Yirinda – Yirinda
Fred Leone is one of three Butchulla songmen, a steward of culture and music for the Butchulla (an Australian Aboriginal people whose language is currently endangered). Yirinda consists of Leone and producer Samuel Pankhurst, and their debut album captures songs sung in this language. This fact alone makes it an important and significant project, but it also happens to be a very good one. Though the duo look to improvisation, classical and electronic music for inspiration, they never lose sight of the fact that they are ultimately honoring this language and tradition; everything must be in service of that goal. Compositions always seek to enhance Leone’s vocals rather than overpower them, playing off the cadences and intonations of the language itself. Frenetic pizzicato mirrors Leone rapidly firing off clusters of words on one track; a languidly stuck piano echoes Leone’s mournful drawl on another. It’s this clear reverence and attention to detail that transforms it from an important record to an essential one.
Patois Counselors – Enough: One Night At The Daisy Chain
Patois Counselors have largely been quiet since their 2020 sophomore outing, The Optimal Seat. That album ruthlessly skewered the modern condition, taking jabs at media, technology, and the farce of simply existing in late stage capitalism. In advance of a highly anticipated third studio recording, the group have dropped a teaser that acts as both a greatest hits retrospective and a taste of whats to come. Recorded in Brooklyn while the band was on tour, Enough captures the band in their current form: tight, taut and muscular. While hearing the band’s current spin on their back catalogue yields some definitive recordings, its most exciting to hear the new material. Cuts like “Fountain of UHF” and “What’s The News” deliver exactly what you’d hope for from the band: twitchy, angular post-punk, dense lyricism, frontman Bo White’s distinctive vocals booming over it all. Can’t wait to hear what’s to come.
Al Harper – The Analemma Observation League
An analemma is a plot of the position of the sun when observed from the same exact place throughout the year; turns out it makes a figure eight. There’s a similar cyclic nature to Al Harper’s latest album, whose name takes its name from this phenomenon. Most of her songs deal with relationships, all observed at different points: celebrations of the initial rush of romance, odes to commitment and devotion, meditations on friendships that slowly fade away, candles kept alight for former lovers. Together they create a song cycle that are both specific to Harper’s experiences and transcend them into something universal, patterns we can all recognize in our own lives. Much like the classic rock and singer-songwriter albums that clearly serve as her inspirations, the pleasures here are simple yet tried and true: stellar songwriting, sticky melodies, and tight performances.