By Mark Kennedy

M“The Way It Feels” (Mercury Nashville)

Maddie Marlow and Taylor Dye, who record under the name Maddie & Tae, are more than collaborators. In the liner notes of their new album, each calls the other her “soul sister.” As great as their friendship is, we are the real beneficiaries.

Their second full-length album, the 15-track “The Way It Feels,” is funny in parts, touching in others and filled with glorious songwriting and harmonies. It is first-class country-pop and an absolute delight, from the broad, bear-hug celebration of America in “Everywhere I’m Goin’” to the intimate couple song “Trying on Rings.”

The album is almost evenly divided between songs in which love is strong – “My Man,” “Write a Book” and “Friends Don’t” – or curdled, as in “Tourist In This Town,” “Drunk or Lonely, ““One Heart to Another” and ”Die From a Broken Heart.” Dye is married to Josh Kerr, who supplied co-writing duties to “Write a Book” and “Bathroom Floor,” both terrific.

One of the saddest is “Water In His Wine Glass,” a song for a drinker that uses gentle religious imagery: “Lord pour water in his wine glass/Bring the man he used to be back.” Dierks Bentley makes a nifty addition to “Lay Here With Me,” a song about an exhausted fighting couple.

Maddie & Tae made splash a few years ago with the convention-skewering hoot “Girl In a Country Song,” but “The Way It Feels” shows off plenty of sides to this refreshing, exciting pair. It often resembles a greatest hits package – and in some ways it is. Several songs have previously been released as part of a pair of EPs in 2019. For anyone unfamiliar with the duo, this is a treat.

“Introduction, Presence” (self-released)

Come, friends, let us return to the near-distant musical past, thanks to the new band Nation of Language. Back to when synths were thick and hair was teased.

The Brooklyn-based trio has made a very ’80s splash on their debut album “Introduction, Presence,” with many songs not out of place if they were on “The Breakfast Club” soundtrack. And yet it also sounds utterly fresh. There are clear echoes on the excellent 10-track collection of New Wave icons like New Order, Depeche Mode, Erasure, The The, Yazoo and Pet Shop Boys, but also more than a hint of The National.

Nation of Language is made up of vocalist Ian Devaney, his keyboardist-wife Aidan Devaney and bassist Michael Sui-Poi. They combine to create spare song architectures and smartly avoid the silly flourishes that made some ’80s-era music dated.

The lyrics are a sort of melancholic global urban lament, with Ian Devaney often in cars or streets seeking solace amid modern alienation.

“Save us, save us saints from above,” he sings on “Rush & Fever,” one of the standout tracks. Another, “On Division St,” he states, “I would like to find the answers I was always rudely denied.” Other exceptional tunes include “Friend Machine” and “September Again.”

On “Indignities,” Ian Devaney plays the role of a disgruntled curmudgeon, perhaps like one generation talking to another. “Everything’s changing faster than me,” he sings. “The crass, the new, the heathen, and the low/ when I’m alone/pouring it into my home.”

Few albums are better titled – it’s definitely an introduction and this band makes quite a presence.

“Father of All...” (Reprise/Warner) Green Day recently caught some people unaware. The trio performed at the NHL’s All-Star Game in St Louis and singer Billie Joe Armstrong dropped some swear words into the mix. NBC had to bleep the band. What did everyone expect?

The trio is older now but age hasn’t blunted the band’s urgency. Green Day come out of the gate, as always, snarling on their latest release, “Father of All...” They may have pulled back on the official title – if you want to know what the ellipses replace, look at the album cover – but the spirit of punk lives on in the band, even if you’ll detect some strong rockabilly tendencies.

“Father of All...” represents Green Day’s first album in the Donald Trump era and the trio’s angry, anti-establishment voice has been missed. “What a mess because there’s no one to trust,” Armstrong screams in the title track. On “Sugar Youth,” he warns: “All hell is breaking loose.”

It’s a very lean album, clocking in at just over 26 minutes long. Two of the 10 songs don’t even hit the 2-minute mark. Alienation and drug use run through the album, as do violence and aggressive language. But the vocals sound more distant than when we last heard a crisp urgency to Armstrong delivering such songs as “Bang Bang” in 2016.

The 50s-ish sock hop of “Stab You in the Heart” is undercut by murderous lyrics, while the band even approaches doo-wop in “Meet Me on the Roof.” (By the way, maybe skip the date with Armstrong on the roof: “How high is your low gonna go, girl?”)

On the glam rocker “Oh Yeah,” which samples a tune by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, the band mocks social media addiction (“Everybody is a star”) and how we’re failing our kids (“Burning books in a bulletproof backpack.”) Bassist Mike Dirnt shines on “Junkies on a High” and drummer Tre Cool propels “Graffitia,” a song that is as close to Bruce Springsteen as Green Day can get.

Perhaps the best song, “Fire, Ready, Aim,” sounds a little like the Hives and it’s a driving scream about daily outrage. The NFL has bought the song and seems to want it to be their equivalent to the NFL’s “Are You Ready for Some Football.” One wonders if they really spent time with the lyrics. “Knock your teeth out/To the ground/ You’re a liar,” Armstrong sings. Watching this corporate tie between the NHL and punk will be interesting indeed. Someone’s teeth are going to end up on the ground indeed. (AP)