A leading band of 90s Britpop, Pulp is strongly embodied by the charismatic Jarvis Cocker, founder and sole original member today. Involved in music since his teens, he saw the band evolve around him. Starting out in post-punk New Wave, the band shifted towards a lighter pop sound in the mid-1980s and achieved notable recognition in 1994 with the album His ‘n’ Her, a success reinforced by Different Class, released the following year. Separated for more than twenty years, the band also had to say goodbye to their bassist, who passed away in 2023. The unexpected release of this album is therefore an event that will delight fans of English indie pop.
Jarvis Cocker’s relaxed crooner-style vocals and diction are as sensual and seductive as ever. They work wonders on the pop tracks that make up this album. While the compositions may not reach the intensity of the best tracks of the 90s, they will not disappoint fans with their sophisticated but never complex structures. The alternation of heavy tracks with more refined ones, plus a few stylistic deviations verging on disco, results in a very enjoyable album that can be listened to many times without ever seeming redundant.
As expected from a band of this caliber, the recording and production quality is top notch. The beautiful balance between the vocals and the other instruments is immediately apparent. The bandwidth is well used, with sometimes lush strings that call on the tweeters and rather warm drums, which are skillfully kept from becoming too emphatic if your system has trouble handling the bass. The transition between tracks with varying amounts of instruments highlights either density or precision, both harbingers of good times for the attentive audiophile.
Artist: Matt Berninger Album: Get Sunk Label: Concord Records Link: www.concordrecords.com Style: Pop, Alternative & Indie
Trained as a graphic designer, he also paints and sculpts, but is best known as the singer and lyricist of The National, a band formed in the late 1990s. When Matt Berninger arrived in New York with Scott Devendorf, they had already been friends for several years, but their first band had not been successful. Critics took notice of them as soon as they released their first album with their new line-up, and since their second album in 2003, their fame has continued to grow. This hasn’t stopped the band’s frontman from wanting to produce solo music.
As Matt Berninger is the voice and soul of The National, his second solo album is inevitably reminiscent of the band. We find the same nonchalant, natural class in the phrasing and melodies, which, without seeming to, become catchy and haunting. While the songs’ themes turn to more intimate considerations, openly referring to his period of doubt and artistic decline, this is only to better highlight the beauty of the light that comes after melancholy. In this sense, Get Sunk is an album made to gently accompany us when we want to return to the world.
For the sound engineering and production, the singer with the deep baritone voice has once again placed his trust in Sean O’Brien, who played the same role on The National’s albums. It’s a winning choice, because while the record won’t confuse the band’s fans, it has a lighter side, even though the songs are still extremely polished, with an immediacy that sets them apart. The warm voice glides over the guitars and synthesizer, a saxophone nestles in the gaps, all carried by a haunting rhythm. All you have to do is let yourself be taken by the hand.
Artist : Mei Semones Album : Animaru Label : Bayonet Records Link : https://www.meisemones.com/ Style : Pop, Folk , Contemporary Jazz
From Brooklyn, Mei Semones delivers a true testament to her love of music, flouting styles by blending Jazz, Pop, Folk, Rock and Brazilian music on her highly personal album Animaru.
It didn’t take more than two EPs for Mei Semones to arouse the curiosity of the music world, an interest fully justified when we listen to her debut album, Animaru. A Japanese-born artist, she now resides in New York and has spent the last two years performing numerous concerts (notably in the U.S.) to promote her music, with the result that she has perfected her technique and gained greater complicity with her band. Following the release of an EP in 2024, the NME named her one of the artists of the year to watch, a status brilliantly confirmed by the album released this year.
What Animaru seems to be proposing is to ask why to settle for one style when the horizon is so vast, and when pleasure can be found everywhere. With voice and guitar at their core, Mei Semones’ compositions leave plenty of room for jazz, studied by the now 24-year-old, who also bears witness to her love of Brazilian music. Only her rock inspiration is more discreet, giving way to a cerebral pop-folk. The tour de force of this music, however, is to appear truly personal, while remaining natural and accessible; with alternating English and Japanese, the vocals reinforce this feeling. In contrast to the instrumental density and research of the compositions, which can sometimes emphasize the virtuosity of the musicians, the recording maintains a precision and clarity that enhances the melodic and rhythmic lines without any effort of concentration or intellectualization. The tonal balance of the record is developed mainly towards the upper midrange and treble by the artist’s voice and guitar, to which are added the strings of the violin. The soundstage may at times seem cramped in relation to the number of instruments, but it is just as capable of occupying the space of the listening room in the most open tracks. In our opinion, Anima is a great achievement.
Artist : Jenny Hval Album : Iris Silver Mist Label : 4AD Link : https://jennyhval.com/ Style: Pop, Alternative & Indie
The Norwegian Jenny Hval takes us into a world of delicate, luminous light, with a sophisticated pop style and many strings to her bow. Her new album Iris Silver Mist is filled with layers of sound as light as perfume.
While still a teenager, she played lead vocals in a gothic metal band and studied writing in Melbourne, which led her first to write newspaper articles, then to publish short stories and novels. Back in Norway, she produced her own music, initially under the name Rockettothesky, then under her own name. At the same time, she was involved in the Lost Girl project. In her albums, the theme of sensory memory is often evoked and used to remind listeners of sensations already experienced.
On Iris Silver Mist (deliberately named after a perfume), Jenny Hval tells us about the emotions that her sense of smell can bring back when she detects familiar scents. To achieve this, she employs an airy pop style, full of weightless atmospheres, sometimes verging on the ambient, but always with a charming underpinning. With her seductive, high-pitched vocals and her carefully crafted sonic entanglements, she gives us a sense of height to better apprehend her rich, personal musical landscape, all in a calm rhythm where each element has time to blossom.
In addition to the instruments traditionally found in pop and folk music, there are soft electronica sounds, with a few hints of field recordings that are even more appreciable when listened to through headphones. These components are not scattered, and the sensation is not one of collage or superimposition, but rather of evolution, as in the olfactory notes of a perfume that we detect more and more. The rhythm remains gentle, while the caressing layers of sound draw you into this weightless world.
Artist : Damiano David Album : Funny Little Fears Label : Sony Music Italy – Arista Records Link : https://www.damianodavidofficial.com/ Style : Pop
With Funny Little Fears, his first album during his break with Måneskin, Damiano David turns to affordable, uninhibited and well-produced pop, ready to conquer a wide audience.
Italian Damiano David’s musical story really began in high school, when he met Victoria De Angelis, who played bass, and Thomas Raggi, guitar. He insisted on joining their band, called Måneskin. The band came to prominence in 2017 when they took part in the Italian TV show X Factor. Their rock is exuberant and whimsical, with references to Glam. Despite their Eurovision prize in 2021, Damiano felt increasingly out of step with the persona he had created for himself and went solo in 2024, releasing a few singles that preceded this debut album.
Taking his first steps away from the band Måneskin, the singer opted for a more approachable pop style, sung in English and flirting with the easy listening of the mainstream. While the themes addressed in his songs are more intimate, the artist seems intent on reconnecting with the carefree spirit that characterized the Italian variety that broke through on the international airwaves in the ’80s and ’90s. However, the musical standards are those of today’s international pop, and it’s a safe bet that the tracks on this album will find their way onto playlists and mainstream radio stations.
Listening to this record, there are no production or recording surprises. But on the other hand, it’s a perfect album for sharing your passion for hi-fi with neophytes, potentially hermetic to jazz and classical. Although the timbres are well rendered, it is more the dynamics that come to the fore, and a certain emphasis in both composition and interpretation. The soundstage is also solid without being demonstrative. A fine piece of studio work, if not very inventive.
