SOUND JUDGEMENT

The latest album releases reviewed

EQUALS ED SHEERAN ★★★II

Turning 30, becoming a father, getting married and the death of Australian record boss Michael Gudinski, a close friend, are the themes that tie Equals, Ed’s fourth studio album proper, together.

There’s a clarity of vision, most obvious on opener Tides and love song Collide, with saccharine odes to childhood sweetheart-turned-wife Cherry Seaborn being the thread the binds these 12 tracks. First Times is musical kitsch with a cloying chorus which will undoubtedly soundtrack many a first dance at weddings.

Musically, the album is all over the place, riffing on 1980s nostalgia or UK garage rhythms and R&B bops. This more adventurous take on genrehopping will pay dividends in the streaming era, when pop albums function more as playlists.

BLUE BANISTERS LANA DEL REY ★★★★I

Lana Del Rey returns with her second album of 2021 and third in three years, but the quality is high.

Piano ballads, understated brass, and strings and occasional low-key beats may lead to claims it’s samey, but undeniably plays to her strengths

Some lyrical themes are familiar too: doomed love, bad boys and nostalgia for a mythical Middle America. But there’s usually darkness on the edge of town, and other tracks address her fame, personal struggles and family, with her father and sister co-writers on Sweet Carolina.

Some songs date back years, but Blue Banisters sounds coherent and adds to the legacy that Del Rey seems increasingly concerned about.

THE FUTURE

NATHANIEL RATELIFF AND THE NIGHT SWEATS

★★★II

On the song Survivor, Nathaniel Rateliff roars “You think that I’m just some great survivor” over a swaggering bluesy beat. It is a neat summing up of The Future, his third album with the Night Sweats, his hard- living band.

But the album marks a new era for Rateliff who, before the pandemic, was spiralling out of control - his drinking had peaked and his marriage had fallen apart. The death of friend, musician Richard Swift, in 2018, at the age of 41, from complications related to alcohol abuse, was a turning point.

Now Rateliff appears to have reached some equilibrium. The retrosoul lyrics and vocal delivery of Love Me Till I’m Gone exude calm selfacceptance – this is the sound of an artist facing his problems and finding inspiration within them.