New music

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This article was published 20/12/2024 (310 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Americana

Various Artists

Silver Patron Saints: The Songs of Jesse Malin (Glassnote)

Jesse Malin’s been a New York City legend for decades, first as frontman with ’90s punks D Generation, then as a solo singer-songwriter whose heartfelt, melodic rock ‘n’ roll garnered plenty of acclaim but never the sales that would make him comfortable.

In 2023, Malin suffered a stroke that paralyzed him from the waist down. He has regained some use of his legs, but the process is protracted and expensive, so a pile of his famous friends have come together to put their spin on his work, with proceeds going to his recovery fund.

The big names here are plentiful — Bruce Springsteen, Billie Joe Armstrong, Lucinda Williams and Elvis Costello — but the real stars are Malin’s tunes, earnest and clever songs given new life with heavy doses of love and feeling.

★★★★ out of five

Stream: Black Haired Girl (Armstrong), Room 13 (Williams, Costello)

Desiree Dorion

Remember Your Name (Independent)

The seventh release from Desiree Dorion marks both a musical shift and artistic step forward. The 2024 Manitoba Country Music Association female artist of the year has been mining the country-pop vein for well over a decade but with this mini-album, Dorion sheds the commercial straitjacket and lets her lyrics and melodies breathe, baring her soul with a sound best described as roots/Americana.

This compact six-pack unlocks Dorion’s personal heartache and exorcises some demons in arresting fashion. Some of the material is character-driven — Greta, a duet with Amanda Rheaume about domestic abuse, is impressive — but when Dorion sings about her need for love on Dry and exhorts herself to stay strong on the title track, the honesty rings true.

★★★★ out of five

Stream: Dry, Ghost, Remember Your Name

— John Kendle

Rock

Father John Misty

Mahashmashana (Sub Pop)

The title of Father John Misty’s sixth studio album is a reference to cremation, and the first song proposes “a corpse dance.” Religious overtones mix with the undercurrent of a midlife crisis atop his folk chamber pop. And for those despairing recent events, some lyrics seem topical.

“It’s always the darkest right before the end,” Misty sings on Screamland, a power ballad full of desperation and overdriven amplifiers. His advice: “Stay young, get numb, keep dreaming.”

Screamland is one of eight songs on Mahashmashana, Misty’s jaundiced, smart, cynical, droll, druggy, opaque, arch, theatrical take on life and death.

Misty, the stage name for Josh Tillman, describes himself in one song as a windbag. While that’s a bit harsh, the album will delight those who enjoy listening to music with a dictionary.

Misty frames his wordsmithery in cinematic rock-noir arrangements as dense as the lyrics. A marvellous string section underpins the lush sound, darting and swooping amid thundering drums and a pounding piano.

Tempos tend toward slow, matching Misty’s melodrama. But She Cleans Up is delightfully jagged art rock, with slashing guitars and sax, and I Guess Time Just Makes Fools of Us All pairs a sweet groove and sour outlook. Characters come and go on the latter tune, but through nine verses the song repeatedly reaches the same rueful conclusion.

On Mahashmashana, Misty wrestles with a reality that is confounding, off-kilter, even crazy, knowing it won’t end well. Root for him.

— Steven Wine, The Associated Press

Jazz

Angell & Crane

Angell & Crane

(For the Living and the Dead)

The Montreal-based duo of Simon Angell and Tommy Crane have teamed up for the first time on this adventurous album. Angell plays guitars, bass and synth while Crane plays drums, percussion, drum programming, synths and vibraphone. They add vocalist Sarah Rossy and alto and flute player Charlotte Greve on several tracks.

This album is the result of six days of improvising — “recorded with as many microphones and inputs as possible,” the liner notes say — in studio, leading to 40 hours of material and formed into 12 tracks. It is a fascinating and frequently haunting blend of moods and effects that jazz-mixing icons such as Teo Macero would have been proud of.

Opening track Twin Machines sets the album off with a rhythmic base augmenting a drone-like melody. Swinglugend begins with a herky-jerky groove before settling into a straight-up driving mood. Himalayan Dial-Up conjures images of mountain grandeur in surges of electronic underpinnings and Greve’s meandering flute solo.

Tracks such as Honguedo and Hesa Fredrik offer a rock-flavoured up-tempo approach with effective electronic riffs. Several songs have an electric bass continuo that is captivating. Crane’s drum solo and Angell’s guitar solo on Subsequent Flooding are outstanding. Throughout there is attention to melody within the electronics. 2000 Decades is a fitting final track that pulls the whole impact together.

Whether or not one appreciates the use of modern electronic devices in jazz, this is a terrific example of how to use them effectively. The care taken to whittle 40 hours of music down to an album length has created a treat for the listener.

★★★★1/2 out of five

Stream: Unearth, Eight Years to Okuma

— Keith Black

Classical

Palestrina Revealed

Choir of Clare College (Harmonia Mundi)

The Choir of Clare College led by Graham Ross marks the 500th anniversary of the birth of Italian Renaissance composer Giovanni Pierluigi Palestrina.

The ensemble’s sublime a cappella vocals are first heard in the five-part Magnificat secundi toni with the singers artfully led by Ross bringing to life its smoothly overlapping, polyphonic phrases.

The more compact, single-movement Memor esto verbi tui, also performed in five parts, offers a parody of the composer’s earlier motet based on a setting of Psalm 119:49-56, as well as showcasing the singers’ dynamic range and ability to blend their voices into a single tapestry of sound.

Ad te levavi oculos meos a 12 is a setting of Psalm 123 as one of the composer’s lone surviving, triple choir motets, with this unique program of lesser-known Palestrina works rounding out with two Lenten Mass settings: Missa Emendemus in melius and Missa Memor esto verbi tui.

Including additional settings of several of the same texts by three of the composer’s English contemporaries — William Byrd, Robert White and William Mundy — is a thoughtful touch. Hearing the Italian master’s colleagues’ own interpretations helps provide greater historical context while allowing listeners to compare and contrast different stylistic approaches taken during this choral-rich era; its revealed works still soothing the soul centuries since first created.

★★★★ out of five

Stream: Magnificat secundi toni; Memor esto verbi tui

— Holly Harris