
This Week on LetsLoop
Happy Monday, loopers! Here are this week’s most exciting new releases (subscribe to our weekly New Music newsletter here)…
1. LYKKE LI — UNCHAINED MELODY
Swedish singer-songwriter Lykke Li has been performing her breathtaking interpretation of Unchained Melody at concerts for years now, but it has never received an official release… until now.
The release of Unchained Melody comes as Lykke is preparing to release the debut album of her latest project LIV: a supergroup featuring her boyfriend and producer Jeff Bhasker, Miike Snow members Andrew Wyatt and Pontus Winnberg, and Björn Yttling of Peter Bjorn and John. If you missed them, be sure to check out their stunning first 3 singles: Wings of Love, Dream Awake and Heaven.
Listen to The Righteous Brothers’s glorious 1965 version of this classic here.
2. EMILY HAINES & THE SOFT SKELETON — PLANETS
Metric frontwoman and Broken Social Scene member Emily Haines has announced details for her first new album under her The Soft Skeleton moniker in over 11 years and shared the rather beautiful single, Planets.
Choir of the Mind, which follows up her 2006 debut Knives Don’t Have Your Back, is out September 15th and will also feature the excellent lead single Fatal Gift.
If you’re new to Emily’s solo work and want to hear more, we highly recommend Our Hell, Doctor Blind, The Lottery, The Last Page and Reading in Bed.
Prior to Fatal Gift, Emily’s most recent release was Metric’s 2015 album Pagans In Vegas. She also featured on Broken Social Scene’s new Hug Of Thunder album, if you want to a quick taste check out the excellent Skyline.
3. WOLF PARADE — VALLEY BOY
It’s been 7 years since Canadian indie-rock band Wolf Parade announced their indefinite hiatus, but they are officially back.
Valley Boy is the lead single to their upcoming 4th album, Cry Cry Cry, which is out October 6th and follows up 2010’s Expo 86.
In the 7 years since their last album the band have embarked on a number of individual projects: frontman Spencer Krug has released several albums as Moonface, Dan Boeckner released music with Operators and Handsome Furs and formed Divine Fits with Spoon frontman Britt Daniel, and Dante Decaro released a solo EP called Kill Your Boyfriend.
4. SHOCK MACHINE — UNLIMITED LOVE
Unlimited Love is the third solo single from former Klaxons frontman (and Mercury Prize winning, Brit Awards and Ivor Novello nominated songwriter) James Righton, aka Shock Machine.
It will feature on his upcoming debut solo album, Shock Machine, which is out August 25th and will also feature the stunning Lost in the Mystery and the excellent lead single and title track, Shock Machine.
5. ANNA OF THE NORTH — SOMEONE
Exciting news… electropop newcomers Anna Of The North, aka Norwegian singer-songwriter Anna Lotterud and New Zealand-born producer Brady Daniell-Smith, have finally announced their much anticipated debut album.
Lovers will be released on September 8th and will also feature the recently released singles Lovers and Baby, alongside this glorious new single.
Rather surprisingly, however, the album will not feature some of their stunning earlier singles like Us, Oslo, The Dreamer and Sway, so be sure to check those out too if you missed them.
6. ANDREW HUNG — SAY WHAT YOU WANT
Say What You Want is the lead single to Fuck Buttons member Andrew Hung’s upcoming debut solo album, Realisationship, which is out October 6th and follows up his soundtrack to the 2016 film The Greasy Strangler.
Here’s what Andrew had to say about the new album and his first experience of singing on a record:
“I can’t completely identify with the voice on the record. Yes, it’s me, but it’s not me. Singing as an expression is very new to me…. I see an oscillation between myself and the character of the album especially the voice. It’s naked vulnerable duality.”
Prior to his soundtrack and solo work, Andrew’s most recent release was 2013’s Slow Focus with Fuck Buttons. If you’re not familiar with the band, we highly recommend listening to Surf Solar, Brainfreeze and Olympians.
Earlier this year Benjamin John Power (the other member of Fuck Buttons) released his 4th Blanck Mass album, World Eater. If you’d like a quick taste we highly recommend The Rat and the excellent Silent Treatment.
7. FLORIST — WHAT I WANTED TO HOLD
What I Wanted To Hold is the gorgeous lead single to Brooklyn indie-pop band Florist’s upcoming 2nd album, If Blue Could Be Happiness, which is out September 29th and follows up their excellent 2016 debut, The Birds Outside Sang.
Here’s what frontwoman Emily Sprague had to say about their new single:
“What I Wanted To Hold was the first song that I wrote with the colour motif for the new record, and really set the whole thing in motion. It’s a contemplative journey mostly about impermanence and how important it is to recognise that as the dominant theme of life. It also deals with the melancholy of remembering and the little associations (colours) that we make to people and places so to hold on to these things that are either already gone, nearing an end, or just beginning.”
8. THE WAR ON DRUGS — STRANGEST THING
It’s quite possible that The War On Drugs have never written a bad song. Or more accurately, one that isn’t an absolute delight.
Strangest Thing is the third single from Philadelphia indie-rockers The War On Drugs’s upcoming fourth album, A Deeper Understanding, which is out August 25th and follows up 2014’s breathtaking Lost In The Dream.
A Deeper Understanding will also feature the recently released Holding On and the stunning 11-minute long single Thinking Of A Place, which was first released back in April as part of Record Store Day 2017.
If you’re new to the band and want to hear more, we highly recommend listening to Under The Pressure, Red Eyes and pretty much everything else they’ve ever released.
9. SUSANNE SUNDFØR — MOUNTAINEERS (FEAT. JOHN GRANT)
Norwegian electropop prodigy Susanne Sundfør has teamed up with the amazing John Grant on Mountaineers, the stunning 2nd single from her much-anticipated follow up to 2015’s breathtaking Ten Love Songs.
Music For People In Trouble is out August 25th and will also feature the gorgeous lead single, Undercover.
According to Susanne, her new album was inspired by a journey she made in a bid to re-connect, travelling across continents to contrary environments and politically contrasting worlds from North Korea to the Amazon jungle.
Here’s what she had to say about Music For People In Trouble:
“We are living in a time of great changes. Everything is moving so rapidly, sometimes violently, sometimes dauntingly. I think a lot of people experience anxiety these days. I wanted to address these emotions on the album.”
If you’re new to Susanne and want to hear more, we highly recommend Fade Away, Accelerate and Kamikaze from Ten Love Songs (though you really should listen to the entire album), her M83 collaborations Oblivion and For The Kids, and her Röyksopp collaborations Running To The Sea and Never Ever.
10. PROPHETS OF RAGE — LIVING ON THE 110
Living On The 110 is the second single from rock-rap supergroup Prophets Of Rage’s upcoming self-titled debut album, Prophets Of Rage, which is out September 15th and follows up last year’s The Party’s Over EP.
It will be joined on the new album by the recently released lead single, Unfuck The World.
Prophets Of Rage is a supergroup formed of members of Public Enemy (Chuck D & DJ Lord), Rage Against The Machine & Audioslave (Tom Morello, Tim Commerford & Brad Wilk), and Cypress Hill (B-Real).
ALSO WORTH CHECKING OUT THIS WEEK:
- Chad VanGaalen — Pine And Clover
- Grizzly Bear — Neighbors
- JAY-Z — Bam (feat. Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley)
- Louis Tomlinson (One Direction) — Back To You
- Nine Inch Nails — This Isn’t The Place
- Nothing But Thieves — Sorry
- The Steoples — Roles

