5 albums you need to hear this week

In the age of streaming, it’s never been easier to listen to new music — but with over 60,000 new songs added to Spotify every day, it’s also never been harder to know what to put on. Every week, the team at Rolling Stone UK will run down some of the best new releases that have been added to streaming services.

This week, we’ve highlighted records by Paramore, Sufjan Stevens, Hannah Diamond, Mitch Rowland and Mutual Benefit.

Paramore – Re: This Is Why

Eight months after the release of their new album This Is Why, Paramore have shared what they call “almost” a remix album. On Re: This Is Why, some of the band’s influences, touring partners and peers take on alternate versions of songs from the indie-leaning record. The breadth and genre disparity of the featured artists – from Foals to Bartees Strange, The Linda Lindas and DOMi & JD Beck – shows that the future of Paramore is collaborative, ambitious and genreless.

Listen on: Spotify | ‎Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music

Sufjan Stevens – Javelin

Sufjan Stevens’ new album Javelin feels like the most fully realised of his career. Though the album has been touted as a return to the hushed, intimate songwriting of Seven Swans and Carrie & Lowell, it also harks back to some of the more maximalist flourishes heard on Illinois and last LP The Ascension. There’s no word on whether it will be his last – he recently confirmed that he’s suffering from an autoimmune condition that means he’s re-learning to walk – but there is certainly a finality of feeling here.

Listen on: Spotify | ‎Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music

Mitch Rowland – Come June

He might be known as Harry Styles‘ touring guitarist, but debut album Come June sees Mitch Rowland coming out of the shadows to prove he’s a talent in his own right. There’s roots-y Americana on offer, but the title track is a powerful rumination on what it’s like to fall out of love with a place. “I was living in London for a handful of years and this was the first song that came from that period of figuring out what I wanted to be,” he recently told Rolling Stone UK. “It kind of got this song going because it was about me realising I needed a bit of caution. I love London but I was sick of it at the time.”

Listen on: Spotify | ‎Apple Music | Amazon Music

Hannah Diamond – Perfect Picture

Though the future-facing world of pop perfection that is PC Music is ceasing to release new music past 2023, Hannah Diamond – one of the label’s brightest stars – continues her mastering of sweet, spiky pop on new album Perfect Picture. On the album, she looks to the future of hyper-pop with both the scale of universal stadium pop and the zoomed-in personal details. She calls the album “a multi-layered self portrait” and it feels like the album the singer has always been threatening to make, one that shows off her full range.

Listen on: Spotify | ‎Apple Music | TIDAL | Amazon Music

Mutual Benefit – Growing At The Edges

The New York-based singer-songwriter Jordan Lee – known as Mutual Benefit – has returned with fourth album Growing At The Edges. On it, Lee subtly and gracefully expands his sound while keeping the essence of the project thus far. “I became interested in the unruly first signs of growth after a disaster, and the beautiful ways lives start to blur into each other through relationships,” Lee said of the album’s inspiration. “Edges are where spaces are negotiated,” he added, and – owing to these revelations – the album is suitably layered and deep.

Listen on: Spotify | ‎Apple Music | Bandcamp | Amazon Music