Album reviews: Horsegirl, Lilly Hiatt, Jason Isbell, Lisa and more

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/03/2025 (500 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ROCK

Horsegirl 

Phonetics On and On (Matador)

George Orwell once wrote: “Every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.” In the perpetually youth-oriented realm of popular music, where trends and styles are constantly recycled, the first half of that sentence rings true. What’s old becomes new and exciting once absorbed and interpolated by this year’s models.

Yet some acts, such as Horsegirl, a three-piece indie-rock trio from Chicago take their influences and blend them in such fashion that they sound wise beyond their years (all three are barely in their 20s).

Working with Welsh producer/musician Cate Le Bon, guitarists Nora Cheng and Penny Lowenstein and drummer Gigi Reece will evoke all manner of comparisons — from Velvet Underground to Gang of Four to the lo-fi indie scene of the mid-’90s, but they’ve also created an early contender for best album of 2025. ★★★★½ out of five

Stream: Where’d You Go?; Julie

 

Lilly Hiatt

Forever (New West)

After forging a newly sober life and becoming a popular singer/songwriter via four albums in seven years, Lilly Hiatt set aside her inhibitions and opened up to living with love. Happily, she married guitarist Coley Hinson in 2022, yet didn’t set aside her musical or lyrical precision.

She wrote and discarded at least 20 songs before hitting on this album’s opener, Hidden Day; a noisily rockin’ tune that sent her and Hinson (who produced the record) to their home studio, where they ultimately created eight more songs, one-by-one.

Breezily tuneful yet fittingly gritty, Hiatt’s material reflects her newfound security. She feels confident enough to acknowledge and reflect upon her past (Ghost Ship, Kwik-E-Mart) while also celebrating her present, as on Evelyn’s House and Man, paeans to home and husband, respectively. ★★★★ out of five

Stream: Hidden Day; Ghost Ship

— John Kendle

FOLK

Jason Isbell

Foxes in the Snow (Southeastern)

Jason Isbell unplugged can still electrify.

An excellent bandleader, guitarist and singer, Isbell is first and foremost a songwriter, and that skill takes centre stage on his new album, Foxes in the Snow, his first solo acoustic album.

Accompanied by only his 1940 Martin acoustic guitar, Isbell sorts through romantic relationships. He sounds like someone trying to find his bearings. There’s blood on the tracks. That’s not surprising, given that the album is Isbell’s first since his breakup with singer-songwriter Amanda Shires after more than a decade of marriage. Some of the material sounds powerfully autobiographical and that’s especially true on the chorus of Gravelweed.

“I was gravelweed and I needed you to raise me / You couldn’t reach me once I felt like I was raised,” he sings. “And now that I live to see my melodies betray me / I’m sorry the love songs all mean different things today.”

Isbell sings about dangerous memories, dreams forgotten, the value of persistence and the tug of his Alabama roots. Ride to Robert’s pays tribute to one of downtown Nashville’s best honky-tonks, while Open and Close skewers a bar band for mangling Steely Dan.

Isbell is a terrific acoustic guitarist and his playing here is subtle and superb. A Doc Watson-style riff provides the foundation for the title cut, while nifty filigrees augment the waltz Open and Close and the opener Bury Me, which sounds like a cowboy song from the ’50s. That’s the 1950s or the 1850s.

In a brave experiment, Isbell is touring solo, testing whether or not these sturdy but sober songs are enough to hold the attention of several thousand spectators. At the moment, he’s not in the mood to stomp and holler. ★★★★ out of five

Isbell will be joined by his band the 400 Unit to headline the Winnipeg Folk Festival in July.

Stream: Open and Close; Gravelweed

— Steven Wine, The Associated Press

POP

Lisa

Alter Ego (Lloud)

Lisa, one-fourth of the K-pop juggernaut Blackpink, has officially stepped out on her own — releasing her first solo album, Alter Ego. Across rap, dance and pop, the project shows off a versatile artist ready to embrace her time alone in the spotlight.

The Thai rapper is the second member of Blackpink to release a full-length solo project after Rosé’s sweet side-step from the band, Rosie.

As the title suggests, Lisa creates space for experimentation by adopting separate personas — Roxi, Sunni, the ’00s pop-channelling Kiki, Speedi and the ferocious rapper Vixi — who appear across the high-concept songs. They allow the artist to jump between sonic languages, with varied attitudes of her vocals and productions.

Coupled with Blackpink’s history as a cross-genre powerhouse, Lisa’s genre-spanning foray into solo pop feels earned. And it works — mostly.

Like the band’s discography, the tracks are upbeat and self-assured, with edge unique to Lisa: Elastigirl and Thunder are sensual and bold, the former punchy and light to the latter’s moody groove. Fxck Up the World, featuring Future, is quick and aggressive, with an empowered message akin to some of Blackpink’s hits. Badgrrrl assures that this Lisa isn’t to be messed with.

On five of the tracks, Lisa and her alter egos are supported by the hit-makers of the genres they inhabit. Along with Future, Raye and Doja Cat appear on the lush Born Again. Megan Thee Stallion brings her confidence to Rapunzel. Rosalía adds Spanish verses on the catchy New Woman while Tyla offers her soulful vocals on When I’m With You. At their best, the impressive roster of international stars allows Lisa to show off her chameleonic adoption of styles, but by being so feature-heavy, the album also muddies its own goal of introducing us to a Lisa that stands on her own.

And when she does make herself known, she succeeds. ★★★ out of five

Stream: Badgrrrl; New Woman

— Elise Ryan, The Associated Press

CLASSICAL

Tchaikovsky: Orchestral Suites

Rimsky-Korsakov: Capriccio Espagnol

NDR Radiophilharmonie, Stanislav Kochanovksy (Harmonia Mundi)

Germany’s NDR Radiophilharmonie, led by Stanislav Kochanovsky as its newly appointed chief conductor in 2024, performs three works from 19th and 20th century Russia.

First up is Rimsky-Korsakov’s fiery Capriccio Espagnol, Op. 34, pulsing with rhythmic vitality and life. Originally intended as a work for solo violin and orchestra, the composer chose to make it into a larger-scale orchestral suite in five movements to more fully capture the spirit of traditional Spanish folk melodies. Highlights include the opening I. Alborado, with its first introduction of the solo violinist, and subsequently reprised with different scoring as the third movement, or V. Scena e canto gitano: Allegretto that opens with bold brass fanfare.

However the work’s beating heart is IV. Scena e canto Gitano, propelled by side-drum rolls and guitar imitations in the strings and harp, performed by the players with plenty of Iberian zest throughout.

Tchaikovsky’s Orchestral Suite in G major, Op. 55 in four movements provides greater stylistic contrast while allowing listeners to hear a lesser-known work by one of Russia’s most iconic composers. The maestro brings out the unabashed lyricism of I. Elegie that leads to a lilting, surprisingly sombre II. Valse mélancolique. A quicksilver III. Scherzo evoking the composer’s famed ballet The Nutcracker during its central section leads to a final theme and variations movement.

Also included is Tcherepnin’s dreamy Prelude to La Princesse lointaine, Op. 4, with the also lesser-known work providing a suitable appetizer for what’s to come, as well as a taste of Rimsky-Korsakov’s own pupil’s artistry as a passing of legacy from one generation to the next. ★★★★½ out of five

STREAM: Capriccio Espagnol, Op. 34, IV. Scena e cantol; Orchestral Suite in G major, Op. 55, III. Scherzo

— Holly Harris