In this segment, we showcase the most notable albums out each week. Here are the albums out on April 11, 2025:
Bon Iver, SABLE, fABLE
Bon Iver have delivered their most rapturous album to date with SABLE, fABLE, the project’s first album in six years. The record’s ecstatic tone springs right out of the soulful darkness of last year’s SABLE, EP, whose songs are sequenced at the very beginning. It’s expectedly lush in unpredictable ways, foraying into a shimmering blend of pop, soul, and R&B but rarely straying from its commitment to unabashed joy. The singles ‘If Only I Could Wait’, ‘Walk Home’, and ‘Everything Is Peaceful Love’ previewed the LP.
Mamalarky, Hex Key
Mamalarky have returned with a breezy yet dizzying new record called Hex Key, the follow-up to 2022’s Pocket Fantasy. The indie quartet recorded the 14-track LP at their LA home studio. “We would be getting our heart rate up while we figured out the details of the record,” the band’s Livvy Bennett recalled. “I would be like, ‘I think we need to re-record the guitar. And the chorus needs to have some sort of lift happening.’ And then, once we would get up to the top of the mountain, we would see this really beautiful pond. It was somehow always reassuring.”
Ribbon Skirt, Bite Down
Ribbon Skirt, the Montreal art-rock band formerly known as Love Language – led by Anishinaabe musician Tashiina Buswa – have come out with their debut LP, Bite Down, via Mint. Frantic yet dreamy, haunting yet playful, the record was preceded by the tracks ‘Cellophane’ and ‘Wrong Planet’. “To be Anishinaabe is to move through the world in respect and reciprocity, taking what you need and giving back whenever you can, while always acknowledging the gift that is the journey itself,” the band reflected. “It’s a way of life that was interrupted and severely damaged by the ravages of settler colonialism. But in our ongoing recovery from those harms, we as a people have found beautiful ways to restore those gifts, and create something regenerative and enriching for future generations. Bite Down is one of those gifts.”
Joni, Things I Left Behind
Joni’s reflections on Things I Left Behind are hazy yet tenderly beautiful. Having spent most of her twenties writing for other artists, the American-born, London-based artist’s songwriting is a strikingly personal document of the kind of heartbreak that’s tied to relocation, drawing inspiration from the likes of Feist, Sparklehorse, and Daniel Johnston. “During my previous relationship, the process for recording was very unhealthy,” Joni explained. “I believed that my music was only good because of my ex’s production and his extreme way of working. Most of our recording sessions would end in tears; nothing was ever good enough. It took some time to come out of the shadows. I was touring with Luke [Sital-Singh] when I had a breakdown one night and told him how lost I felt. He offered to try and record with me and see how it went – and as soon as I started working with him it felt so effortless.”
Other albums out today:
Ken Carson, More Chaos; Nell Smith, Anxious; Röyksopp, True Electric; Valerie June, Owls, Omens, and Oracles; Dope Lemon, Golden Wolf; Eyedress, Stoner; Real Lies, We Will Annihilate Our Enemies; Bedridden, Moths Strapped To Each Other’s Backs; Maria Usbeck, Naturaleza; Idle Heirs, Life Is Violence; Vegyn, Blue Moon Safari; Various Artists, Chet Baker Re:Imagined; Elvenking, Reader of the Runes – Luna; Magnolia Park, VAMP; Spin Doctors, Face Full of Cake; Larum, The Music of Hildegard von Bingen Part II; The Album Leaf, ROTATIONS.
