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Saturday, February 26, 2022

New from Bonnie Raitt, Stars, Goose, Whimsical, The Head and the Heart - More music variety!


Bonnie Raitt: Made Up Mind



Having passed the 50th anniversary of her debut album last fall, this multi-Grammy-winner will release her 21st LP, Just Like That, in April. The collection includes original songs along with covers such as this first single. Not to be confused with the Tedeschi Trucks Band song of the same name, it's an interpretation of a 2019 release by Canadian duo The Bros. Landreth. The track "shows that the 72-year-old blues-rock treasure is the master of the form," NPR's Ann Powers writes. The lyric "documents a lover's gradual turn away from a toxic relationship. Raitt's arrangement colors this scene in calm tones of melancholy and resilience ... her slide guitar gently reinforcing her band's solid groove."

Stars: Pretenders



The Montreal-based group formed in 2000, and its upcoming ninth album, From Capelton Hill, is billed as reflecting on a two-decade-plus journey together. “We laid our bets, we made our beds / On staying young forever,” Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan sing on this first single, which Millan describes as a “love letter” to the band’s origins. She adds: “When we wrote all those songs 20 years ago, we were young. That’s what being in a band is: you’re putting down your chips on feeling young and being young. It doesn’t necessarily work out because time does its thing.” 

Goose: Dripfield



A five-piece jam band from Norwalk, Connecticut, Goose has been releasing music and touring for at least five years, but flew under our radar until now. The title song from the group's next album, due in June, has now landed in our New Music bin. Rolling Stone calls it "a boundless track, anchored by a deep rumble of bass and percussion and topped off with a starry-eyed mix of guitar lines and synths."

Whimsical: Rewind



Another indie band new to our ears is this shoegaze-dream pop duo from Indiana. Singer-songwriter Krissy Vanderwoude and multi-instrumentalist Neil Burkdol released one album around the turn of the century, and after a 10-year break reformed Whimsical in 2015. Their fourth LP, Melt, is due April 1, described as featuring "an increase of electronic elements and atmosphere that had only been hinted at previously." To our ears, their sound pairs well with another indie band we have featured, Norway's Secret Treehouse.

The Head and the Heart: Virginia (Wind in the Night)


The latest album from this indie-folk band is coming in April. "This bittersweet track showcases the band playing to their strengths: a sturdy piano sound garnished with strings and perfectly paired with Jonathan Russell’s evocative lyrics," writes Spin Magazine. Russell says: ”Being from Virginia, for me this song represents a long and winding relationship to place." The lyrics directly invoke Thomas Wolfe's you-can't-go-home-again theme: "This place that I used to love / Well it's just another town." But they could also be interpreted as referring to a change in a romantic relationship: "Virginia don't sound like she used to / Virginia don't feel like she used to / But I can feel a heart beating for me, baby."

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