The Chicks, Lianne La Havas and Diana Ross set the tone this week.

The Chronicle’s guide to notable new music.

NEW ALBUMS

The Chicks, “Gaslighter” (Columbia): Somehow, it’s been 14 years since the Chicks, no longer in Dixie, released a fulllength album.

Single “March March” arrived with a music video featuring shots from protests both historic and current, while the lyrics allude to abortion rights, gun ownership, climate change and the president’s foreign policy (“What the hell happened in Helsinki?”).

Expect a more popleaning sound as the band worked with producer Jack Antonoff (Taylor Swift, Lorde, Lana Del Rey) on the record.

Lianne La Havas, “Lianne La Havas” (Nonesuch): The English singersongwriter’s third album may have taken five years to arrive, but its soulful take on the life cycle of a relationship is timeless.

“Can’t Fight” gets an assist from electronic producer Mura Masa but keeps its soul, while La Havas’ cover of Radiohead’s “Weird Fishes” combines intricate guitar work with a triphop breakbeat, bringing together melody and a headnodding rhythm.

Ellie Goulding, “Brightest Blue” (Interscope): A fiveyear break for this English singersongwriter ends with a quasidouble album. “Brightest Blue” is a reflective, sometimes somber record of growth, which Goulding said in a statement is her “vulnerable” side, while “EG.0” is her “confident, fearless side.”

Collaborations with Diplo, Swae Lee and Juice WRLD mark the five “EG.0” songs, while Goulding flies solo for most of the first “side.”

JARV IS…, “Beyond the Pale” (Rough Trade): Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker is the brain behind JARV IS, his first “full band” record since his 2009 solo album (he collaborated with Chilly Gonzales on 2017’s “Room 29”). The album evolved over three years of performances, with songs shifting over time and live recordings becoming reference tracks for when the band went into the studio.

Cocker’s wry sense of humor shines through in any setting, though, like on the paranoidpop “Am I Missing Something” (“I don’t want to dance with the devil, but do you mind if I tap my foot?”) and the David Byrnelike “Children of the Echo” (“You say I don’t communicate … no comment”).

Pretenders, “Hate for Sale” (BMG): Chrissie Hynde has been an influence for musicians everywhere, especially women, for so long that it is easy to forget she and the Pretenders are still releasing music. The title track is a threeminute string of angry guitar riffs and Hynde’s snarl, by way of the roadhouse (find the harmonica in the mix), while “Lightning

Man” sounds like Elvis Costello’s reggaetinged “Watching the Detectives” was turned into a James Bond theme song.

SONG OF THE MOMENT

Blu & Exile, “Roots of Blue” (Dirty Science): One of the lead singles for the duo’s new album out July 17 is this retracing of African and African American history, from Egyptian pharaohs to Barack Obama. At almost nine minutes long, the track turns into a list of Black entertainers that Blu says make up the titular roots. The length of that list is a stark reminder of how much of America’s cultural history of note comes from the Black community.

YOUR STAYATHOME DANCE BREAK

Diana Ross, “Love Hangover 2020” (Motown): One of the most successful dance artists of recent years, according to the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart, is Diana Ross. Since January 2018, remixes of her tracks have hit the top spot four times. “Love Hangover 2020,” remixed by French producer Eric Kupper, was at No. 1 when the chart was suspended in late March (if dance clubs are closed, there aren’t top dance club songs), meaning that she’ll probably be at the top of the list, in a way, through 2020.

Robert Spuhler is a Southern California freelance writer.

Robin Harper Martie Maguire (left), Emily Strayer and Natalie Maines have rebranded themselves the Chicks.

Dave Rossman 2016 Singersongwriter Ellie Goulding is back after a fiveyear break with an album that she says reflects two sides of her.