There’s so much music coming out all the time that it’s hard to keep track. On those days when the influx of new tracks is particularly overwhelming, we sift through the noise to bring you a curated list of the most interesting new releases (the best of which will be added to our Best New Songs playlist). Below, check out our track roundup for Thursday, February 6, 2025.
The Ophelias – ‘Cumulonimbus’
The Ophelias have announced a new album produced by Julien Baker, Spring Grove, with the single ‘Cumulonimbus’. “There’s so much more beyond heartbreak to write about,” vocalist Spencer Peppet said in press materials, noting that there are “zero songs about break-ups” on the record. ‘Cumulonimbus’ may not be the exception, but it’s evocative and so full of longing that you might mistake it as one. “I know that you are going to miss me more than you say you/ Will, the things that I didn’t say are always going to,” Peppet sings, “Hang above you like a cumulonimbus/ I am on your heels, I’m running like it’s nothing.”
Panda Bear – ‘Ends Meet’
Panda Bear has shared ‘Ends Meet’, the final single from his forthcoming LP Sinister Grift, and it’s another great preview. This one features his Animal Collective bandmates Avey Tare and Geologist, as well as backing vocals by Maria Reis and Spirit of the Beehive’s Rivka Ravede.
Lucius – ‘Gold Rush’
Lucius’ self-titled album was announced today with the groovy, infectious new single ‘Gold Rush’. The song “is that addictive sweetness to love,” the band explained. “The roller coaster highs and lows. The sugary can’t get enough of you, can’t live with you feeling that keeps you coming back for more. It’s energy and grit: guitars wailing, heavy backbeat, dynamic vocals which flip from verse to chorus – mellow to strong – playing off the band and echoing the sentiment of the lyrics.”
Nell Smith – ‘Anxious’
Bella Union has announced Nell Smith’s posthumous debut solo album, Anxious, arriving on April 11. At the time of her passing in a car accident last October, the 17-year-old artist was preparing to release the record, which she made in Brighton with Jack and Lily Wolter of Penelope Isles. The title track, which is playful yet dark, is out now. “It is still very painful when I realize Nell is gone,” the Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne said. “I keep thinking I’ll check my text messages from her. I’m sure she has a new drawing or new piece of a song or a new photo of her cat… and then I remember she is gone. Now when I’m listening to her singing these songs there is a brief fantastical joy. Her voice hits the ear, the ear tells brain this is the sound of love, the brain lets the mind fly through the billions of connections it has with Nell’s life… but as it flies it also flies to her death… there is something holy that happens now.”
Darkside – ‘Are You Tired? (Keep on Singing)’
“I refuse to live on western time/ Its investors need to heal,” Nicolás Jaar sings on Darkside’s latest seven-minute single, and the band’s refuge is simple: “Singing! Just keep on singing!” Their new album, Nothing, comes out at the end of the month.
Ichiko Aoba – ‘SONAR’
Ichiko Aoba has offered another preview of her upcoming album Luminescent Creatures with ‘SONAR’, a delicate piano ballad. Here’s a translation of some of the lyrics: “Beyond the darkness, a glimmer of/ Somebody’s voice/ I am here, although/ I know not where, and yet/ I hear it.”
Jarvis Cocker with Kim Sion – ‘California Dreamin” (The Mamas And The Papas Cover)
Kevin Haskins of Bauhaus and producer Nick Launay have teamed up for a wildfire relief compilation titled Los Angeles Rising, which is out today (get it here) and features Nick Cave, PJ Harvey, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and more. The lead single is Jarvis Cocker’s haunting rendition of ‘California Dreamin”, which features backing vocals from his girlfriend Kim Sion. It’s definitely darker than the version we heard Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars sing at last Sunday’s Grammys.
Heaven – ‘The Fire You Know’
NYC-based power-pop band Heaven have shared a new single from their upcoming album, Dream Aloud. ‘The Fire You Know’ is a brooding track that features Megan LaMarca on cello recorded by her husband, Anthony LaMarca of The War on Drugs.
Deb Never – This Alive
Deb Never, whose debut album will be out this year via GIANT, has released a somber yet propulsive track called ‘This Alive’. It coincides with the singer joining Wallows on tour.
serpentwithfeet – ‘Wanderer’
‘Writing in the Wind’, which accompanied the announcement of serpenwithfeet’s Grip Sequel, was a rather brief single. His new single, ‘Wanderer’, though, stretches the dreamy, intimate atmosphere out to four minutes. According to the singer-songwriter, it’s “about a man who lives in isolation and his new passionate paramour.”
Cloakroom – ‘Story of the Egg’
Indiana’s Cloakroom have dropped a new single, ‘Story of the Egg’, which will appear on the band’s upcoming full-length Last Leg of the Human Table. The track injects an unusual amount of nerve into an otherwise ethereal arrangement, which is in line with its subject matter. According to drummer Tim Remis, the track is about “the newfound anxiety and stress from the alertness that comes with finally feeling the otherwise positive effects of a full night’s rest. There was a phenomenon of feeling anxious after working with a sleep doctor, realizing I spent most of my adult life without getting rest, had dulled my human sensations. Upon getting some deep sleep and rest, my new, heightened senses were overwhelming, and I was left with a different feeling of anxiety.”
Dean Wareham – ‘That’s the Price of Loving Me’
Dean Wareham has shared the title track off his forthcoming album, the softly ambling ‘That’s The Price of Loving Me’. “‘That’s the Price of Loving Me’ is about our life on the road but also a dream I had about our tour manager and dear friend Kiko, who passed away a couple years ago; he drove us around Europe in his Mercedes Sprinter with red zebra upholstery,” Wareham explained.
Bambara – ‘Letters From Sing Sing’
There’s an urgent intensity driving ‘Letters From Sing Sing’, the latest single from Bambara’s first album in five years, Birthmarks. “This song is a series of letters from the narrator to another character in the album’s story, Elena, whose boyfriend he murdered,” Reid Bateh explained. “He’s telling her about his attempts to persuade the court to reinstate the practice of execution—specifically for him. He believes that if he can persuade them, he will be able to see her one last time, convinced that her intense anger and thirst for vengeance will drive her to attend his execution. We were lucky to finally collaborate with visionary director and fellow Athens, GA expat, Jason Miller. The central character, Elena, is portrayed by Wife Erath in a captivating performance.”
