Music

Blake Scott’s new solo album shows off his prowess as one of Australia’s most important songwriters.

Sufjan Stevens’ new album reinvents his aesthetic as he confronts the psychic terror of contemporary America.

For Melanie Chisholm global fame came at a high price, but she lived to tell the tale. At 46, she has just released her eighth solo album, which she says is her most vulnerable yet. “All of that time I spent searching, trying to find myself, trying to move away from Sporty, I felt like that’s what I had to do: to become an individual I had to leave her behind.”

Small, quirky and weird – Australian New Music ensembles have moved their inventive processes online, with some delightful results.

Ten years after their previous album, Bright Eyes’ latest release brings a new lightness to their apocalyptic imagining. “Lyrical and generous, it feels like a new beginning for Oberst and co on their own terms, despite the weight of its conception, and despite the pain that it holds.”

Through their new work for BLEED 2020, artists James Nguyen and Victoria Pham reanimate the Đông Sơn drum, an ancient instrument with great cultural significance for their Vietnamese heritage. “We wanted to build a body of knowledge around this instrument in a way that just isn’t possible in academia or museums.”

The take on a 1998 Europop hit by three artists highlights a contemporary desire to find comfort in nostalgia and the innocence of a bygone age.

The artists formerly known as Dixie Chicks are back with a long-awaited album that eschews their usual truth-speaking on politics and power for much more personal, and poppy, reflection.

More than 40 years after starting the iconic band Pulp, Jarvis Cocker continues to evolve as an artist. He speaks about the raves of the late ’80s, his concerns about the growing costs of humanities degrees, and his latest album, Beyond the Pale.

We know the power of music to provide comfort and healing. But we also know it can act as a force for change. Here, three releases that have powerful messages in the current cultural moment.