always More That I Could Say”** “This song is so beautiful. And I think it’s funny how I start it with, ‘I should have done that differently. I hurt you. I’m so sorry. Really, you’re seeing the worst of my personality now.’ And then it snaps in the second half of, ‘You know what, actually? You weren’t that nice either. So both of us could have behaved better.’ This was written in London again with Will Taylor and Oli Bayston in an old BBC studio with a ’70s vibe, a lot of brown mahogany, leather couches, and rugs with orange, earthy tones. It’s a good example of how your environment can really inspire how you write. I love a good ballad and I’m really proud of this one. I could always give more of myself, but this is what you get.” **“Have You Heard This Song Before”** “The lyrics are all about potential. It’s about love, but it could also be about something else, like releasing my third album. Who knows how far it can go or what countries it will take me to? I wake up and then something new and crazy happens. This song is so optimistic, but the production is nostalgic. Melodies usually come first for me, but that day, it felt like the lyrics came just as easily. My favorite line is in the mid-eight, where I say, ‘You should catch me while you can/Before I change my mind again/These songs don’t write themselves.’” **“Eternal Sunshine”** “This is one of the songs I’m most excited to play live. It sounds epic. I feel like it’s a galloping beat—I imagine a horse on the American plains, like proper cowboy vibes, riding into the sunset. That’s how I hear it, but with a bit of Kate Bush and The War on Drugs, who are one of my favorite bands. It plays on the film *Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind*, how it would be easier to just paint someone out of the picture sometimes, but you can’t erase the memory. I originally thought ‘There’s Always More That I Could Say’ should be the closer, but this is such a nice way to wrap it all up.”
After building a fanbase and a reputation among other artists as an MC of earnestness, emotional depth, and conceptual density, Saba took a different approach. He created 2025’s *From the Private Collection of Saba and No ID*—a collaboration with legendary hip-hop producer and fellow Chicagoan No ID (Common, JAY-Z)—as what he described as a “tasting menu”: a compelling collection of songs whose connective tissue is the artists who made them, not a specific theme or topic. His second project of the year, *COFFEE!*, is a mixture of both approaches. It’s named after his car, a black Bronco Wildtrak that he wrote and recorded the project’s nine songs in over the course of a week. (The vehicle itself is even personified as a character on “don’t be long.”) But while it may seem conceptual by title, the album plays more like a sketchbook than a fully realized artistic vision. That works to its benefit, though: Instead of the studious intentionality that distinguished his previous albums, *COFFEE!* plays like a carefree, jazzy vibe session that gives oxygen to his artistic instincts. Saba’s supple sense of melody and casual introspection means that even his doodles provide just as much comfort as other artists’ complete portraits. “don\'t be long” affectionately describes the intrapersonal relationships between his loved ones with conversational catchphrases. “itachi” starts as a slow, airy reflection of perseverance before shifting into a catchy, percussive set of whispered vocals, all within less than a minute and a half. The best contemporary comparison to *COFFEE!* is Kendrick Lamar\'s *untitled unmastered.*: a brief, satisfying detour for one of hip-hop’s best.
“It was important for us to showcase diversity on this record, beyond the boundaries of post-punk and shoegaze,” HighSchool’s Rory Trobbiani tells Apple Music. True to his word, the band’s moody self-titled debut deepens their established sound while dovetailing into ’90s- and 2000s-inspired indie rock and perkier New Wave. Formed in Melbourne and now based in London, HighSchool is centered on the creative core of Trobbiani and Luke Scott. The duo recorded the album on an East Sussex farm with Ben Hillier (Blur, Depeche Mode) and in London with Finn Bellingham (RIP Magic, Sam Akpro), plus some extra touches in Australia. Below, the pair pull back the curtain on each song. **“Dipped”** Luke Scott: “This track explores themes of luck, chance, and gambling, using the Greek tragedy of Achilles as a metaphor for addiction, impulse, and human weakness. The cold, gothic, minor-key verses contrast with a warm, major-key chorus, creating a push-and-pull dynamic that feels both tense and euphoric.” **“Sony Ericsson”** Rory Trobbiani: “‘Sony Ericsson’ is about the strange dynamics of modern connection—the games people play over text and how a single message can spiral into endless overanalysis. A few words on a screen can be pulled apart, read and reread, and imbued with layers of meaning that may never have been there to begin with. It speaks about the discrepancy between how someone appears on a phone screen versus who they are in real life, and how the digital version of a person can feel enticing or alluring but also unreal or unknowable.” **“149”** LS: “A fun, punchy, little indie banger named after the 149 bus we used to take from Dalston to our studio in Tottenham. It’s a tribute to those early days after arriving in London, when everything felt new and uncertain, but full of exciting possibility.” **“Chaplins”** RT: “Named after Chaplin Café—a humble, old-school spot just off Walworth Road \[in London\]—this track is rooted in the quiet rituals of our mornings there, doing admin over fry-ups and Americanos. The café gets its name from Charlie Chaplin, who was apparently born nearby. We wrote the song about one of the glamorous waitresses, who always seemed destined for more than the café and her mean boss. We imagined a story where she quits spontaneously one day to chase a career in acting—a moment of bold escape into a new life.” **“American Aunty”** LS: “Our first fully acoustic track. With everything unplugged, we weren’t reliant on amplification—or even a studio—so we recorded it outside on \[producer Ben Hillier’s\] farm as the sun set over the cornfields. Ben close-mic’d the guitars while we played in the open air. The song is about the hidden sadness and quiet beauty of stark middle-class suburbia. We shot the video on New Year’s Eve in Melbourne, during the city’s firework display.” **“Peter’s Room”** RT: “This song sees us exploring different sounds. It draws influence from artists like Beck, Pavement, and Sonic Youth. Deeply rooted in nostalgia, it was written about a pivotal moment in my life working at a pub on Smith Street, Collingwood: riding my bike home in the summer after long shifts, the haunted beer cellar, playing dice at lock-ins, and how old all the 24-year-old managers seemed to my futile 20-year-old brain. That time introduced me to a new scene of people. The song is called ‘Peter’s Room’ because I wrote it in a guy named Peter’s room in South London.” **“One Lucky Man”** LS: “This song taps into our 2000s NYC indie roots. With the tempo and tone shifting halfway through, we actually switched drummers; Rory stepped in and played the second half. The song was written about tumultuous friendships that can’t last—a silent but mutual understanding of wanting something more while knowing it can’t make sense in the real world. Over time, those connections quietly dissolve into silence and memories.” **“Making Out at the Skatepark”** LS: “With this one, we really indulge our love for Midwestern emo. It’s one of the oldest tracks on the album, written back in our South Bermondsey studio in 2023. The title gives it away: It’s about the intense feelings of yearning and awkwardness that come with being a teenager, and the insignificant moments that somehow hold enormous significance in the teenage mind.” **“Trope”** LS: “This one has a woozy, off-kilter feel thanks to a vari-speed tape recording technique that Ben suggested we try. We laid down the instrumental at a faster tempo and in a different key, then slowed the tape down to reach the pitch and tempo that we wrote the song in—creating a dreamlike, slightly warped sonic bed for Rory’s vocals.” **“Rhinoplasty”** RT: “A sprawling, meandering goth-rock track. We recorded our friends having a phone conversation and layered it over the verse instrumental.” **“Best and Fairest”** RT: “This song is about growing up playing junior Aussie rules football, a sport both me and Scotty played as kids in Melbourne. Freezing-cold hands, the smell of Deep Heat in the locker room, directing your old man with a Melways to the middle of nowhere, those grim bright-red hot dogs, and the ridiculous pressure and importance placed on something so novel.” **“Colt”** LS: “We chose to close the album with a crowd favorite. Unlike the rest of the record, ‘Colt’ wasn’t recorded by Ben Hillier or Finn Billingham, nor was it mixed by Claudius Mittendorfer. Instead, it came to life in 2023 at Dan Carey’s legendary South London studio and was mixed by Macks Faulkron. The song stands as a testament to our love of ’80s New Wave electronic rock, infused with hints of Italo disco.”
You can call this a comeback, but don’t call it a happy ending. In his memoir, *Rumours of My Demise*, which arrived tandem with this album, The Lemonheads founder Evan Dando recalls his band’s lurch towards international fame during the early ’90s and the lifestyle that came with it—before addiction led to his often-public unmooring. Three decades later, his dependency on hard drugs, he writes, has no end. He’s only ever in periods of using or not using. If the first Lemonheads album of original material in 19 years doesn’t mark the redemption of Evan Dando then, there’s still plenty of joy and triumph to be had from its existence. Largely recorded in his new home of Brazil, with bassist Farley Glavin and drummer John Kent, and wholly recorded with Dando in an enduring “off” period, it’s a robust and rangy reminder of his way with wistful, indelibly catchy guitar pop. At 58, Dando understandably presents as a little more worn-in than the catwalk-handsome slacker who fronted 1992’s succinct and spotless *It’s a Shame About Ray* and gold-selling follow-up *Come on Feel the Lemonheads* (1993). The voice is deeper and more frayed, especially when straining to break out of a mumble on “Be-In” and its portrayal of salvation found in new love. But if aching closer “Roky” offers a rueful and bruised reflection on past behaviors and “Deep End” sets an ominous tone amid zippy riffs and a J Mascis guitar solo (“Watch the clouds come over/Canary in a coma”), he’s equally defiant and galvanized elsewhere. “I’ll be out here if you want to find me/I’d rather die than let your thoughts confine me,” he sings on the urgent power pop of “In the Margin,” while he’s unapologetic about speaking his truth—whoever it upsets—on scruffy freak-folk ballad “The Key of Victory.”
Since forming in 2012, Bob Moses (Tom Howie and Jimmy Vallance) has earned a reputation for bringing depth to the dance floor, pairing sleek club rhythms with introspective songwriting and indie-rock grit. Over the years, they’ve released three albums, toured the world, scored crossover hits, and earned a Grammy nomination. Time flies when you’re having fun, sure, but despite these achievements, Howie and Vallance still felt like there was so much more to do. As they began working on their fourth record, they found their demos and headspace orbiting around the question of reconciling the fleeting nature of life. That question is the beating heart of *BLINK*, their reflection on life’s fleeting moments and the desire to hold on to them. The duo lay down their guitars here, and while the production retains their leather jacket cool, it’s warmer, brighter, more transcendent. Glittering opener “Time of Your Life” sparks urgency from the jump, its chugging beat and soaring hook urging you to throw caution to the wind and give in to impulse—a feeling echoed across the brisk deep house of “Waiting on the World” and “Keep Love Waiting,” a romance caught at its make-or-break point. Among the calls for motion, there’s stillness, too. Where uncertain ambition once grew, gratitude now blooms on “We Made It,” and intimacy feels bubble-wrapped from time on “Last Forever.” Elsewhere, the devotion in “Mine to Hold” isn’t for keeping, but for letting go. Time’s impermanence is ultimately accepted on the title track, whose final lyric distills the record’s philosophy: “You blink and then it’s gone.”
Gothic shades abound on Perturbator’s sixth album. Paris-based synth wizard James Kent channels Siouxsie, Sisters of Mercy, and Depeche Mode on his dark and dancy exploration of the societal forces at work in our modern age. Opening with a stentorian guest shot from Ulver mastermind Kristoffer Rygg on the infectious single “Apocalypse Now,” the expertly paced album also features guest appearances from metal machinist Author & Punisher (on “Venus”), returning collaborator Greta Link (on “Lady Moon”), and French post-black-metal dream weavers Alcest (on the closing title track). Musical references to fellow synth composers Vangelis and John Carpenter appear on “Hangover Square” and “The Swimming Pool,” respectively, while club banger “The Art of War” goes full techno.
