Photo of Brigitte Calls Me Baby by Scarlet Page
I should have known Friday the 13th would be cursed: I spent pretty much the entire day in airports, airplanes, and rental cars for a last minute work trip. Listening to new releases was easy, but writing about them? Not so much! But I spent all that time thinking about what I’d say about those albums, so I couldn’t just let that whole week go by, could I? In that spirit, this week’s column should have actually been last week’s column, as this is all releases I checked out that were released on March 13, 2026, in the order in which I listened to ‘em. We’ll see how the columns covering the 20th and the absolutely stacked lineup on the 27th shake out!
Fabienne Erni, Starveil (self-released): One of the fun things about this project is discovering things I never would have listened to otherwise. Case in point, Fabienne Erni is unlikely to have ended up on my radar if I weren’t actively digging for new releases, but I’m glad she did. Erni is a Swiss singer whose travels took her to Denmark, India, Nepal, Thailand, and Sweden before returning home to Switzerland for college and teaming up with Jonas Wolf, first in the folk metal band Eluveitie and later in the prog metal band ILLUMISHADE. Though both bands are still ongoing concerns, Erni still found time to craft Starveil, her first solo album.
The sound of Starveil is a blend of heavy, percussive guitar riffs and symphonic embellishments beneath Erni’s soaring voice, which sounds like a blend of Evanescence’s Amy Lee with the theatricality of Idina Menzel. Though a lot of the songs have similar sonics, Erni is at her best when she stirs things up a bit, like with the Celtic touches on the title track, the earthy woodwinds and chant-like vocals of “Thalen’Muron,” and how the epic “Never Let Go” shifts into “Elren,” the latter using a violin to perform the melody of the former. The one track that didn’t work for me was “Ritual,” where Lena Scissorhands of Infected Rain steps in with some throat-shredding screams that don’t quite fit with the album’s otherwise more ethereal vibe. Will I Listen Again?: Yes.
Brigitte Calls Me Baby, Irreversible (ATO Records): If Morrissey’s new solo album left as bad a taste in your mouth as it did in mine, consider “There Always,” the opening track on Brigitte Calls Me Baby’s sophomore LP, as an exquisite palette cleanser: those croony vocals and ringing guitar notes make it one of the Smithiest songs I’ve ever heard that was not actually performed by the Smiths. When BCMB kick up the tempo, as on the early Arctic Monkeys-ish “Slumber Party,” the results are equally great. Singer Wes Leavins sometimes pushes that vibrato croon a little too hard (as on “Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction”…or should I say “Fic-SHAWWWWWN”?) and I didn’t really connect with the slower numbers (“I Can’t Have You All To Myself” glistens to the point of cheesiness). But when it’s good, like “I Can Take the Sun Out of the Sky” and “The Early Days of Love,” man, this band is unstoppable. Also, this seems like a band that would be a blast to see live; fortunately, St. Louis, you can catch them April 18th at Off Broadway. Will I Listen Again?: Yes.
Kim Gordon, Play Me (Matador): Would that we could all be even a tenth as cool as Kim Gordon when we hit our 72nd birthday. The former Sonic Youth bassist once again teams up with producer Justin Raisen (as she did on her also excellent 2024 LP, The Collective) for a collection of jittery trap-inspired beats topped with her inimitable warbly vocals as she rails against A.I. and life in Trump’s America. The album’s 12 songs blaze by in just 30 minutes, the better to keep the album’s singular style from overstaying its welcome. My favorite song is the first one (the title track with its jazzy horn samples) and my least favorite is the last one (“BYEBYE25!” with its dispassionate list of words banned by the Trump administration). Everything in between is pretty great. Will I Listen Again?: Yes.
The Gems, Year of the Snake (Napalm Records): The three Swedish women that make up The Gems used to be three-quarters of the band Thundermother until they all quit en masse (the second time that happened to that band…doesn’t sound like the world’s stablest gig!). On their sophomore album under their new name, the trio specialize in all the things that made glam metal great and none of the tacky sexism that made it terrible: huge guitar riffs, rippin’ solos, wailing vocals, and good time vibes. The end result is like if you took Heart, Mötley Crüe, Van Hagar, Buckcherry, and the Donnas and shoved them in a blender—in other words, nothing but a good time. Best songs include the title track, “Gravity” (featuring Reinxeed/Majestica/Sabaton singer-guitarist Tommy Johansson), and “Clout Chaser,” the trio shouting out that last title like they’re shoutin’ at the Devil. Will I Listen Again?: Probably.
googly eyes, paint me like one of your fav american girls (Pretty Swede/Neon Gold/Virgin): Have you ever seen Hearts Beat Loud? It’s a 2018 movie starring Kiersey Clemons as a young woman on the verge of adulthood who collaborates with her lapsed musician dad (played by Nick Offerman) on a song and he immediately wants her to throw away her college plans and form a band with him. It’s a wonderful, heartwarming movie with a soundtrack full of uplifting low-key electronica-tinged tunes performed by the movie’s fake band (cheekily named We’re Not a Band) and penned by Wild Cub singer Keegan DeWitt.
I mention this movie because the songs on googly eyes’ new EP gave me similar vibes, that hard-to-nail balance of icy electronics and a warm, beating heart. After recording her first releases solo, this time out she teams up with Swedish pop star Tove Lo (who is releasing this EP on her Pretty Swede label) and producer Harley Streten (a.k.a. Flume) but the results still feel personal and intimate. It’s five songs in under 15 minutes and there’s one song (the single, “Bruises on the Peach”) that goes a little overboard into hyper-pop for my tastes, but the other four are great enough to leave me interested to hear more. Will I Listen Again?: Yes.
TRAITRS, Possessor (Believe): As you can tell by the tortured entry above this one, some albums make it hard to come up with a “recommended if you like” comparison. TRAITRS’ new album Possessor (their fourth in a decade-long career) makes it easy: “RIYL The Cure, specifically the albums Seventeen Seconds, Faith, and Pornography.” This is an album that’s all snaky post-punk bass lines, shimmery synths loaded forward in the mix and anguished vocals delivering lines like “And I know a place I’d really like to die/ In a plane crash by my lover’s side” in an echo-drenched wail. There’s a little less variety than you’d find on an actual Cure album, but if you’re into that particular flavor of Cure song, as I am (the Cure’s Songs of a Lost World was my top album of 2024), that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Favorite tracks: “I Was Ill, You Were Wrong,” which is all icy Cure/Joy Division vibes but then bubbles into sunnier New Order territory; “Selfish Hunger,” which sounds like a trip to The Hanging Garden; and the propulsive “Dream Drowning.” Will I Listen Again?: Maybe.
The Black Crowes, A Pound of Feathers (Silver Arrow Records): The Black Crowes took 14 long years between albums, but here they are following their stellar 2024 comeback Happiness Bastards with an equally stellar sequel two years later, almost to the day. Listening to this one, I was reminded of the interview with AC/DC’s Malcolm Young where he talks about the difference between “rock bands” and “rock and roll bands” and how rare it is for rock bands these days to have swing. The Black Crowes swing and groove all over this record, with muscular Stones-y, Aerosmith-y blues-rock boogie like “Profane Prophecy,” “Cruel Streak,” “Do the Parasite!”, “It’s Like That,” and the Mooney Suzuki-ish “You Call This a Good Time?” On the other end of the spectrum but no less impressive is the soaring folk-blues ballad “Pharmacy Chronicles.” There are a couple tunes that didn’t quite connect (slow song “Queen of the B-Sides” is just kind of blah, while “Blood Red Regrets” has a badass guitar riff but feels overstuffed). But when it’s good? Hot damn, it’s a good time. Will I Listen Again?: Yes. | Jason Green
