Music
Preview
The 16 albums we can’t wait to hear in July
Including new records from Beyoncé, Interpol, Lizzo, beabadoobee and Jack White
July means holidays and holidays mean music – whether plugged into your headphones by the pool or blasting out of your neighbour’s tinny garden speakers. The feel good hits of the summer keep rolling this month as festival season moves into second gear and another crop of artists release new albums to soundtrack the sunshine.
July 8
Neil Young & Crazy Horse – Toast
“When Neil Young says that an album was ‘so sad that I couldn’t put it out’ then you know to approach with trepidation. From the great man’s comments about Toast, an album recorded in 2001 but shelved until now, it’s fair to assume that it’s about the beginning of the disintegration of his marriage to Pegi Morton. The only song released so far ‘Standing In The Light Of Love’ is a classic Crazy Horse barnburner in the tradition of ‘Love To Burn’ and ‘Cowgirl In The Sand’. That in itself is reason to be excited.” Mark
Katy J Pearson – Sound Of The Morning
“Few will argue Katy J Pearson’s rise has been a fresh breath of air. Her 2020 debut Return showcased the Bristolian’s capacity for joy with nuance and lack of pretention, something she’s sure to take to new heights on its follow-up, as singles ‘Talk Over Town’ and ‘Float’ already show.” John
Viagra Boys – Cave World
“Since the off, Stockholm’s sleaziest post-punks have embraced the carnivalesque whilst free-pouring irony from the bottle. On their third album, Sebastian Murphy and co. go full on ‘Troglodyte’ (goblin-mode was so three months ago) as they question how far our civilisation has really come from our cave-dwelling ancestors. Don’t expect an answer, but it’ll be a lot of fun.” John
July 15
Interpol – The Other Side Of Make-Believe
“I was lucky to hear half of Interpol’s latest a few months ago, and unlucky to have to wait until July to hear the rest. Cinematic enough to feel like I’ve watched half film, and intimate enough to feel like I’ve left a conversation somewhere in the middle, The Other Side Of Make-Believe promises some of the band’s most mature and ambitious work to date. Wait until the sun goes down, backlight your stereo, and pretend you’re somewhere beautiful and dangerous.” Paul
Lizzo – Special
![Lizzo - About Damn Time [Official Video]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/IXXxciRUMzE/0.jpg)
“After the phenomenal success of Cuz I Love You in 2019, Lizzo finally returns this month with her fourth album, Special. Will it live up to the monster impact of its predecessor? Will we get another flute/twerk solo? Lizzo already made it back into the Top 10 thanks to ‘About Damn Time’ – with her new lead single going viral on TikTok and inspiring every man, woman, and gender non-conforming person in the world to try and perfect the dance.” Orlaith
Lawn – Bigger Sprout
“On 2020’s Johnny, Lawn came pretty close to creating the perfect jangle pop song in ‘Nighttime Creatures’, a song so lovely I’ve put it on every playlist over the last two years, whether it fit the theme or not. It’s possible they’ve outdone themselves with ‘Running My Luck’ off their third full-length, Bigger Sprout. This band doesn’t write songs, they bottle joy, joy I’ll be blasting out of every open window this summer.” Mark
beabadoobee – Beatopia
“It’s a good year for the 1990s. Tailgating Momma’s terrific retro alt-rock album on the long road to Pavement‘s return to UK stages in November, beabadoobee picks up where Fake It Flowers left off to meld the best Gold Soundz influences into modern pop magic. No longer the fresh young star on everyone’s One To Watch list, beabadoobee’s second album is the one that ought to cement her reputation as grunge’s new queen – with last month’s stellar Glastonbury set proving just how fiercely her spark is still burning.” Paul
Superorganism – World Wide Pop
“Somehow, it’s been four years since Superorganism exploded into existence with bonkers, genre-melting maximalist pop on their self-titled debut. The awaited follow-up promises to be just as kaleidoscopically stimulating, partnering with similarly left-field acts such as CHAI, Pi Ja Ma and Stephen Malkmus to help construct a new digital-analogue hybrid sonic universe.” John
Elf Power – Artificial Countrysides
“Elf Power have long been one of the more prolific of the Elephant Six Collective, a collection of like-minded bands such as The Olivia Tremor Control, Apples In Stereo, Neutral Milk Hotel and Of Montreal. While crossover success has eternally eluded them, Artificial Countrysides shows Elf Power lost none of the psych-pop loveliness that earned them a devoted cabal of fans. Songs like the blissful ‘Soft Trash’ and ‘The Gas Inside The Tank’ coat those dreamy melodies in an inviting blanket of fuzz.” Mark
Mabel – About Last Night
“Surely this is the soundtrack to the whole summer? After Grammy nominations and a win at the 2020 Brit Awards, expectations for Mabel’s sophomore album About Last Night… are sky high. Mabel’s blend of R&B and pop with dance has earned her a spot in the charts several times over the last few years and this album is sure to lead her right back. With many of us glued to Love Island this summer, it’s likely that we’ll be hearing a lot from Mabel for the next few weeks. And with the show’s soundtrack forming my entire walking playlist for summer, I look forward to having Mabel with me every morning.” Orlaith
Noah Cyrus – The Hardest Part
“After several EPs and a Grammy nomination in 2021, Noah Cyrus finally releases her debut album this month after teasing us with singles ‘I Burned LA Down’, ‘Ready to Go’, and, my personal favourite, ‘Mr. Percocet’. The Hardest Part was produced by long-time Artic Monkeys and Wolf Alice collaborator Mike Crossey and provides a platform for Cyrus to share her lived-experience of substance abuse and heartache. Noah’s vocals definitely have a warmth of nostalgia for anyone who grew up on a diet of Hannah Montana (played by her sister, Miley) but she has worked hard to define her own sound – and to earn a permanent place on my playlists over the recent years.” Orlaith
July 22
Jack White – Entering Heaven Alive
“‘For the rest of my life, I’m either sounding like [The White Stripes] or not sounding like them,’ White recently told EW, ‘Whichever way you choose, you’re already immediately turning off 50 percent of people.’ Finding himself damned either way, White twisted his first 2022 album, Fear Of The Dawn, into sci-fi jazz magic – now backing it up with a companion record that already seems calmer, tighter and more focussed, but still proudly nothing like anything else he’s ever done. When you can’t decide between two extremes, do both”. Paul
Ty Segall – Hello, Hi
“We’re already half-way through the year and we’ve somehow only had one new Ty Segall album. By this point in 2019 we had a live record (Deforming Lobes), a guitar-less experiment (First Taste) and a 47-track double-disc demo (Pig Man Lives: Volume 1). Since Segall’s arthouse Whirlybird soundtrack only sort of counts, Hello, Hi has a lot of promise to deliver on – written as a lockdown project that already sounds like it might be Bo Burnham’s Inside pushed through a slinky until some kind of psychedelic noise rock comes out.” Paul
Alex The Astronaut – How To Grow A Sunflower Underwater
“Alex The Astronaut continues to hone her endearing brand of confessional folk pop in singles from How To Grow A Sunflower Underwater. She explores the question mark hanging over her identity with a general sense of optimism about even the messier stuff, and there’s a wonderful warmth to each of the tracks that we’ve heard so far, with reunion ballad ‘Airport’ being the stand-out. Listening to the album in full is going to feel like a much-needed hug.” Caitlin
July 29
Beyoncé – RENAISSANCE
“Six years after releasing one of the best R&B albums of our time, Queen Bey is back to conquer a new genre – or several. Although we don’t know much about new project RENAISSANCE, we do have a lead single, the uplifting house anthem ‘Break My Soul’. The rest of the album has been reported to take inspiration from house, country, 90s garage and what British Vogue describes as “glittering retrofuturism”. It’s virtually impossible to imagine how this all ties together, but since it’s Beyoncé, I can guess at the answer: with grace.” Caitlin
Maggie Rogers – Surrender
“When Maggie Rogers promises an album that sounds like “feral joy”, you get excited. So far, the singer-songwriter has dropped two singles from her self-produced second album – ‘Want Want’ and ‘That’s Where I Am’ – intense expressions of love and desire that very much live up to Rogers’ description. This all comes just two months after her Master’s graduation. I’m not quite sure when she sleeps, but I’m not complaining.” Caitlin
Tickets are on sale now or soon for many of the names on this month’s list at ticketmaster.co.uk, with a lot of major tours and dates still to be announced for the coming year.
