Atwood Journal is worked up to share our Editor’s Picks column, written and curated by Editor-in-Chief Mitch Mosk. Each week, Mitch will share a group of songs, albums, and artists who’ve caught his ears, eyes, and coronary heart. There may be a lot unbelievable music on the market simply ready to be heard, and all it takes from us is an open thoughts and a willingness to hear. By way of our Editor’s Picks, we hope to shine a light-weight on our personal music discoveries and showcase a various array of recent and up to date releases.
This week’s Editor’s Picks options Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Concept, JayWood, Trip Manor, Mumford & Sons, Dreamer Isioma, and Blind Pilot!
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Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Concept
by Sharon Van Etten
Sharon Van Etten describes Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Concept as “a gathering of the minds and a sonic belief fall.” Chatting with a captive viewers this previous Monday night time at Woodstock’s Bearsville Theater, she defined how, for the primary time in her profession, she and her bandmates wrote and recorded every part collectively till that they had a full album’s price of fabric – and the way this collaborative spirit resulted in a inventive freedom she’d by no means felt earlier than.
You possibly can inform when a document is an “artist” album versus a “band” album – and Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Concept is unmistakably a band album by and thru. The mixed abilities of Van Etten, Jorge Balbi (drums, machines), Devra Hoff (bass, vocals), and Teeny Lieberson (synth, piano, guitar, vocals) are on full show from when the spellbinding “Dwell Without end” takes flight, to the ultimate moments of “I Need You Right here.”
The songs are daring, brash, experimental, and exhilarating – simply Van Etten’s most numerous murals in her 15-plus 12 months profession – and but, there’s a cohesion to the expertise that makes Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Concept as memorable as it’s mesmerizing. Catchy pop-structured songs like “Hassle” and “Afterlife” – two of the document’s singles – put Van Etten’s cathartic, contemplative songwriting on full show, whereas tracks like “Indio” (which employed different scales) and “I Can’t Think about (Why You Really feel This Approach)” seize the band’s creative spirit and originality – a aptitude that units them aside, not simply from previous Van Etten works, however from most modern rock artists.
As if the album expertise weren’t sufficient, the band’s stay present is one other beast solely. On stage, the four-piece ship a soul-stirring, shiver-inducing efficiency that defies definition. Bits of indie rock, new wave, math rock, storage, post-punk, psychedelic, and extra shine by the haze as, with Van Etten’s breathtaking vocals on the helm, the group ship a dizzying, dynamic rock present that faucets into the core of human expertise. It’s a rush, a reckoning, and a uncooked reflection of the place we’re at in 2025.
“BIG TINGS”
by JayWood ft. Tune-Yards
A soulful ray of sonic sunshine, “BIG TINGS” is an anthem for all of the dreamers and believers on the market to maintain combating the great struggle and gathering that wool. JayWood’s first single of the 12 months sees him collaborating with Merrill Garbus and Nate Brenner of art-pop duo Tune-Yards on a tune that blurs (and breaks) musical boundaries, all whereas capturing the magic of hope and the human spirit. “Operating outta steam for a dwelling, no givin in. Chunk again, you may see me like this, or like that.” JayWood sings on the high, his voice calm, head within the sport as within the background we hear, “Large tings coming, coming, coming our means.”
They usually certain are.
Ridin on a dream for a life-style
Deterring my deathstyle
Deterring my deathstyle
You possibly can see me like this? Or like dat
You possibly can see me like this? Or like dat
So once you’re feeling excessive
Throw dem palms as much as the sky
I acquired large tings
coming down the pipe so what
So what. It’s arduous
“I actually don’t even know once I grew to become such an optimistic particular person!” JayWood tells Atwood Journal. “More often than not I really feel like I’m moody or miserable, however then I see what I select to jot down about, and I suppose that modifications my view a bit. I believe the tune to me actually is nearly trusting the method and leaning into the unknown trigger you by no means know what you’ll get from that have. I wanna imagine that as a lot as life or a state of affairs is perhaps arduous or tasking, it solely signifies that higher issues are to return your means. So I hope that any listener can take a little bit of hope from the observe and discover a solution to create their very own reference to optimism and destiny.”
Hope is a tough factor to return by, particularly in a world that appears to benefit from beating us again and hitting us after we’re down. JayWood has all the time been a charismatic character – particularly in his artwork – and in “BIG TINGS,” it’s a seductive pressure of hope that shines a light-weight on him and all listeners, illuminating the trail ahead.
It’s an all too excellent solution to kick off 2025 – beginning the 12 months off by diving headfirst into the long run’s highly effective potential.
“There’s loads occurring on this planet proper now,” Jaywood reflets. “It’s not arduous to see that. I believe individuals attempt to discover an escape from this present actuality inside artwork and connections with different individuals so by placing this observe out in the beginning of the 12 months I hope to make a bridge inside that have.”
“My hope this 12 months for my music is to create a group and fanbase that cares to dive deeper into the artwork I make in addition to simply taking a little bit of a step again from every part occurring round them and simply having a protected chill area to go for a bit. In hopes to make the realities of life a bit simpler even only for a second – [laughs] – there I am going once more with this random ass optimism.”
A sun-soaked, smile-inducing revelry, “BIG TINGS” is an enormous, daring, and delightful dose of sonic inspiration – and a mainstay of my weight-reduction plan for months to return.
“January (Over & Over)”
by Trip Manor
Without a doubt, January acquired the quick finish of the ‘month stick.’ It’s chilly, it’s darkish, and it has to comply with the “most fantastic time of the 12 months.” There’s no getting back from that – and to that finish, I really feel I’ve discovered a kindred spirit in Trip Manor’s “January (Over & Over).” The emotionally charged lead single off the Virginia duo’s upcoming Again to City EP (out Could 15, 2025 through Nettwerk) aches with the desolation, the isolation, and the sheer bleakness of my least favourite month – and it does so with a strikingly seductive different warmth.
January discovered you in your mattress
Wishing you had been elsewhere as a substitute
Once they all made resolutions
It began messing along with your head
Now January’s acquired you standing on the sting
Standing on the sting
Considering you struck out
Wishing you would come down
Just like the lights went out
Time and again, again and again
Over and over
Because the band explains, this tune got here from emotions of top-of-year exhaustion and vacancy. “I keep in mind I positively felt a way of being overwhelmed, questioning the place some recent inspiration was going to return from,” Nathan Towles, who performs in Trip Manor along with Cole Younger, tells Atwood Journal. “I simply wanted to jot down a tune about that and get it off of my chest. It offers with emotions of insecurity or comparability when beginning a brand new document.”
Residing within the second’s not so dangerous
However now it’s gone and it was all you had
You slept proper by the Winter
And forgot concerning the Fall
Now dwelling by the second’s
Acquired you dwelling on the еdge
You’re dwelling on the еdge
Considering you struck out
Wishing you would come down
Just like the lights went out
Time and again, again and again
Over and over
A golden-hued pop-rock reverie, “January (Over & Over)” is a bona fide come-up from the comedown: A dreamy, dramatic outpouring of catchy and cathartic sound right here to remind us that we’re not alone in our distress: Everybody hates January. It’s the way it’s all the time been, and it’s the way it will all the time be. Perhaps it has to do with the December’s unfiltered vacation excessive: That dopamine rush that comes with closing out the 12 months with numerous festivities. You have a good time and ring all of it in, solely to seek out you need to do it over again. “January (Over & Over)” is a welcome balm – a heat and wondrous reverie, right here to supply a bit of gentle within the darkness.
There’s nobody standing up in your means
But it surely’s really easy in charge
It’s irrespective of of time
And it’s no use ready ’til every part feels proper
Considering you struck out
Wishing you would come down
Just like the lights went out
Time and again, again and again
Time and again, and time and again
Over and over
“Rushmere”
by Mumford & Sons
Britain’s authentic “stomp and holler” band is again and sounding higher than ever: With the discharge of “Rushmere” in mid-January, Mumford & Sons not solely delivered their first tune in a 12 months’s time (since Jan. ‘24’s “Good Folks” with Pharrell), however additionally they introduced their first studio album of the 2020s: RUSHMERE, the long-awaited ‘follow-up’ to 2018’s Delta, will come out on March 28th through Glassnote.
Don’t you miss the breathlessness
The wildness within the eye?
Come residence late within the morning gentle
Bloodshot desires below streetlight spells
A reality nobody can inform
And I used to be nonetheless a secret to myself
A folk-rock fever dream that feels a recent because it does timeless, “Rushmere” is a surprising homage to the band’s roots – each musically and metaphorically. It was round Rushmere Pond, on Wimbledon Frequent in southwest London, that Marcus Mumford, Ben Lovett, and Ted Dwane determined to type a band.
And what higher solution to honor your origin story, than by returning to the sounds that first impressed you? Informal listeners can be forgiven for mistaking “Rushmere” as some long-lost observe off Sigh No Extra, the band’s multi-platinum debut. There’s an prompt kinship between the brand new tune and now-‘basic’ hits like “Little Lion Man,” “The Cave,” and “I Will Wait.” Sixteen years on, the acoustic guitars are nonetheless jangling, the banjos are nonetheless twanging, and Marcus Mumford’s rustic voice nonetheless aches with an undeniably uncooked ardour, angst, and craving.
The band discover each a musical and an emotional launch within the refrain – a dramatic, cathartic climax that’s as nostalgic and wistful as it’s grounded within the second. Mumford & Sons transport as again to the start, reminiscing fondly whereas harnessing that very same vitality that drove them onward of their earliest days. It’s upbeat, intimate, exhilarating, and superbly human:
Mild me up, I’m wasted at nighttime
Rushmere, stressed hearts ultimately
Get my head out of the bottom
Time don’t allow us to down once more
That is people rock at its most interesting; a nod to Mumford & Sons’ previous, embedded with their DNA, that nonetheless feels just like the thrilling begin to a model new chapter – which it most definitely is. All instructed, “Rushmere” is the proper reintroduction to Mumford & Sons – a reminder of why the world first fell in love with them almost twenty years in the past, and a testomony to their enduring capacity to seize our ears and our hearts.
Take me again to empty lawns
And nowhere elsе to go
You say, “Come get misplaced in a fairground crowd”
Wherе nobody is aware of your identify
There’s solely sincere errors
There’s no worth to a wasted hour
Effectively, gentle me up, I’m wasted at nighttime
Rushmere, stressed hearts ultimately
And get my head out of the bottom
Time don’t allow us to down once more
“Did You Ever Care”
by Dreamer Isioma
It’s the sheer warmth of “Did You Ever Care” that hits first: Dreamer Isioma’s first tune of the 12 months, launched January 31st in tandem with the explosive upheaval “Useless Finish,” is sizzling, heavy, uncooked, and raging: A smoldering seduction that aches in and out. The primary take a look at Isioma’s new album StarX Lover (pronounced ‘star-crossed lover,’ out this Spring) finds the singer/songwriter embracing a more durable edge, mixing different and rock parts into their genre-fluid music for a brand new sound they affectionately name “Afropop rock.”
She has the kind of seems that kill
The kind of seems that
begin a battle for generations
I’ve been ready patiently
For the kiss of dying
I’m such a wreck
Please take my breath away
I simply need you subsequent to me
I simply wanna f* then fall asleep
I simply wanna f* then fall asleep
with you in my arms, oh honey
The result’s nothing in need of breathtaking, as “Did You Ever Care” welcomes listeners into its daring, lush, and cinematic soundscape. All-consuming synths soar, guitars glisten, and drums pulse a sweaty beat – and on the heart of all of it lies a human reckoning with a deeply acquainted, haunting ache. Dreamer Isioma’s vocal efficiency is as sonically intense as it’s emotionally charged as they channel their unrequited love into this sonic fever dream, evoking the fervour, the starvation, and the unrelenting angst they really feel inside.
I’m not your kind and I
What are you into
Once I’m excessive on a regular basis
And I don’t know what’s actual life is
My psychiatric care is go nowhere
in order that they gained’t stare at me
I want you had been subsequent to me
I simply wanna f* then fall asleep
I simply wanna f* then fall asleep
with you in my arms oh honey
As unapologetic as it’s unfiltered, “Did You Ever Care” captures a damaged coronary heart and soul’s reeling. It’s the product of emotional churn, which makes it an all-too excellent accompaniment to February 2025’s blues. Because the world burns and we really feel helpless to cease it, we deserve music that matches the second – and Dreamer Isioma has delivered in spades.
Begin a struggle begin a riot I don’t care
I’m past numb past egocentric
I’m self-aware
F* it
Did you ever care about me
As a result of I like you
Did you ever care about me
As a result of I like you
Did you ever care about me
As a result of I like you
In The Shadow of the Holy Mountain
by Blind Pilot
Hear me out: We Are the Tide stays my all-time favourite, however Within the Shadow of the Holy Mountain is, surely, residence to a few of their finest music – and simply essentially the most cohesive, cathartic, and well-rounded document of Blind Pilot’s 18-year profession.
The indie people band’s fourth studio album, launched final 12 months (and featured on Atwood Journal‘s “Finest Albums of 2024” characteristic), was made with a collaborative spirit in thoughts, and finds the Oregon group dwelling within the depths of human connection, empathy, ancestry, and understanding, whereas embracing the wealthy harmonies and heat acoustic devices which have lengthy been their trademark.
All that it bleeds, all that it takes
Counting off what number of years,
what number of days
Faces of sunshine wait so that you can see
You’re not alone. You’re simply lonely
From the candy revelry of album opener “Jacaranda” and the radiant ardour of immigrant anthem “Courageous” – a fascinating tune breaking down borders and constructs of ‘residence’ – to the dreamy heat of “Don’t You Know,” the attraction and churn of “Only a Chook,” the highly effective perspective shift (being alone vs. lonely) of “Faces of Mild,” and the tender, visceral craving and catharsis of album nearer “Consider Me,” Blind Pilot imbue their newest album with each a musical and a religious gentle.
That gentle shined particularly vivid this previous Saturday, because the band returned to Woodstock after taking part in a stripped-down set there simply 13 months in the past – proper earlier than they recorded the album in Josh Kaufman’s studio. Whereas they introduced a plethora of songs from all 4 albums to life onstage, it was the cuts from their newest effort that hit hardest and resonated the deepest. Within the Shadow of the Holy Mountain really is Blind Pilot’s most lovely, colourful, cathartic, and compelling album so far – and I simply hope extra individuals get to listen to, and really feel, this document’s golden-hued musical magic. “Faces of Mild” and “Fortunate” are private favorites, however in all sincerity, begin on the high with “Jacaranda” and let the entire thing wash over you.
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