Illustration by Tiffany Chin
Feeling reflective? Expressive? Collaborative? Ready to dance? These new listens will help you tee up the fall no matter what your mood.
Nilüfer Yanya – My Method Actor (Ninja Tune, Sept. 13): On her third album, British singer-songwriter Nilüfer Yanya has refined her use of texture as expression. The song Like I Say (I Runaway) embraces the dense guitar of the shoegaze genre to communicate the overwhelming nature of time’s fleetingness; the frenetic, syncopated drumming of Mutations heralds a song about the subtle moments that add up to a full life. It’s an album with a full vision. Josh O’Kane
On her third album, British singer-songwriter Nilüfer Yanya has refined her use of texture as expression.Supplied
Nelly Furtado – 7 (Universal, Sept. 20): It’s called 7, as in the number of years since Nelly Furtado last released an album. Apparently she’s been busy, though, writing some 400 songs in the past four years with collaborators the world over. That she was host of the Juno Awards this spring was our first clue that a comeback was afoot. That the summer-bop single Corazón has lyrics in Spanish and in English and features the Colombian band Bomba Estéreo is a sign that Furtado is thinking globally. Brad Wheeler
It has been seven years since Nelly Furtado last released an album.Supplied
Jamie xx – In Waves (Young, Sept. 20): Accused for years in comments sections of gentrifying the very dance music that raised him, the producer Jamie xx is following up 2015′s In Colour nearly a decade later with an album more specifically refined for the club. Working with collaborators as varied as Swedish pop star Robyn and Australian collagists the Avalanches, Jamie xx has crafted a heartier tribute to his rave-up days of yore. JOK
Julian Taylor – Pathways (Howling Turtle, Sept. 27): “And on this pathway as we get bolder and closer, here’s my shoulder.” On the title-track single to Julian Taylor’s forthcoming album, the Toronto-based Americana artist shares a sympathetic melody and a commiserative message, with close harmony vocals provided by Grammy winner Allison Russell. Another of the album’s eight songs, the bluesy Sixth Line Road, was inspired by Black Canadian hockey star, Herb Carnegie. This is a talented singer-songwriter who takes his job seriously. B.W.
Julian Taylor is a talented Toronto-based Americana artist who takes his job seriously.Robert Georgeff/Supplied
Mustafa – Dunya (Arts & Crafts/Jagjaguwar, Sept. 27): The Sudanese-Canadian artist Mustafa has been sharing vivid, unvarnished stories of life in and around Toronto’s Regent Park since childhood through poetry, and more recently music. In this lane, he is a consummate collaborator – including with the aforementioned Jamie xx – and on Dunya has brought along some of the past decade’s most interesting musicians, including Aaron Dessner, Rosalía, Clairo and electronic visionary Nicholas Jaar – plus Palestinian-American model Bella Hadid for the music video for his single Gaza is Calling. JOK
SOPHIE – SOPHIE (Transgressive/Future Classic, Sept. 27): The Scottish producer SOPHIE was at the forefront of pushing electronic music’s avant-garde into the mainstream last decade, working with collaborators such as Charli XCX, Vince Staples, Kim Petras and Madonna. She died suddenly in 2021 after falling from an Athens rooftop, just short of completing what would have been her second album. With the blessing of her family, SOPHIE’s final, posthumous record – of club bangers, of avant-pop, of gauzy soundscapes – will be released Sept. 27. JOK
Coldplay – Moon Music (Atlantic/Warner, Oct. 4): Whether you love them or just respectfully acknowledge their elegant pop sensibilities, nobody shoots for the moon like Coldplay. Moon Music, a sequel to 2021′s From Earth With Love, includes songs Jupiter, Alien Hits / Alien Radio, One World and seven others. The message? We’re all in this together. The second single from the album, We Pray, is an anthemic, internationally flavoured contemporary-pop presentation that lobbies for end-credit placement in a major motion picture. B.W.
Nobody shoots for the moon like Coldplay.Anna Lee/Supplied
Jelly Roll – Beautifully Broken (BMG/Republic, Oct. 11): Jason Bradley DeFord, a face-tattooed felon-tuned-rapper-turned-country star/humanitarian who works professionally under the name Jelly Roll, is, of course, a uniquely American story. His latest single, Get By, was chosen by ESPN to serve as the 2024 college-football season anthem. The gridiron’s gain is NASCAR’s loss. B.W.
Japandroids – Fate & Alcohol (Arts & Crafts/ANTI, Oct. 18): Japandroids have long taken an Occam’s Razor approach to anthems, distilling songs about love and youth into big, hooky blitzkriegs with as few components as possible – ideally just guitar and drums. But what’s left when youth fades away? It’s already been 14 years since they released the single Younger Us, an aching song about realizing that life can get in the way of fun. The end always felt near, and now, with the band calling Fate & Alcohol their “final chapter,” the Vancouver duo looks ready for its send-off. JOK
Japandroids have long taken an Occam’s Razor approach to anthems, distilling songs about love and youth into big, hooky blitzkriegs with as few components as possible.Supplied
Laura Marling – Patterns in Repeat (Chrysalis/Partisan, Oct. 25): Being a first-time parent had a profound effect on the method of gifted British singer-songwriter Laura Marling. “For the first time in my life,” she wrote in a statement, “I was able to gaze into another human’s eyes as I wrote.” The result is songs such as Child of Mine, Your Girl, No One’s Gonna Love You Like I Can and, perhaps inevitably, Lullaby. B.W.