The Albums We Can’t Wait To Hear In April

“Jason Quever’s dreamlike 60s psychedelia swirls around like a Windows Media Player visualiser. It’s the kind of textured pop that makes you wish you were lying on the grass with headphones on, staring up at a cloudless night sky. It’s been four years since Quever last released an album as Papercuts, so this one is way overdue. If advance tracks ‘I Want My Jacket Back’ and the fantastic ‘Palm Sunday’ are anything to go by, this will be another gentle trip worth taking.” Mark

“It’s the first Chilis album since 2016, but more importantly to me – their first album to reunite them with mercurial guitar god John Frusciante since 2006. The release should coincide with the world striding stadium tour (kicking off in June) ‘It sounds like Red Hot Chili Peppers, but it’s different and new, and to me that’s great… We really like it and we’re proud of it and it has to start there.’ If the first couple of singles are anything to go buy, we’re in for a classic album.” Phil

“You wait four years for a new Jack White album, and then two come along together… Fear Of The Dawn comes just three months ahead of Entering Heaven Alive, which is as sure a sign as any that nature is healing in 2022 – putting big-riff garage rock right back where it belongs. The first singles are full of fuzz and experimentation (and Tribe Called Quest rapping Cab Calloway…) suggesting inspirations old, new, borrowed, and blue in White’s marriage of alt-rock perfection.” Paul

“Written during the pandemic, the upcoming third album from pop artist Camila Cabello is – as the name would suggest – inspired by her family and the “collective joy” she experienced with them during that time. Already releasing two singles from the record including ‘Don’t Go Yet’ and ‘Bam Bam’ which featured vocals from Ed Sheeran. Cabello has teased that the album will explore “a whole new kind of landscape for me that draws on a lot of my roots”. Orlaith

“It’s to creative polymath Kae Tempest’s credit that as they continue to garner respect and attention (and many, many awards) for whatever project they put their mind to, most of the singles from the forthcoming LP The Line Is A Curve feature songwriters that they admire — from Fontaines D.C.’s Grian Chatten to Lianne La Havas.” John

“It’s pretty damned cool getting to open for Bikini Kill at The Hollywood Palladium – even more so if you’re only 8 years old. Drummer Mila de la Garza (aka ‘Linda Linda No. 4’) is now pushing 12, but she’s still the youngest member of the badass all-girl punk group who already play louder, harder and better than most kids three times their age. Listen to ‘Racist, Sexist Boy’ and tell me they’re not the most inspirational band in years. Let’s hope they don’t ever actually grow up.” Paul

“With what feels like half the album trickled out already, we’ve got a pretty good idea what Wet Leg‘s debut is going to sound like – and unless those first five singles (and that amazing Ronan Keating cover for Apple Music, sadly not included on the track listing) are way off base, the new record is going to herald the arrival of the sharpest, wittiest, most exciting new post-punk band on the scene. According to band members Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers, it’s ‘sad music for party people and party music for sad people’. Sold.” Paul

“Two years after he dropped his debut in the middle of lockdown, Alec Benjamin is returning with his sophomore record. From the singles it seems as if this second album contains everything fans enjoyed about the first – Benjamin doesn’t miss when it comes to slick storytelling and expressive vocals. ‘Shadow of Mine’ is particularly compelling, an urgent ballad with both poignance and pace that describes the narrator’s desire to outrun themselves. Impressed yet? He’s also releasing it in Mandarin.” Caitlin

“Three years after reuniting in 2018, Swedish House Mafia announced they had signed with Republic Records and that they, 14 years after they formed, would finally be releasing their debut album. It comes after the release of ‘It Gets Better’ and several other singles since the reunion. Most recently, they collaborated with The Weeknd on the single ‘Moth to a Flame’, a track that certainly whet the appetites of fans eagerly awaiting the album in April 2022.” Orlaith

“Fontaines D.C. reacted to the overwhelming success of their debut Dogrel with the defiantly brutalist A Hero’s Death, as if testing their newfound fanbase’s loyalty. Skinty Fia isn’t exactly a turn towards stadium-ready anthems but it sees the acclaimed Dublin quintet broaden their palette considerably, from the chiming guitars that blow away the clouds of ‘Jackie Down The Line’ to the mumbling Madchester vibes of the title track. Whatever Fontaines D.C. do, they’re determined to never repeat themselves.” Mark

“It’s only ever a good thing to hear that J Spaceman is back. His wonky, awe-inspiring Beach Boys-esque psych pop can often sound like something fragile and broken that appears to put itself back together into strange shapes right in front of you. And sometimes it’s just so beautiful that it defies its own existence. If everything else on Everything Was Beautiful is even half as good as ‘Crazy’ and ‘Always Together With You’ then it’ll be something very special indeed.“ Mark

“Just look at that cover. Mixing up a perfect Brugel nightmare of Australian garage psychedelia, the Porn Crumpets shrug off the comparisons to Tame Impala and King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard to pull in their own influences (Black Sabbath, Fleet Foxes, The Beatles, The Mighty Boosh…) and spit them back out again as something absurdly unique. Night Gnomes promises a dozen new directions, with strings, harmonicas and a title track so disturbing that frontman Jack McEwan says his girlfriend can’t even listen to it.” Paul

“Few from the late Noughties blogospher era are as perenially liked as Chaz Bear— I mean, isn’t that name itself endearing enough? With Toro y Moi he emerged as a pioneer of chillwave, but in the years since he’s dabbled in smooth house (Anything In Return) psychedelic rock (What For?) and even trap (Boo). From what we’ve heard so far, MAHAL seems harder to define; there’s yacht rock on ‘Loop’, some warped funk on ‘Postman’ and some breezy, jazzy breakbeats on ‘Magazine’. Whatever it is, we need more Chaz Bear in our life.” John

“It’s been 12 years since their debut and Bloc Party is not the same band that put out Silent Alarm, either sonically or – after several line-up changes – literally. It’s also been six years since they released an album at all. The new singles we’ve heard so far  have been confident and creative, with Kele Okereke’s writing exploring everything from watching a bar brawl (‘The Girls Are Fighting’) to hooking up with a witch (‘Sex Magick’). This is an album that could go in any number of directions, and it’s going to sound great whilst doing it.” Caitlin 

“Like labelmates The Umbrellas, The Jeanines write gently jangling pop songs that sound like they’ve been unearthed from a time capsule. Their debut was a treasure trove of hooks that hung around just long enough to stick and Don’t Wait For A Sign doesn’t deviate from this template, delivering another whirlwind of indie pop that recalls 60s British invasion, C86 and early Bangles in all the best ways.” Mark

“Melody Prochet has long beckoned wild, psychedelic swirls into her lush and cosmic Echo Chamber. On Emotional Eternal, her first release since 2018’s chaotic Bon Voyage, Prochet has promised a sense of directness and peace; more than that, lead singles ‘Looking Backward’ and ‘Personal Message’ seem to have a purifying quality. This could be one of the year’s highlights.” John