6 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 Adrianne Lenker, Fletcher, Tyla, Waxahatchee, Elbow, and Lauran Hibberd.

Adrianne Lenker – Bright Future

Ever-prolific both solo and with her band Big Thief, Adrianne Lenker is back with new solo album Bright Future, a gorgeous album that sees her connect in instinctive and spontaneous bursts with some of the musical community that surrounds her band. In breaks between tours, the likes of Nick Hakim and Josefin Runsteen joined her in the studio to make an album that wasn’t intended to be an album at all. The result is an unpolished record full of feeling.

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

Fletcher – In Search of the Antidote

As the title of Fletcher’s second album suggests, here’s a record that finds the singer turning the gaze on herself as she goes in search of self-identity and fulfilment. The result is a powerful pop effort that refuses to shy away from the harsh reality of the challenges within that – see stunning opener ‘Maybe I Am’. As far as soul-baring confessionals go, this is one of the year’s best so far.

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

Tyla – Tyla

South Africa’s brightest new musical export shines brighter on this powerful debut, which flits between the Amapiano sounds she has brought to the wider world and wider elements which only act to broaden the horizons of her immense talent. ‘Jump’ bounds along with a catchy dancehall beat, while the stop-you-in-your-tracks power of closing number ‘To Last’ feels like the sound of an artist who knows that greatness awaits.

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

Waxahatchee – Tigers Blood

After releasing breakthrough album Saint Cloud in 2020, Katie Crutchfield has returned with new LP Tigers Blood. Saint Cloud saw her reflect on newfound sobriety, while the new album sees her investigate deeper questions about settling into a quieter and more stable life in your mid-thirties. These ideas are transmitted beautifully on country-flecked songs fleshed out by producer Brad Cook and a cast of musicians including Wednesday’s MJ Lenderman and drummer Spencer Tweedy. It moves Waxahatchee closer to becoming a generational songwriter in indie-rock.

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

Elbow – AUDIO VERTIGO

Elbow, for better or worse, have established a place in the British populace where they’re viewed as cosy, safe and the type of band you can rely on to soundtrack a motivational montage (ahem, One Day Like This). Their tenth album goes far in ripping up that notion. “There’s no cocaine in this cocaine”, sings Guy Garvey on ‘The Picture’. Blimey. It’s a thing of vast and wild experimentalism that sees them shedding their old skin for something raw, exciting and slightly unhinged. Long may that continue.

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

Lauran Hibberd – Girlfriend Material

Speaking to Rolling Stone UK last year, Lauran Hibberd discussed how the loss of her father and further life changes that followed inspired her second album Girlfriend Material. “After I’d come to terms with where I was in my life, it just sort of fell out,” she said of the new material. “I’ve never had a group of songs come to me more easily than this second record. It was really refreshing and freeing.” The album carries this strength of feeling excellently, through sad but defiant admissions (‘I Suck At Grieving’) to humorous, withering putdowns (‘2nd prettiest girl (in the world)’).

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