San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Swift’s breakup album and Pearl Jam’s ‘best work’
The Chronicle’s curated list of notable new music releases this month.
Vampire Weekend, ‘Only God Was Above Us’ (Columbia)
The New York rock band is back with its first full-length release in five years, a 10-track record produced by Ariel Rechtshaid. Two singles from the project, “Capricorn” and “Gen-X Cops,” were released in February along with grungy montage-style music videos that match the songs’ distorted, layered sound.
To celebrate the release, the group plans to perform a midday show in Austin, Texas, on April 8, during the solar eclipse. The show will also be available to livestream and will kick off Vampire Weekend’s “Only God Was Above Us” tour. It is scheduled to stop in Berkeley for two nights in June with support from Mike Gordon, founding member of rock band Phish.
Girl in Red, ‘I’m Doing It Again Baby!’ (Columbia)
The indie pop musician, whose real name is Marie Ulven, is following up her 2021 debut, “If I Could Make It Go Quiet,” with a 10-track record slated for an April 12 release.
The Norwegian singer opened for Taylor Swift on her Eras Tour over the summer, performing songs like “Bad Idea!” and “Serotonin.” She included Sabrina Carpenter, who also opened for parts of Swift’s tour, on her forthcoming record’s second single, “You Need Me Now?” The first single, “Too Much,” was accompanied by a theatrical music video full of rain and choreographed dance, lining up with the energetic, carefree aesthetic of the record.
Ulven is already gearing up
to take the record on the road with the Doing It Again Tour, which is scheduled to stop in Oakland on June 1 and San Francisco the following day.
Maggie Rogers, ‘Don’t Forget Me’ (Capitol)
The former Outside Lands performer is preparing for the release of her third full-length album, which she wrote over the course of five days, on April 12. The title track, “Don’t Forget Me,” was released as the lead single along with a music video compiling clips of Rogers enjoying nature as she sings about letting go of a lover.
Rogers was a student at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where producer Pharrell Williams stopped by to listen to a handful of students’ original songs in 2016. In a now-viral video, Williams was left speechless after Rogers played her song “Alaska.”
“I have zero, zero, zero notes for that,” he said. “I’ve never heard anyone like you before.”
Taylor Swift, ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ (Republic)
Taking a break from the hefty process of rerecording her original albums, Swift is back with a brand new record. With 16 tracks, it features rapper Post Malone and British rock band Florence & the Machine. Swift has also announced a handful of variant editions of the album, each complete with their own exclusive bonus tracks, that are available to purchase on her website.
With songs like “So Long, London,” a nod to the city Swift lived in with longtime boyfriend, British actor Joe Alwyn, before they split in April after six years, and “Florida!!!,” the state that Swift’s Eras Tour was stopped in when news of the breakup was made public, it’s no wonder Swift said that making the record was like a “lifeline” during a recent Eras Tour show in Australia.
Pearl Jam, ‘Dark Matter’ (Republic)
The Seattle rock band plans to release “Dark Matter” on April 19, just ahead of its performance at BottleRock Napa Valley over Memorial Day weekend. The record’s title track and lead single was released on Feb. 13, along with plans for a world tour. “Dark Matter” will be the group’s 12th studio album and was produced by Grammy winner Andrew Watt, who has also worked with Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus and the Rolling Stones.
“No hyperbole, I think this is our best work,” singer Eddie Vedder said while previewing the record in Los Angeles earlier this year. PartyNextDoor, ‘PartyNextDoor 4’ (OVO Sound)
After a four-year wait, the Canadian-born musician, whose real name is Jahron Anthony Brathwaite, plans to release his highly anticipated fourth studio album on April 26. Earlier this spring, fans received a preview of the album’s mood with the release of the music video for “Real Woman,” which is set in an upscale bar and follows a group of women whose sole goal is to “get f—ing rich.”
The R&B artist was the first artist to join Drake’s record label OVO Sound in 2013 and has collaborated with the influential rapper on multiple occasions since. He has also worked behind the scenes with artists such as Rihanna, Ye and Beyoncé over the years.
St. Vincent, ‘All Born Screaming’ (Total Pleasure)
Stepping into the role of producer, the guitarist and singer is debuting her first self-produced work on April
26. St. Vincent, also known as Annie Clark, worked with the Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl on the songs “Flea” and “Broken Man,” the latter of which also served as the record’s lead single. The track is complete with a fiery music video of the musician dancing and singing alone in front of a black backdrop. Clark plans to bring her new music to the Bay Area later this spring, with a tour stop at the Masonic on May
25.