This message comes from S.T.A.R.S. The global phenomenon Outlander returns for its final farewell. Claire and Jamie's story comes to an unforgettable end. Don't miss the final season of Outlander. Watch now, only on S.T.A.R.S. This episode of All Songs Considered comes to you from the NPR Music podcast. NPR Music, of course, is where you will find Tiny Desk, but it's also home to Alt Latino with new episodes in this feed every Wednesday. The plus version of the podcast deep dives on a single song every other Thursday and, of course, New Music Friday. That's every Friday. NPR Music also, where you will find reviews, analysis, and hot takes from Sheldon Pierce. Hello, All Songs fam. You just had a piece go up. People can find it on the NPR site. It's all about, well, ostensibly, it's a review of two new albums by Jill Scott and Brent Faiz, but really, I read it as a complete takedown of the self-help industry. Yeah, it really, it kind of ends up being that in a way, doesn't it? I mean, you call them charlatans. Yeah. I guess it's because I was thinking, like, she has been so much a figure of relentless optimism throughout her career. Right. Self-improvement has been such a key cog in the way that her music functions and the way that it sounds. It's like very sort of like spiritually refreshing in a way. Also belief in the self, though. Yeah, really investing in becoming the better you. And I was like, man, Jill Scott is like the antithesis of so many of these grifters out here who are selling a version of you that is like, it's specifically designed to make them money. And it just made me think about that album in conversation with the Brent Fias album as two artists sort of like try to reckon with what the idea of becoming the better version of you as an artist is. Well, it's a great read and people should definitely go check it out. It's on the NPR site. On this episode of All Songs Considered, we're talking about the best new songs of the week, the songs that you and I have been obsessing over. You know, when we started kind of circling some of the stuff that we thought we might want to play on the show this week, I really wanted to find something that just rocked really hard. Well, it's because a lot of the stuff that we ended up picking, it's not quiet, but pretty chill. like kind of there's there's understated qualities to all most of the stuff yeah so kind of mid-tempo we kind of some of it's a little weird we'll get to that uh but anyway so i was doing some virtual crate digging and listening to a bunch of stuff trying to find that thing that you know would just light everything up when out of nowhere and i mean literally like a total surprise yeah you too the band you too drops this ep on everybody like it's been nearly a decade since they've had any new music out yeah and like all new brand new songs that their last album was in 2017 called songs of surrender this new ep is pretty great it's called days of ash and uh it opens with this absolute scorcher called american obituary You have the right to be in silence or not Got a brother, mother's love A guiding hand to pick you up To crush her like a coffee cup Why? A cross ain't got a yellow bus Our children teach us who to trust The worst can't kill what's best in us But they can try America will rise Against the people of the light I love you more Than hate loves more I love you more Than hate loves more Oh, whoa. When I could want to die free, American mother of three, seventh day January. The bullet for each child, you see the color of her eyes 9.30, Minneapolis, to desecrate domestic bliss Three bullets blast, three babies kiss Renee the domestic terrorist For what you can't kill, can't die America will rise Against the people of the light I love you more Than hate loves more I love you more Than hate loves more We love you more I love you more I am not mad at you, Lord You're the reason I was there Could you stop a heart from breaking by Having it not care Could you stop a bullet in your head The power of the people So much stronger Than the people in power The power of the people In the streets with children playing In the churches where they're praying School teachers are explaining America, America Power of the people We love you We love you I said, I said, I said Hey, Lord I'm so happy I said, I said Hey, Lord I just cannot tell you how re-energized and vital this band sounds so deep into their career. Like if ever there was a band that literally has nothing left to prove, it's U2. And they come back with this just blistering critique on everything that's been happening around immigration, so much more. And it is just such a, it works so well. It is such a fist in the air rallying cry and a celebration of love, like fighting with love. It's incredible. Yeah. I mean, if ever there was a sort of band that was going to live up to a moment like this or it was going to be U2, I think you can really feel if anything has rallied them back to like peak U2, it would be the desire to meet a moment like this with something as anthemic and rallying as this. And I mean, I think about how simple it is in its messaging, how straightforward, how blunt it is, the force of that, how if you've ever actually been to a protest like and heard the kind of chants that will like ring off there. It is that kind of effective like cut to the chase rhetoric that is most effective in bringing people together in support of a common message. And that is really what I hear in this song, like the ability to cut right straight to the feeling and supercharge it. That's a great point, because the activism and the advocacy and the protest across their catalog from day one, it's always been in there. It's always been very obvious. It hasn't really warranted a lot of deconstructing because it is so direct, as you say. for me it kind of comes down to is it just a great song otherwise like does it just work as music and this really really does and then when you pack it with a punch like that with the message all the messages in this it's game over i was listening to it honestly just now as we were playing it and i thought man don't come at you too yeah i think it's the the charm is twofold right because there is this sense of it being like true U2. Like it is a band in its element that is also part of it. It is a great song on its own. It's also a great U2 song specifically. And fast too. I mean, it's mid-February. And they're talking about things that happened a month ago. So it's really amazing. So again, the EP from U2 is called Days of Ash. They're working on a full album they apparently already have more than a couple dozen tracks that they've got ready to go on this new release don't know what it's called or when or anything like that but they have said that it is an album of defiant joy welcome back you two we've missed you i don't know where you go from there well you know i think uh probably a good place to land is You know, in the wake of the sort of many existential crises we face in this moment, as U2 is singing about, I mean, there is also a call for escapism, like a place to like step back and not have to live in that for every single moment of your life. The new music from the singer songwriter Arlo Parks is specifically geared towards that feeling The first single Two sort of set the tone for what her music is It's very club-focused. It's kind of a tweak of the indie pop with folk flourishes that she's done throughout her career, but just far more rhythmic, far more about ecstasy. And the second single, Heaven, takes it to a whole nother level. This feels You're inviting me like the star of my arm Under the bridge watching Kelly spin plays Bodies in the summer breeze Concrete washing with metallic green Let's get involved Let's get involved I eat gas and gasoline My friends spilling out into the streets Let's get involved Let's get involved Until the door breaks Thank you. Was its time too early now. Sisson tool is session, Yes. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. Until it dawns right Thank you. I'd love this song anyway, but that bass drop. Oh my goodness. That's when it just goes to this level. Yes. Man, you and I were in here, we were just like grooving, man. It is so groovy. You feel it in your chest. And it's like, that's not a sensation that you would have previously expected out of an Arlo Park song. No, I mean, like, so you mentioned Two Sided, the first single. When that came out, I thought, oh, what are you doing here? Like, where are you going with your music? Because, like, that first album, Clapsed Into Sunbeams, it had such a vintage sound, such a classic soul and R&B sound. A lot more sort of acoustic and analog. And she's really blowing things up here. Yeah, this feels like a bit of a fresh start. But I think what I like about this song in comparison to Two Sided is it's not what you'd expect from her, but the mood and tone are kind of like perfectly aligned with what her music has been in the past. This feels like more of an extension of what she had done before than Two Sided. I felt like when I heard Two Sided, to your point, it's like, oh, is this a left turn? And then here she has sort of like settled into a nice progression of her sound. it is more nightlife focused. Yeah, I agree completely. That's exactly what I wrote down in my notes. It feels like heaven sort of splits the difference. Like she's found that nice, perfect sweet spot between those two sonic worlds. So much great imagery across this too. Just Diet Coke and kitten heels. I don't even know what that is, but it's perfect. Diet Coke and kitten heels. Concrete washing with metallic green bodies in the summer breeze. So good. Well, again, the album from Arlo Parks is called Ambiguous Desire, and that is out on April 3rd. Sheldon, we've been on Lawn Adale Raywatch for about a year and a half or so now. It feels like the album that we keep thinking is going to come any minute now. I want to say like at the top of 2025, we were thinking like any day now. Yeah, it could drop today. It's gone through several name changes. The latest is Stove, that it's going to be called Stove. But it felt like maybe we got at least a little bit closer last week when Lana Del Rey released yet another single. It's the third single that she's released kind of leading up to the album. And it's really not like the other two that she dropped at all. So I guess we're no closer to really understanding what the album is going to sound like. But I mean, that's one of the things I love about Lana Del Rey's music so much is that when you hit play on a new song, you don't know which Lana Del Rey you're going to get. Yeah. And when I hit play on this new song, it was exactly the Lana Del Rey that I wanted to get. The song is called White Feather Hawk Tail Deer Hunter. And I'm not making that up. A real mouthful. White Feather Hawk Tail Deer Hunter. The new song from Lana Del Rey. Very curious to hear what you think after we listen to it. Here's my white feather, hawk-tailed deer hunter. Likes to keep me cool in the hot breeze, summer. Likes to push me on the screen, John Deere mower. I know you wish you had a man like him, it's such a bummer. When I met him, like an arrow, like a bird in the heart. Like a sparrow in the dark. Snap, crackle, pop. Bear and mash. He's just in my bone marrow. Everyone knows I had some trouble. But I'm home for the summer and I wanted to know if I could use your stove to cook something up for you. Cause you're positively voodooing everything that you do. Did you know exactly how magical you are? Whoopsie daisy, you-hoo Yelling I love you Out to my white feather Hocktail de la turn Take my hand off the stove And yell you Dinner's almost done Whoopsie daisy, you-hoo I imagine you do Know how absolutely wonderful That you are He's my white feather Hawk-tailed deer, hon Before I met him Wore a bow over three summers Now it's a ribbon round my neck And it's cherry color I've just been baking Waiting on a spirit, hon I got a nicotine patch for the summer Yeah, my ghost doesn't mean I feel nothing Put it on my ass No tan-lined summer I love my daddy Of course we're still together Everyone knows I had some trouble But it's been three summers I know it's strange to see me cooking For my husband But it's positively voodoo Everything that you do Did you know exactly how magical you are? Whoopsie daisy, you Yelling I love you Up to my white feather, I'll build you up to her Take my hand off the stove and Yeah, dinner's almost done Whoopsie daisy, ooh, I imagine you do You know how absolutely bad I'm within a vent Whoopsie daisy, do you think it's okay? Whoopsie daisy, tip us the sugar cane Yanks like me, be sure to stay for a friend Stick with Becky and Daisy's friends to win Whoopsie daisy, do you think it's okay? Whoopsie daisy do you position again Yanks like me be sure to stay for a friend Stick with Becky and Daisy friends to win Pause with Tiffany for a time The The So much going on on this. I don't even know where to begin, but I mean, doesn't it sound like a soliloquy from some out of time haunted musical from like the 40s or 50s or something like that? Don't you get that? Yeah. The interesting thing about her is her flourishes, though the touchstones are always like classic Americana in some sense, there's always something that is like very modern and like very rooted in the present in her music. It's something about the way that she puts the elements together that always makes it a little uncanny. Anachronistic in some ways. Like when the song opens, it almost sounds like something from like a 50s horror movie, like a B movie, one of those old black and white, terrible horror movies from the 50s, you know. And then, yeah, it just turns into this sort of twisted musical. I don't know how else to put it. And then what she's singing about is so curious, too, because she's saying, I think it's safe to say she's singing about her husband, Jeremy Dufresne. And, you know, she had an Instagram post where she referred to his little hawk tail hair. Yeah. And, you know, obviously that comes up in the song a lot. I'm just not sure how to take it because she says things that sound like the kinds of things that someone who's very much in love would say. You know, she says he's magical. He's positively voodoo that they're the perfect match and like he's in her bone marrow. But the overall mood is so strange and unsettling. I'm just I just don't know what I'm supposed to think. Yeah, I've been trying to make sense of the lyrics on this for a week now and still haven't. There is something just a little distorted about it, something that isn't all on the surface. all of her music has kind of toyed with the ideals of like the domestic American, like the nuclear American family at the center of the American dream. And this song, it feels like it's still playing in that sandbox. But it's maybe harder to read than a lot of the stuff that she's released previously. Maybe that's part of the point. But I am just still so captivated. By this version of her, I hope there's a lot more of this kind of stuff on this record. Yeah, me too. White feather hawk tail deer hunter from Lana Del Rey. Say that a hundred times really fast. I'm going to go in a complete, well, I guess it's not a complete 180, but to another artist who has sort of embodied a singular sound. They have really one of the most powerful voices in all of music. One that is so singular, so astoundingly recognizable every single time you hear it. And so piercing the heart every time. The artist is Baby Rose. There's a new single. It's called Friends Again and it features Leon Thomas. Trying to be mature But here I am wanting more But in my mind I'm not so sure Why we open up the door I've had the fight with the rain With a matching kerosene Let it all on the flame Why do I feel this way? Will it ever be the same? Why did we have to complicate it? No riddle weakness we can't explain Will we ever be friends again? All of your burning desires It's hard to put out this fire Why I try to put out these flames But you always come back the same I tried to bury this road What in my mind used to grow You and me, God, don't you know Will it ever feel the same? Why did we have to communicate it? No way to weakness we can't explain Will we ever be friends again? Will it ever be the same? Why did we have to replicate it? No matter the weakness we can't explain Will we ever be friends again? Be friends again What about a friendship? What about a friendship? What about a friendship? I don't know I don't know I know I don't know You know I know we've been friends for a long time It's weird for me to To feel like nothing I don't know You know I don't wanna make it awkward I just This is my best friend. Yeah, you say singular voice, like you're two bars into that song. and you could listen to it not knowing anything about it and immediately say, Baby Rose. Yeah. Baby Rose. I don't think we can overstate it, though. I think her voice is generational. Oh, absolutely. I mean, 101, it is so singular, and it's not affected in any way. It's not like, oh, here's that singer who does the Baby Rose voice. It is her voice, and it is unlike anything else. Yeah, there's so much character in it. I mean, honestly, I feel like she could probably sing the terms and conditions to me and I'd still be locked in with her. Is that possible? I would actually pay attention to the terms and conditions. But I think this song works so beautifully also because she sort of picks the perfect foil for her in this moment. Oh, Leon's hanging with her really well. Leon Thomas, if you don't know, recently he was the Grammy winner for Best R&B Album. He's sort of come into his own over the course of the- She was on. Yes, she also, their previous collaborators. So there's already a rapport there. But also he is sort of like a modern version of like the classic soul man. He's a multi-instrumentalist. He leans into like the strength of his vocals in the way that a lot of other R&B singers don't. And you can hear him sort of going stride for stride with her in this song, which is a difficult thing to do. The way that they play off of each other is so instrumental to what makes this song work to me. I wish there was a third chorus. I wish they had brought it back. When that spoken word part comes in, though, I thought, yes, just keep going. You're nailing every part of this. This is perfect. I think if your only critique of the song is that you wish they had given you a little bit more of it than it did its job perfectly. Really beautiful. And it's called Friends Again. And it's just a one-off single for now? For now. I think she's got to be gearing up. It's been too long. If nothing, I am manifesting it. We need a new record from Baby Rose. Well, we found out at the end of January that James Blake is coming back. James Blake has a new album coming. It's due out in March. It's called Trying Times. times, really have loved everything that I've heard so far from it. The latest single, especially, it's called I Had a Dream, She Took My Hand. And it kind of reminds me a little bit of the Lana Del Rey cut. Actually, it's not as moody as the Lana Del Rey, but both of them just kind of feel out of time in a way. And with just a little touch of the surreal. Again, it's called I Had a Dream, She Took My Hand. I had a dream, she took my hand It was only a dream I had a dream, she took my hand I felt higher than storms lighter than sand I had a dream She took my hand Deeper than whirlpools And safer than land Oh, this is love Let's stay up Can we stay here? She didn't know I had a dream She took my hand I heard my call to the Titanic band Playing the map Miles from land Nothing left to do but Grip on that hand Oh, this is love's Last day up Can we stay here? She didn't know I had a plan She took my hand She began to dissolve Along with her soul I couldn't remember her face Remember her name As I was losing control, she motioned to say Oh, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go Let's go. Come back Come back I just wanna know What it means I just wanna know You hear some of those parallels I'm talking about with the Lana. It opens, it's got that sort of like post-war vocal pop group, like Mr. Sandman sort of. I always find that so creepy, that sound. And it kind of lurks in the background throughout the whole song. The synth, that synth line, it's a little cracked and broken. It's a little warbly and broken, you know. So it's all these subtle little things that blur the picture and make you realize that maybe it's not exactly what you think it is. Maybe it's not just somebody walking through a park holding hands with the person they love. Yeah, there's a little bit of waltz in it, the way that he interprets it. But with anything that James Blake does, there's always going to be this element of conjuring the ghost in the machine. Like he will always be able to take anything that he does and bring it back to this wheelhouse of like really evocative electronic based music. Like he is very much straddling the divide between traditional and whatever people think of as traditional, right? The old school ideals of music making versus the digital ideals and like mashing those two together in a way that blurs the lines between those two worlds. There's a moment in this song where it like literally sort of like devolves into just him and his voice and the piano. And he's just like, it literally sounds almost like a demo of him. Just like raw, uncut audio in the middle of this song. But then it like slowly like builds back up into that last bridge. There's a really important line in this song that I think changes everything. and it's when he name checks the band that played on the Titanic and he says something like they're playing everyone out miles from land and that there's nothing left to do but to hold her hand and in that one little moment it goes from again like maybe you're just walking in the park holding hands to oh no you're drowning in an ocean and you're holding her hand and you're sinking to the bottom of the ocean and then he says she starts to dissolve. And the whole picture completely changes in that one little moment. Yeah. I mean, coming out of that second verse, I think I completely hear the chorus differently. I got to be honest, Sheldon. I really like music. Yeah, man. Music is pretty good. It's a pretty sweet deal. James Blake, the song, I Had a Dream, She Took My Hand. That's from an album coming out in March, an album called Trying Times, out on March 13th. But Sheldon, I know you got one more you want to play. Yeah, I'm going to send us out on something new to you, I believe. Oh, yeah, totally new to me. And pretty new to me. It's by a singer-songwriter named Bella Kay. She sort of broke out last year with the single The Sick. It went viral on TikTok. It's bait for a certain kind of post that is just like an image, often a selfie with a kind of quote about like tragic romance overlaid on top of it. It's very like Tumblr core. But it's easy to get why. The song has sort of like a quiet, somewhat like melodramatic quality. That single didn't really do it for me, but I've been paying attention to her because it felt like the higher end of, like a souped up version of a lot of the bedroom poppy stuff that seems to exist in like the covers corner of the internet. And there was something sort of really intimate about her songwriting that stood out to me. And there's a song that has sort of, I don't want to say it's got me all in, but I'm curious about where she goes from here. It's called Steady. Yeah, this is a great find. I will say this song is so confessional and so honest, so revealing. It kind of made me uncomfortable listening to it. That was what got me. Sort of like the raw, bruised quality of it. Oh, so bruised. It's like so, so hurt, but like so earnest in its like assessment of that hurt. All right. So Bella Kay, the song Steady. This is from an album called A Couple Minutes Out. And we'll go out on this. Sheldon Pierce, thanks as always for a great hang. So great to be here. And for NPR Music, I'm Robin Hilton. It's All Songs Considered. I don't want to fall in love Cause I don't believe that I deserve it There's always one more pound to lose I'm not worthy if I didn't earn it I don't wanna fall in love Cause who could love me back on purpose? Always too much, never enough Never your person I can't treat you right if I treat myself like this I need to get better It's where I'm working on it Guess I'll never be ready Guess I'll never be good We will never go steady I don't think that we should Guess I'll never be ready Cause I'll never be What I've been Always wanna be mine So I'll never be yours I don't wanna fall in love Cause I'm scared of the person I'll become There's always one more bridge to burn How far can I make you run? I don't wanna fall in love cause I know when it's all said and done I'm back where I started, more broken hearted, less of a person I was I can't treat you right if I treat myself like this I need to get better, swear I'm working on it Guess I'll never be ready Guess I'll never be good We will never go steady I don't think that we should Guess I'll never be ready Cause I wanna be what I've been Always wanna be mine So I will never be yours I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't I can't, I can't, I can't You know I can't, I can't, I can't Oh, I can't. You know I can't. Guess I'll never be ready. Guess I'll never be good. We'll never go study. I think that we should. Guess I'll never be ready. Cause I'm gonna be what I've been I always wanna be love So I'll never be yours
