I’ve been messing around with a couple of different streaming music services and I gotta say that I’m enjoying the offerings of Qobuz, which just arrived in Canada. I used the platform to audience all of this week’s selections in high-res audio.
1. Florence + The Machine, Mermaids
Single (Universal)
Recommended If You Like: Dark Florence?
It’s been a year since the Dance Fever album (Florence’s fifth) was released, so she (a) either had some material left over from those sessions (the “Dance Fever universe,” as she calls it) or (b) has more new music on the way. Florence is now in her ninth year of sobriety, but the lyrics harken back to a much darker time. I love the line “And hugging girls that smelt like Britney Spears and coconuts.”
AJR, The Dumb Song
Singer (Mercury/Republic)
RIYL: Dumb songs?
The Metzger brothers (Adam, Jack, and Ryan) are back with their first bit of new music for the year—and it’s just like it sounds. I quote the band: “We’ve wanted to write a song like The Dumb Song for a long time. Just a purely fun, crazy fast song that’s all over the place, but works in a weird way.” The video documents the 18 months it took to write this dumb song. And whatever AJR is doing, they’ll keep at it. Their material has had more than five billion streams so far.
3. Levi Evans, So Happy
Single (Big Loud Rock)
RIYL: Musical offspring
While Bono’s son Elijah is tearing things up with his rock band Inhaler, The Edge’s kid prefers his music to be more soulful with a pop sheen. Co-written and co-produced by Lucky West (he’s done work with Walk the Moon and others). This new single will go nicely on a playlist with the AJR song on this list.
4. Neon Bloom, One Last Time
Single (Independent)
RIYL: Feel-good Friday night rock
If Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs gets to hear this song, I have a feeling that she’ll definitely approve. The Toronto band (est. 2017) has a new single that’s the kind of fuzzed-out, slashing guitar song that sounds good coming out of car stereos.
5. Rancid, Tomorrow Never Comes
Tomorrow Never Comes (Hellcat/Epitaph)
RIYL: No-nonsense old-school punk
It’s been a minute since the last Rancid album (Trouble Maker, 2017), so fans are quite thrilled that Tim and company are about to return with a tenth album (June 2), featuring sixteen songs that are over in a shade under 29 minutes. At 2:28, this first single is the longest song on the record. The whole thing was produced by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz.