The Albums We Can’t Wait To Hear In March

A companion to a novel of the same name co-written by James Patterson, Run, Rose, Run is the 48th solo studio album from Dolly Parton and will be released through her own Butterfly Record label. Dolly fans have been waiting some time for this project with the singer-songwriter first teasing her novel in July 2020. With a mix of bluegrass and country tunes, the album also features collaborations with Ben Haggard, Joe Nichols and Richard Dennison. Orlaith

Belgian artists Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul met after being introduced by the country’s dance music talismans Soulwax, while working on the soundtrack for the 2016 film Belgica. It was unlikely that two ambitious up-and-comers would turn down a suggestion from such an influential duo, and soon their work started bleeding into each other’s. The last few years of collaboration has culminated in their debut Topical Dancer, distorting central grooves with laughter, grimace and visceral response. John

Though he’s been disrupting and playing with the sound of UK hip hop for the last eight years, somehow Reason To Smile will be London creative Kojey Radical’s first full-length studio album. The first offerings, including the G-funk bop ‘War Outside’ and punchy ‘Payback’, all feel alive with vibrant production and some of the most spirited vocal takes of Radical’s career. John

Off the back of the release of her single ‘Brave’, Ella Henderson prepares to release her sophomore album Everything I Didn’t Say this month. It comes eight years after her debut album Chapter One which went straight in at No.1 on the UK album charts in 2014. Henderson has said she took that time to make sure she was “creating something that fully represented me, who I am today and what I stand for”. Orlaith

On 2019’s Guv I and Guv II, Ben Cook mined 90s power pop for two sets of Lemonheads-indebted fuzzy melodicism. Guv III finds Cook Benjamin Buttoning through the decades, with a slick 80s sound that pops and rocks in equal measure. ‘Good Time’ would have fit right in on Full Moon Fever, while ‘Only Wanna See U Tonight’ and ‘Lo Lo Lonely’ sound like The Nerves covering Cheap Trick. Almost guaranteed to be one of the most joyous listens of the year. Mark

Sonic Youth might have split 10 years ago but they’ve got a back catalogue that keeps on giving. This month marks the release of a new (?) five track rarities album that unearths some of the band’s unreleased material from The Eternal sessions in the early 00s – the last album Sonic Youth ever put out together. This, then, might finally be the end of an era (until those reunion rumours stop circling). Paul

I’m a sucker for bedroom pop, and Rex Orange County does an uncanny impression of a young musician crooning into a makeshift recording set-up after his parents have gone to bed. The lead single for Who Cares? sees him swapping what the internet has branded as ‘sadboi’ music for a happy, grateful ode to young love that bops along at ROC’s usual laidback pace. “Don’t change a thing, you are amazing” he pleads on ‘AMAZING’. Right back at you, Alexander. Caitlin

Fine, this is a greatest hits album, but plenty of Franz Ferdinand records already feel like a Best Of – and if you grew up in the dark of an indie disco then it’s never going to be a bad thing to have a curated set of the band’s best glam stomp hits to call on whenever you can’t be bothered to build a playlist. Better yet, the new compilation also promises two new tracks – the Stuart Price-collab ‘Billy Goodbye’ and the buttery smooth disco beat ‘Curious’. The perfect setlist primer for the band’s upcoming UK dates. Paul

Whilst Charli XCX’s sound has historically been difficult to pin down (Hyperpop? Pop punk? R&B?) her vision for Crash is clear. She’s described the album as ‘poptastic’, a definite swerve, but undoubtably accurate based on the singles we’ve heard so far. ‘New Shapes’ hosts Christine and the Queens and Caroline Polachek in a particularly joyful celebration of the new wave of pop, in which the artist sings of inner conflict over irresistible dance beats. It’s a formula that Charli is perfecting. Caitlin

Apparently pronounced “seasons”, Spring is the first EP in a four-disc set planned for release this year (doubling the output from last year’s twinned records, OK Human and Van Weezer). Rivers Cuomo has already told us that Spring is going to be a “a very breezy, carefree acoustic-type album, whereas Fall is going to be dance rock,” which sounds like we might be in store for Weezer’s full-on Vivaldi themed rock opera. Paul

Authenticity in music is a funny concept. You don’t miss it when it’s not there, but it sure helps when it is. Take Noe, a man who has lived every inch of the hard scrabble existences that plague the characters in his songs. His debut album marked him out as a worthy successor to John Prine, but with the great man sadly gone, this could be his moment to fill the absence. Lead single ‘Pine Grove (Madhouse)’ certainly suggests that time is nigh. Mark

Reunited with collaborator and friend Travis Barker, Machine Gun Kelly is back with his sixth studio album Mainstream Sellout which will feature previously-released singles ‘Papercuts’ and ‘Emo Girl’. Continuing his move into the pop punk space, MGK’s latest release will also speak more closely to his ever-growing celebrity status and his struggles with the spotlight. Orlaith

There are few singers more captivating than Georgia Maq. She’s equal parts Joni and Janis – somehow combining both on the superb ‘Blue’ – but Camp Cope also stand with one foot in 90s alt rock and the other in the late 10s emo revival. That’s a lot of touchpoints but the Melbourne trio blend them all into something that is far from derivative and as inviting as it is confrontational. After all, this is the woman who took down the Joe Rogans of this world in a way Spotify never will. Mark

Fresh from a Grammy win, Jamaican reggae artist Koffee is set to release a vibrant debut album that, according to the artist, won’t disappoint. I’m inclined to trust her – the first single from Gifted, ‘Lockdown’, is one of the few pieces of quarantine media that I’m not already tired of (along with Bo Burnham’s Inside). It was followed by a couple more rap-meets-dancehall tracks that show off Koffee’s slick lyricism and infectious energy. Gifted is an appropriately confident album title for a self-assured young artist. Caitlin