Amy Helm, Pete Yorn, Dawes, Sting, Linkin Park freshen up our New Music bin

➤Our music-pickers took a couple of weeks off for a well-earned vacation, but they're back with a new batch of carefully curated songs for our New Music bin.

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Amy Helm: Baby Come Back

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The ten songs on her fourth solo album, Silver City, are "conversations ... celebrating womanhood in all its complexities," says Helm. And while the title of this track might sound like a plea to a departed lover, instead it is a call to a female friend to take control of her life: "Baby, go on / Hand on your heart and your eyes on the road / Get yourself back home." It's also a standout track on this mostly acoustic album. Rock and Blues Muse writes: "A strangulated electric guitar grinds out the chords ... elevated by searing, yet touching gospel backing vocals. It’s the disc’s most propulsive moment and another example of Helm’s soaring voice." (Photo by Ebru Yildiz)

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Pete Yorn: It's Alright

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We've previously featured a couple of singles ahead of the New Jersey native's ninth studio album, The Hard Way. Now the full collection is out, and we're dropping Track 4 into our New Music bin. It's a gentle love song to someone who isn't always (or any longer?) nearby: "So I keep you in my heart / when you’re not here in my arms."

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Dawes: Still Strangers Sometimes

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This is the second single from Oh Brother, the upcoming album from Taylor Goldsmith and his band, of which the only other remaining original member is his brother Griffin. “It’s a song about the spiritual investigation of long-term relationships,” says Taylor Goldsmith. “How a part of ourselves will be unknowable forever, despite our deep connections and intimate understandings of each other.”

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Sting: I Wrote Your Name (Upon My Heart)

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The veteran British rocker is about to start a North America tour, joined by his longtime collaborator, guitarist Dominic Miller, and drummer Chris Maas. The new power trio, dubbed 3.0, launches with this single. Stereogum calls it "a raspy rocker that's driven by the fabled Bo Diddley beat."

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Linkin Park: The Emptiness Machine

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The California band returns with a new lineup and its first album since the 2017 passing of former lead singer Chester Bennington. Vocalist Emily Armstrong and drummer Colin Brittain join Mike Shinoda, Brad Delson, Dave "Phoenix" Farrell and Joe Hahn. The group's next album, From Zero, is due in November.

New releases from Rubblebucket, Sycamore Tree, Mossy Ledge, John Lewitt, Clairo

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Rubblebucket: Moving Without Touching

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Back in 2015, bandleaders Kalmia Traver and Alex Toth found their romantic relationship unraveling. After a period of tumult, they were no longer a couple yet were recommitted to their musical partnership. Since then the band has released 2018's Sun Machine and 2022's Earth Worship. Now comes Year Of The Banana, whose lyrics are based on poems Traver wrote during 2015's upheaval. As the press release puts it, "Rubblebucket is celebrating 15 years as a band with a record about the year it almost ended." (Photo by Shervin Lainez)

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Sycamore Tree: Scream Louder

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Vocalist  Ágústa Eva Erlendsdottir and musician (and fashion designer) Gunni Hilmarsson have released 17 singles since forming Sycamore Tree in 2016 in their home town of Reykjavik, Iceland. This track, the band says, tells the story of two adolescents who "embark on a spontaneous adventure into the wilderness. Their screams echo across the rugged Icelandic terrain, symbolizing a release of pent-up frustrations and a yearning for connection and community."

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Mossy Ledge: All You Need to Know

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This quintet formed in Vancouver in 1994, released two LPs and two EPs and toured Canada before going on hiatus in 2001. Twenty-one years later, all original members reunited to re-release their catalog on streaming platforms and to complete previously recorded songs - such as this new single. Drummer/co-producer Ryan Mason says, "It’s all very exciting... the band is in great form, and all the original members are together again writing and recording. There’s a fresh vibe and an excitement to the band, which is translating into the sound.”

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John Lewitt: Building My Own Dreamland

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The Toronto singer-songwriter has had several of his songs picked up for use in movies and television series, but says the ones on his latest album, One More Time, "were written for the pure joy of writing music, with no intentions attached to them.” Lewitt says. He describes this track as "an upbeat, positive song," noting that's the hardest thing for a songwriter to write.

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Clairo: Thank You

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On her new album, Charm, the singer-songwriter writes about "fleeting moments ... where I’ve been charming or have been charmed." In this song, the protagonist questions why she doesn't fully commit to relationships -- "I don't invest the way I'd prefer / Someone to in me" -- and expects them to be temporary: "Cause when I met you, I knew it / I'd thank you for your time."

Snow Patrol, The Killers, Stand Up and Say No, James Bay, Michael Kiwanuka in New Music Bin

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Snow Patrol: All

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A single from the Scottish band's upcoming album The Forest Is The Path. The song's narrator is in love, afraid to declare himself, but also afraid of what will happen if he doesn't. "All I know is holding you is all I ever wanna know / But maybe I'm not brave enough to tell you so / But I don't have the strength to watch you go."

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The Killers: Bright Lights

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This single is billed as a "celebratory homecoming track" as the band, founded in Las Vegas in 2001, starts a residency at the Coliseum in that city. That launches a tour marking the 20th anniversary of the Hot Fuss album.

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Stand Up and Say No: Shared Interests

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The new single from the project of  Andre Nault, we're told, "reflects his personal journey through introspection and self-acceptance." The Ottawa-area artist wrote, performed, recorded, produced, mixed, and mastered the track.

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James Bay, The Lumineers, Noah Kahan: Up All Night

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The English singer-songwriter teams up with a bunch of Americans on a song that he says is "all about navigating the great weight of all the stuff that plays on our minds and keeps us awake at night.” Bay's fourth album, Changes All The Time, is due next month.

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Michael Kiwanuka: Floating Parade

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Here's the first new song released by the British singer-songwriter in three years. Produced by Inflo and Danger Mouse, it's "loosely written about utilizing your senses to find an escape, particularly in oppressive circumstances."

New from The Smashing Pumpkins, Bottlemoth, Adult Leisure, Valley, The Harbours

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The Smashing Pumpkins: Sighommi

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Billy Corgan and company just released their 13th album, Aghori Mhori Mei. Corgan says the LP is an attempt to see whether "our ways of making music circa 1990-1996 would still inspire something revelatory." He says the album name is a cipher; maybe this song title is, too. The lyrics are equally obscure. What would you expect?

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Bottlemoth: You'll Always Have Us

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This is one half of a double-single just released by an indie-folk quintet from the UK, ahead of their debut album Even Us Ghosts, due in October. "The track’s simplicity and sincerity mirror vocalist Ethan Proctor’s reflections on maintaining connections amidst the whirlwind of city life and global disruptions, writes review site Amplify The Noise.

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Adult Leisure: Borderline

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We've been playing several tracks from this Bristol group's 2023 release, Present State of Joy and Grief, and now pick up this new single. It was "inspired by the break-up of a long term relationship ... and the feeling of hindsight in the months following it," the band says, adding that the track evolved from "a Police-y style demo."

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Valley: The Bass Player's Brother

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Here's the latest single to spin out of the Toronto indie-pop group's latest LP, Water the Flowers, Pray for a Garden. It takes a rather jaundiced view of romance: "Love is a car chase / Crash into mistakes / Sooner or later, you're packing a suitcase."

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The Harbours: So Sweet

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This band from Leicestershire, UK, was formed just this year by vocalist Ollie Drakard and guitarist Will Massarella-Tyler. It's described as blending "modern indie vibes with classic pop influences." 

New: Kate Pierson, The Wild Feathers, The War and Treaty, Keeton Coffman, Tessa Rose Jackson

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Kate Pierson: Evil Love

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This member of The B-52s steps out on her own with Radios & Rainbows, an LP due in September. "Channeling the spirit of The Ronettes, The Crystals, The Shangri-Las, and Amy Winehouse, Pierson’s pipes are pure power," writes Post-Punk.com. Pierson says “It’s an eclectic group of songs ... Overall, the album has an upbeat vibe because I wanted to put out something positive in these dark times." She describes this song as “a not-so-true tale of obsessive possessiveness and righteous revenge.” (Photo by John Stapleton)

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The Wild Feathers: Don't Know

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We previously featured "Sanctuary" from the Nashville band's upcoming LP, Sirens. Bassist-singer Joel King says this song "started out as just an up-tempo rock and roll bass riff. Then adding a surf guitar and drums playing the toms, the lyrics had to be something primal and emotional. Leaving an old way of life behind but not sure you really want to."

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The War and Treaty: Tunnel Vision

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This is one of a string of recent singles that we surmise may be leading up to a new album by the duo of Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter. We don't have any further information, but the song is a rousing, joyful rock 'n' roller about focusing on a righteous path: "I've got tunnel vision / I'm on my way to the promised land." (Photo by Austin Hargrave)

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Keeton Coffman: Violet

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We've been spinning "Kathryn," and now want to catch up with another recent single from this Texas singer-songwriter-bandleader. In a message to fans, he said: "Many of you have asked me...'Who is Katryn?'... 'Who is Violet?' Well, these songs are a bit like Rorschach images... they will aim to tell you more about you than about the person who made them." Spoiler: In the lyric, violet is an eye color.

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Tessa Rose Jackson: The Antidote

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A Dutch artist based in London (who previously recorded under the name Someone), Jackson teams with Charles Prest of Noon Garden and keyboardist Darius Timmer on this single from her upcoming EP  A Mirror Sometimes, due in October. This song, Jackson says, "is a hypnotic, psychedelic folk track about the allure of the comfort zone and how scary it can be to step out of it. An ode to my fellow over-thinkers, over-worriers."

New music variety: Dawes, Beachwood Sparks, DBIG, Strand of Oaks, Alyssa Sequoia

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Dawes: House Parties

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The upcoming album Oh Brother is appropriately titled, given that brothers Taylor (guitar, vocals) and Griffin Goldsmith (drums) are now the only regular members. This song leans into dad-rock in a literal way. Its narrator is a father hitting tourist spots with his family, while wishing he was at a laid-back party with fans of Bowie, Joni, and live music. "A nostalgic song," says older brother Taylor. "A song about how true cultural experiences aren’t in the tourist traps but within human connections among specific communities. It’s a goofy lyric but the sentiment is not."

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Beachwood Sparks: Torn In Two

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This LA band's first album in a decade, Across the River of Stars, "embrac(es) the psychedelic '70s country-rock of their early work with an added sonic shimmer," writes AllAccess. Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes produced the LP. The group has been labeled alt-country, and we hear echoes of classic Laurel Canyon (e.g. Byrds) and modern AAA (e.g. Lost Leaders) bands.

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Don't Believe in Ghosts: Drowning

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Here's an upbeat dance track about "the overwhelming sensation of struggling to keep up with daily life amidst constant distractions." Key lyric: "I see you drowning, in and out of it, Climbing higher just to see around it." The New York group is led by singer-songwriter-producer Steven Nathan, with Dan DelVecchio on guitar and Ken Yang on drums.

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Strand of Oaks: Communication

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Since we last heard from Tim Showalter, he's taken time off from his Strand of Oaks project to focus on painting - and try acting, as a biker in the TV drama "Mayans M.C." His new album, Miracle Focus, sheds the melancholy of his previous records and brings us a "love letter to bliss." He says he wanted to make this track "sound like the type of song I called into a radio station and requested in 1990."

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Alyssa Sequoia: And I...

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Described as a neo-folk-soul artist, Sequoia grew up in the suburbs just north of New York and has been signing in the city's cafes and clubs since she was 19. "This song goes back in time to when I rode the subways - When I always needed change to use the pay phone - When life and the city had its own rhythm ... [It also] is about being full of strong powerful emotions and the pain of letting someone I love go."

Phish, Rubblebucket, Aurora, Rise Bailey Rise, plus Don McLean in our New Music Bin

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Phish: Wave Of Hope

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For those of us who have not avidly followed them over the decades, the release of Evolve provides an excellent way to catch up with the veteran jam band. Many of its 12 tracks have been turning up in their live-show playlists in recent years, and a recording of this song previously appeared on Trey Anastasio's 2020 solo release Lonely Trip. Dave Campbell of The Associated Press calls the track "‘70s-style rock with space for Page McConnell to pound on the keys amid racing guitar riffs." The hopeful-ish refrain: "This too shall pass, this too shall pass."

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Rubblebucket: Rattlesnake

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The Brooklyn art-pop project's new single derives from a poem vocalist Kalmia Traver wrote after a bike ride with her mother: "Just off the path we spotted a massive rattlesnake lounging in the dappled forest sunlight. It was my first time ever seeing one and my instinct was to stop and get a good look. My mom’s instinct was to get the hell out of there, and we laughed later about this dynamic." Relix writes the the track "builds to neo-disco pop perfection with a chorus of horns, prowling congas and the first string arrangement featured on an entry from the band since 2014’s 'Carousel Ride.'" 

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Aurora: To Be Alright

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"The world has grown so accustomed to being apathetic," the Norwegian alt-pop artist told NME about the thought-process behind her fifth album, What Happened To The Heart?’ The mag calls the album a "career high" and "a heavy, rave-y call for humanity." It's filled with imagery of the heart and blood representing love and emotions. "What is life worth living / if you don’t bleed for anything?” she sings here.

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Rise Bailey Rise: Never Know

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Coming to us from Buckinghamshire, England, is the latest single by singer-songwriter-producer-remixer Rich Patmore. After playing with various bands, he quit that scene to focus on fatherhood - but soon returned to making music, this time in a home studio. He's released several singles and EPs in recent years, drawing on influences from 80's UK pop and 90's grunge as well as edgy alternative artists like Radiohead and NIN. 

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Don McLean: Thunderstorm Girl

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The title track of the new album American Boys celebrates and name-checks rock'n'roll pioneers. He doesn't list himself, but the LP is filled with 60s-style songs, including this ditty that's landed in our New Music bin. Like much of the album, it's relaxed fun, although not terribly original - a bit like recent Ringo Starr songs. As Spill Magazine says, this and some other tracks "are performed and recorded well, but McLean seems to be playing it safe with the content. One should not go looking for McLean’s poetry and poignant observations of albums past. It is largely absent here."

New indie music by The Rift, Ravenhall, Kasha, Alanna Matty, Washed Out

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The Rift: Just Fine

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This Southern California indie-rock band says the phrase "'Just Fine' has become a humorous motto for us, reflecting our philosophy of resilience and defiance even when things aren't going our way. Drawing inspiration from Monty Python's iconic 'flesh wound' scene, the song embodies a spirit of gallows humor and unwavering determination."

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Ravenhall: A Traveling Story

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The Auckland, New Zealand, duo of Joe Ravenhall and Chris Brebner has been releasing singles since 2015, and brought out its debut LP, Brother, earlier this year. This track has now found its way around the globe and landed in our New Music bin. We hear a hint of Bob Seger in the vocal on the refrain 'The road keeps calling / Freedom come to me now."

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Kasha: Do Me So

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It's a hint of Sade that hits our ear as we listen to this single by an artist born in the Congo and raised in Norway. Her music is a blend of neo-soul, R'n'B, pop, and Afropop. "I wrote this song to deal with the sorrow and joy of emerging stronger from psychological abuse. It's painful, frightening, but most of all, it's satisfying to finally understand more."

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Alanna Matty: Restless

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Originally from Toronto, now living in Halifax, this singer-songwriter-producer (and video-game sound designer) brings am-I-working-hard-enough anxiety to this new single. She explains: "Everyone says ‘you need to take time off’ or ‘you have to recharge’ but how can you? What if that moment you spent sitting on the couch decompressing is the moment where you could have created the thing that was going to catapult you to the next stage of your career?" Such as, perhaps, her upcoming album, Subject to Change.

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Washed Out: The Hardest Part

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Once dubbed "the godfather of chillwave" by Pitchfork, Ernest Greene just released his fifth album (and first in four years), Notes from a Quiet Life. In 2021, he moved from Atlanta to a 20-acre former horse farm in the Georgia countryside, not far from where he grew up, and where he presumably is living quietly. This track's smooth, shiny sound belies its lyric about pining for an ex: "I hope that you've noticed I've tried to move on / Still can't admit that our time is done."

Latest from Mavis Staples, Wilco, JD McPherson, Valley, Pete Yorn added to our big mix

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Mavis Staples: Worthy

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“It’s a pick-me-up song - it’s a celebration, and you can’t help but move,” says the R&B icon of her new single. Written and produced by MNDR (Amanda Lucille Warner), the song has an uplifting message of self-worth. It's a perfect fit for Staples, still sounding ebullient as she's turning 85. Warner says working with Staples - "listening to her soulful voice, spending time in her grace, and watching her artistry in the studio ... was an experience too profound to put into words."  

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Wilco: Hot Sun

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Here's the title track from a new EP that bandleader Jeff Tweedy describes as having a "summertime-after-dark kind of feeling." Pitchfork says the song "practically melts from the heat, guitar notes bending and warping as Tweedy sings about the physical pleasure of sunlight hitting skin. With that sensation comes a nagging doubt, possibly about climate change: 'Shouldn’t I be doing something?' he asks himself." (Photo by Akash-Wadhwani)

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J.D. McPherson: Sunshine Getaway

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Speaking of sun on the skin, that's what the narrator in this song longs for, as an escape from the "same old same old day after day." The single precedes Nite Owls, McPherson's first (non-Christmas) album since 2017's Undivided Heart and Soul. In the meantime, he's been touring as band leader and opening act for Alison Kraus and Robert Plant. The Oklahoma native is known for a 60s rock-and-roll sound, but this track features a riff reminiscent of "Bang a Gong." McPherson told Variety: "Well, any playlist of mine, you’re gonna see Little Richard right next to T. Rex." (Photo by Joshua Black Wilkins)

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Valley: Water the Flowers, Pray for a Garden

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Founded in 2014, this Toronto-based band has been growing its fan base steadily with what AllMusic calls "their buoyant blend of indie pop uplift and melodic hooks." We would add: with lyrics that describe the ennui of many young adults today. That continues in this title track: "I guess that I'd rather laugh than cry 'bout my problems / When, honestly, I don't know how to solve them." But that refrain alternates with another urging, "Quit wasting the sunlight, it's always the right time / Just open your eyes, 'cause it's always the bright side."

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Pete Yorn: Real Good Love

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There's word that the California-based New Jersey native has an album coming out later this year. Along with January's single release, "Someday, Someday," it will presumably include this new song. Both are simple, quiet, acoustic tracks, this one musing on how "real good lovin' is so hard to find."

Coldplay, Lake Street Dive, Rachel Hickey, Vacations, Sarah Kinsley bring the new music

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Coldplay: feelslikeimfallinginlove

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This is the first track to emerge ahead of the veteran U.K. band's 10th album, Moon Music, due in October. After nearly a quarter century of releasing anthemic hits, Chris Martin and company don't break new ground here, and the lyric about new-love euphoria isn't terribly original - but they're no denying it's catchy, and easy to imagine as a stadium sing-along.

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Lake Street Dive: Far Gone

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We picked up the title single back in March, and now with the full release of Good Together we're highlighting this track that departs just a bit from the band's typical style. Americana Highways notes that this track features guitarist James Cornelison "providing an excellent riff to counter [Bridget] Kearney’s deep groove" - and adds that "Kearney is seriously undervalued as one of rock’s best bass players." We heartily agree. For his part, Cornelison replaced founding member Mike “McDuck” Olson, who parted on friendly terms in 2021.

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Rachel Hickey: Back On Track

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Following two EP releases since 2021, this Toronto-based singer-songwriter just released her first full-length, The Eve of St. Agnes - a title the former English lit/psych double- major borrowed from a Keats poem. 

Hickey's music is described as "folk-focused with a blend of indie, pop, and rock." We previously featured an early single, "High," and now choose this peppy track for our New Music bin.

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Vacations: Midwest

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Here's the latest single to break out from this Australian quartet's third album, No Place Like Home. Lead singer Campbell Burns says: "I’d never directly written a break-up song until ‘Midwest.’ ... I enjoy having songs that are universally relatable and open to interpretation ... Lately though, I’ve been writing about my memories and unravelling them in exact detail. Almost like therapy, except you’re all there in the room with me."

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Sarah Kinsley: Last Time We Never Meet Again

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This classically trained singer-songwriter-musician-producer's first full-length album, Escaper, is set for release in September. This first single "is meant to be celebratory," says the artist, but it is also "a goodbye - the closing of all these worlds that you inhabit with the people you love. A celebratory goodbye."