In this series, we showcase the most notable albums out each week. Here are the albums out on November 21th, 2019:
Coldplay, Everyday Life: Coldplay are back with a double album titled Everyday Life following 2015’s uplifting but underwhelming A Head Full of Dreams and its 2017 companion EP, Kaleidoscope. The first half is called Sunrise, while the second Sunset. The album was first announced in a letter to a fan signed by all for members, which the fan initially thought was fake. “For the last 100 years or thereabouts, we have been working on a thing called Everyday Life,” it wrote, adding that the record is simply “how we feel about things.” An unnamed “insider” also told the Daily Star the album would showcase their “experimental side”.
Leonard Cohen, Thanks for the Dance: This is a posthumous release from the late Leonard Cohen, consisting of “sketches” left over from the sessions for his final studio album You Want it Darker. They were finished by Cohen’s son, Adam, who stated: “Had we had more time and had [Leonard] been more robust, we would have gotten to them. [We had] conversations about what instrumentation and what feelings he wanted the completed work to evoke — sadly, the fact that I would be completing them without him was given.” The album also features appearances from Beck, Jennifer Warnes, Damien Rice, and Leslie Feist.
Beck, Hyperspace: Aside from contributing to Thanks for the Dance, Beck also has his own solo release out today. His first since 2017’s Colours, Hyperspace features co-writing and co-production from Pharell Williams, which indicates another pivot in style for the versatile musician. It also includes contributions from Sky Ferreira, Chris Martin, Terrell Hines, and Paul Epworth, which makes it the most collaborative effort in his 30-year-long career. “The meditation of the record is finding peace in the moment. I was thinking about music as a kind of escape,” he explained in a statement.
Billy Corgan, Cotillions: The Smashing Pumpkins frontman has returned with his latest solo album, the follow-up to 2017’s Ogilala (officially under his full name, William Patrick Corgan). The album also follows The Smashing Pumpkins’ 2018 comeback with SHINY AND OH SO BRIGHT, VOL. 1 / LP: NO PAST. NO FUTURE. NO SUN. “There is a reason I trust you, the people who support me day in and day out, to decide whether or not my efforts are worthy,” Corgan wrote in an Instagram post. “We live in a different world now, where an artist can speak directly to you without the filter of mass media shaping your heart and opinions before you’ve even had a chance to decide whether this music speaks to you. And this is absolutely an album from my heart.”
Other albums out today: Pluralone, To Be One With You; Hannah Diamond, Reflections; Omar Souleyman, Shlon.
Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, I Made A Place: After a series of cover albums, singer-songwriter Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy aka Will Oldham is back with the first album of original material since 2011’s Wolfroy Goes to Town. “What else is a person to do except what he knows and feels, which for me is making records built out of songs intended for the intimate listening experiences of wonderful strangers who share something spiritually and musically?” Oldham said in a statement. “I started working on these songs thinking that there was no way I was going to finish them and record and release them. This was a constructive frame-of-mind that protected the songs until this frightening moment when we let go of them and give them to you.”
Celine Dion, Courage: This is the 12th studio album from the Canadian singer and her first English-language album in six years following 2013’s Loved Me Back to Life. After the release of that album, Dion postponed her showbusiness duties due to her husband and former manager René Angélil’s worsening health. René Angélil passed away in April of 2016. Later that year, she released ‘Recovering’, a song written by Pink to honour her husband’s death. “I think I went through a lot. And life had given me the tools… to find my inner strength, to find courage, and to keep going,” Dion said, explaining the title of the album. Courage also includes the singles ‘Lying Down’, which features David Guetta and Sia, and ‘Imperfections’.
Lady Antebellum, Ocean: Country trio Lady Antebellum have released their ninth studio album, Ocean, out now via Big Machine Label Group. It was produced by Dann Huff, who helped the band return to their roots, so much so that it “felt like we were making our first album all over again.” Hillary Scott explained in a statement: “Ocean stands for all of the things that we think and feel when we hear the word. It’s parallel with those feelings, much like the songs about barely keeping your head above water and others that make you feel like everything is smooth sailing.”
Tindersticks, No Treasure But Hope: Their first album in three years, Tindersticks have put out their 12th studio album, No Treasure But Hope, via City Slang. “I felt we needed to be able to make something meaningful,” frontman Stuart Staples said in a statement. “The last two albums were gradually built to a point of being finished in our studio from moments of playing and recording together. When we figured out how to present the songs live, different things happened to them. This time, we wanted to reverse that – to do something that was about being committed to a song together in a moment.”
