In this segment, we showcase the most notable albums out each week. Here are the albums out on February 7, 2025:
Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory, Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory
Sharon Van Etten and her band, The Attachment Theory, recorded their new self-titled LP at The Church, Eurythmics’ former studio in London, with producer Marta Salogni. Against an apocalyptic backdrop, the group’s gothic arrangements and soaring melodies only echo that much louder. “Sometimes it’s exciting, sometimes it’s scary, sometimes you feel stuck,” Van Etten said of her creative process in press materials. “It’s like every day feels a little different—just being at peace with whatever you’re feeling and whoever you are and how you relate to people in that moment. If I can just keep a sense of openness while knowing that my feelings change every day, that is all I can do right now. That and try to be the best person I can be while letting other people be who they are and not taking it personally and just being. I’m not there, but I’m trying to be there every day.”
Squid, Cowards
Squid have released their latest album, Cowards, via Warp Records. Another record out today that was produced by Marta Salogni – with help from Grace Banks and Dan Carey, mixing by Tortoise drummer John McEntire, and mastering by Heba Kadry – it follows the Brighton band’s 2023 record O Monolith. Danish experimental songwriter Clarissa Connelly, composer, pianist, and singer Tony Njoku, Rosa Brook of Pozi, percussionist Zands Duggan, and the Ruisi Quarte also contributed to Cowards, which pushes the limits of Squid’s twitchy grooves and literary dystopias. It was preceded by the singles ‘Cro-Magnon Man’, ‘Building 650’, and ‘Crispy Skin’.
Heartworms, Glutton for Punishment
Glutton for Punishment is the debut full-length by Heartworms, the project of Jojo Orme. The darkly compelling follow-up to last year’s A Comforting Notion EP was produced by longtime collaborator Dan Carey. “Making this album has left me with more questions than answers,” Orme reflected in a statement. “It’s shown me how much I’ve still got to learn, and how many more stories I want to tell. Life is forever moving; Heartworms is forever evolving; nothing is ever finished. I’m proud to have contributed a verse.”
Oklou, choke enough
Oklou, the French vocalist, producer, and composer who has collaborated with A. G. Cook, Flume, Sega Bodega, and more, has come through with her first LP, choke enough. It’s a lush and giddily produced debut, one that remains subdued yet bubbles with fantastical possibilities. “choke enough is a very intense album for me,” she shared in press materials. “It’s filled with directions, tentatives and irregularities, reflecting on my last years on this planet as my heart and conscience has really decentered from myself.”
FACS, Wish Defense
FACS have released Wish Defense, their sixth proper full-length, via Trouble in Mind. It marks the last album engineered by the late Steve Albini; the Chicago trio tracked it for two days with Albini at Electrical Audio before his death, with Sanford Parker stepping in to finish the LP 24 hours later. Longtime collaborator John Congleton then mixed the record using Albini’s notes about the session. The band’s Brian Case noted that the album’s lyrics revolve around the idea of doppelgängers or “doubles” as a means of observing and confronting your own self. In an interview, he explained: “I read Naomi Klein’s Doppelgänger: A Trip Into The Mirror World and was fascinated by how the slip into the digital world creates just enough space between facts / reality that people stop being critical, despite evidence to the contrary, and just accept what’s on the screen.”
The Bird Calls, Melody Trail
Sam Sodomsky has unveiled a striking new album under his moniker the Bird Calls, marking the singer-songwriter’s fourth release via the indie label Ruination Records. It’s called Melody Trail, and it’s just as warmly inviting but a little more playful and wide-eyed than the previous ones. “I got more than I asked for but the story won’t end there/ Against my better judgment/ Keep the good times coming/ Trudging along.” It’s always time to move on in the world of Melody Trail, and Sodomsky renders the effort alone worth singing about.
Other albums out today:
Larry June, 2 Chainz & the Alchemist, Life Is Beautiful; Nino Paid, Love Me as I Am; Skeleten, Mentalized; Horsebath, Another Farewell; Zelooperz & Real Bad Man, Dear Psilocybin; James Brandon Lewis, Apple Cores; Biig Piig, 11:11; Guided by Voices, Universe Room; Nadia Reid, Enter Now Brightness; $amaad, Archie’s Comic; Helen Ganya, Share Your Care; Ben Seretan, astral projecting into flavortown.