Zadie Smith’s ‘Intimations’ Essays Pandemic with Erudite Wit and Compassion
Zadie Smith's Intimations is an essay collection of gleaming, wry, and crisp prose that wears its erudition lightly but takes flight on both everyday and lofty matters.
Michael Sumsion
I am an English teacher and arts journalist in London, formerly at Cision Media. Likes jazz, poetry, psychogeography, Eric Ravilious and Tindersticks in no particular order.
Jess Cornelius Creates Tautly Constructed Snapshots of Life
Former Teeth & Tongue singer-songwriter Jess Cornelius' Distance is an enrapturing collection of punchy garage-rock, delicate folk, and arty synthpop anthems which examine liminal spaces between us.
Max Richter’s ‘VOICES’ Is an Awe-Inspiring and Heartfelt Soundscape
Choral singing, piano, synths, and an "upside-down" orchestra complement crowd-sourced voices from across the globe on Max Richter's VOICES. It rewards deep listening, and acts as a global rebuke against bigotry, extremism and authoritarianism.
Cavern of Anti-Matter’s First Film Score Is a Rare Delight
Stereolab spin-off project, Cavern of Anti-Matter thrive in alchemizing varied and abstruse influences to elicit transfixing moments of frazzled disquiet and dread on In Fabric.
A Foggy Disorientation Pervades the Intoxicating Music of Drab City
Drab City combine sultry vocals, superlative songwriting, vibraphone chords, twangy guitar, and shadowy atmospherics to conjure an intense trip-hop fever dream on Good Songs for Bad People.
‘Underground London’ Dazzles with Its Scope and Anti-Establishment Music
Cherry Red issues a gargantuan collection of anti-establishment music associated with the 1960s London counterculture, a movement which challenged the norms and conventions of mainstream society by drinking from the well of psychedelia, free jazz, Beat poetry, musique concrete, electronics, and minimalism.
Rustin Man’s ‘Clockdust’ Is Woozy Psych-Folk of Arresting and Fathomless Beauty
Arriving less than a year after Drift Code, Rustin Man consolidates a rich vein of form with the sepia-toned Clockdust, an autumnal record rendered generous and exquisite by each song's emotional weight.
Experimental Rock’s Trees Speak Summon Kosmische Sensations on ‘Ohms’
On their inspiring second album, Ohms, Arizona avant-garde collective Trees Speak invoke the best of expansive electronica through motorik repetitions across a sprawling masterwork.
Agnes Obel’s Chamber Pop Hits a New Peak on ‘Myopia’
Agnes Obel's Myopia is delicate and personal, employing treated vocals and piano to plow depths of sorrow and interrogate dark storms of the soul.
Yann Tiersen’s ‘Portrait’ Is a Fresh Interpretation of Past Glories
Amelie composer Yann Tiersen teams up with a coterie of collaborators on Portrait to revisit works from a 25-year career, with poignant and reinvigorating results.