“Finishing School” Brontë Fall“Twice As Tall”
Burna Boy
Warner Music
Nigerian music export Burna Boy — two-time recipient of BET’s Best International Act award and MTV Europe Music Award’s Best African act — introduced his fifth studio album, “Twice As Tall,” Aug. 13. He also made his grand return to late night television the following night as a musical guest on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”
Executive produced by Sean “Diddy” Combs, Bosede Ogulu and Damini “Burna Boy” Ogulu, “Twice As Tall” was mostly recorded in Lagos during the covid-19 pandemic and is a beautiful mélange of sounds. The New York Times has declared Burna Boy “a leader amid a bounty of new African pop,” before going on to make it clear that “Burna Boy hasn’t diluted his African heritage to reach his global audience. Instead, he has placed an unmistakably African stamp on music drawn from all around Africa and from across the African diaspora.”
“Finishing School”
Brontë Fall
Brontë Fall, the songwriting pen name of classically trained multi-instrumentalist Teri Bracken, embodies the spirit of a centuries-old push by the Brontë sisters to have their — and all women’s — voices heard. Within her sophomore effort, “Finishing School,” Bracken embraces Charlotte, Emily and Anne’s fight against the ever-evolving societal restraint on women; at times with a sword and armor and at times with words and ideas. Out Aug. 21, “Finishing School” features six songs that find Bracken growing beyond her roots in orchestral music with a broadening of influences and cross-genre songwriting.
Brontë Fall is a nod to a sentiment brought to life in Emily Brontë’s poem, “Fall, Leaves, Fall.” In it, she welcomes autumn and the looming winter ahead. “I love how she saw poetry in the darker seasons, beauty in the shortening days,” says Bracken. “With Brontë Fall I, too, aim to embrace the changing seasons of my life and express as much through my art.
“As a musician, I almost feel like I’m defending who I am and what I want. Perhaps I feel pressure to be a certain way. These songs were written about feeling proud of where I am and what I’m doing. It’s about feeling empowered wherever you are in life, and celebrating the past while building your own kind of future.”
“I’m Glad We’re Friends”
Thank You, I’m Sorry
Count Your Lucky Stars Records
On Aug. 21, Minneapolis trio Thank You, I’m Sorry released their new album, “I’m Glad We’re Friends.” Pages ripped from frontperson Colleen Dow’s (she/they) diary became “The Malta House,” an acoustic collection of her innermost feelings. Although “I’m Glad We’re Friends” is made up of nearly entirely new songs, several standout tracks from “The Malta House” make an appearance, but this time they’re viscerally electric and even more memorable than they were before.
Apathy and anxiety has never sounded as real as it does on a song like “Follow Unfollow.” It’s Colleen’s version of a love song — raw and full of regret — brought to life with the help of bassist Bethunni Schreiner (she/they) and drummer Sage Livergood (they/he).
Nerves are one hell of a tool. Short bursts of anxiety and fear often lead to songwriting that doubles down on winking through catharsis. It’s in the spaces between sudden inspiration and deliberate wit where “I’m Glad We’re Friends” resides.
“Still No Mother”
Logan Farmer
Western Vinyl
On the spacious and somber “Still No Mother”, Colorado songwriter Logan Farmer processes and explores climate change anxiety using the framework of the American folk song. The album grew from an initial concept of imagining the songs farmhands will sing when their acreage has dried up or burned, and rising sea levels begin engulfing the coasts — not unlike those sung by Woody Guthrie during the devastation of the Dust Bowl.
The resulting ambient-folk suite, out Aug. 21, places his earnest croon within a mosaic of orchestral strings, distant piano and well-placed flutters of electronics, which emerge like artifacts in the rubble of the dusty future his lyrics depict.
Though Farmer’s impressive array of textures and instruments and use of ambience and interstitial collage might suggest otherwise, “Still No Mother” is folk music at its heart. And if the task of folk musicians is to tell the tales of their day, Logan Farmer succeeds in documenting through song an inner life of a person watching the specter of climate change grow on the horizon.
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With no live music to list, this spot will be filled by news and reviews of new albums, both local and national. Send information about your new releases to Jocelyn Murphy at [email protected]
“Twice As Tall” Burna Boy Warner Music
“I’m Glad We’re Friends” Thank You, I’m Sorry Count Your Lucky Stars Records
“Still No Mother” Logan Farmer Western Vinyl