So insular is Fine Glindvad Jensen’s musical realm that one ends up reaching for increasingly tortured anachronisms just to map its periphery: Lana if she fronted the Warm Inventions, Hope Sandoval if she made Honeymoon, a Bond girl who’s also Julee Cruise. That’s not to say Jazz Dreams is unwelcoming; the second solo album from the Copenhagen artist known mononymously as Fine is plush, cozy even, steeped in paisley folk and jangle pop. But spend enough time in this incense-scented, velvet-upholstered lounge, and you may begin to see strange shadows crawling up the walls.
Listen on Apple Music
Listen on Spotify
Listen on Tidal
Listen on Amazon Music
Listen/Buy at Bandcamp
Buy at Rough Trade
Ryan Hemsworth: Numbskull [Topshelf]
Longtime producer for the indie rock stars Ryan Hemsworth returns with his first solo album in nearly a decade to remind us what his own songwriting sounds like free from others’ ideas. Turns out, it’s caustic electropop, filtered through grainy fuzz, pop vocal hooks that could scale a mountain, and the type of slamming bass notes that could work just as well in EDM or synthpunk. Hemsworth doesn’t have anything to prove, though, which allows him to tap a few guest features—Tegan and Sara, Illuminati Hotties, MSPAINT, Allie—that showcase just how far a singer-songwriter’s ideas can extend in their own voice and beyond. It’s a mature choice, showcasing not just his own skills, but how strongly they lift friends around him, too.
