11 Best Songs of the Week: These New Puritans, Adult Mom, Hannah Cohen, The WAEVE, and More

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11 Best Songs of the Week: These New Puritans, Adult Mom, Hannah Cohen, The WAEVE, and More

Plus HAIM, Matt Berninger, Cross Record, and a Wrap-up of the Week’s Other Notable New Tracks

Mar 14, 2025 By Mark Redfern (with Issa Nasatir)

Welcome to the eighth Songs of the Week of 2025. This week Andy Von Pip, Caleb Campbell, Mark Moody, and Stephen Humphries helped me decide what should make the list. We considered over 30 songs and narrowed it down to a Top 11.

Recently we announced Issue 74, The Protest Issue. It features Kathleen Hannah and Bartees Strange on the two covers and can be bought from us directly here.

In recent weeks we posted interviews with Bob Mould, Luvcat, Fust, Andy Bell, Patrick Jones, Steven Wilson, Marinero, Heartworms, and more.

In the last week we reviewed some albums.

We’re also hoping to get 600 new (or renewed) subscribers on board in the next three months and so we’re offering 30% off subscriptions right now.

To help you sort through the multitude of fresh songs released in the last week, we have picked the 11 best the last seven days had to offer, followed by some honorable mentions. Check out the full list below.

1. These New Puritans: “Industrial Love Song” (Feat. Caroline Polachek)

This week, British brother duo These New Puritans announced a new album, Crooked Wing, and shared its first two singles, “Industrial Love Song” (which features Caroline Polachek) and “Bells.” Crooked Wing is due out May 23 via Domino. We liked both tracks, but “Industrial Love Song” was our favorite and “Bells” makes honorable mentions.

These New Puritans are led by brothers Jack and George Barnett. Jack produced the album with Bark Psychosis’ Graham Sutton and George executive produced Crooked Wing. Sutton produced the band’s Hidden (2010) and Field of Reeds (2013). In 2019 These New Puritans released Inside the Rose, which was followed by the 2020 companion album, The Cut [2016-2019].

“This album is both more surreal and somehow more direct than anything we’ve ever done,” says George in a press release. “A crooked wing is an ear, you have one on each side of your body, and they have a rippled shape. Maybe if you’re lucky they can help you fly,” he adds, regarding the album title.

Of “Industrial Love Song,” Jacks says: “‘Industrial Love Song’ is a duet between two cranes on a building site. Caroline sings the part of one crane, I sing the other; they can’t touch (their movements are controlled by the operator), but when the sun rises they hope that their shadows will cross. I like how the title George came up with misdirects expectations - it’s not that kind of industrial.”

Jack adds: “As we exit the mechanical age, you realize how much we have in common with our machines, how human they are. Suddenly it didn’t feel so absurd to write a love song from their perspective.”

George says of the song: “It’s hard to attach a time period to this song. It’s progressive music made with instruments that have been around for hundreds of years.”

Artist/photographer Harley Weir directed the video for “Industrial Love Song.”

As for the other new single, “Bells,” Jack says: “This song started with a field recording we made of a bell in a small Orthodox Greek church. You can hear it in the song, and the rest of the song grew out of it. That one bell strike set a lot of the album in motion.”

In 2023, Caroline Polachek released her acclaimed album, Desire, I Want to Turn Into You. By Mark Redfern

2. Adult Mom: “Crystal”

This week, four-piece indie rock band Adult Mom announced their first album in four years, Natural Causes. The announcement was supported by a new single, “Crystal,” the second behind “Door Is Your Hand,” released last month. Natural Causes is due out May 9 on Epitaph.

Natural Causes was written between 2020 and 2023. The press release says that Adult Mom channeled the global turmoil that accompanied those years into “rage that burns so bright you can light your way by it.”

“Crystal” begins folk-influenced and jangly, crescendoing into its climax introducing loud drums and distorted guitar. Lyrically, it laments feeling stuck in an uncommunicative relationship, fantasizing about any way to get out.

Lead vocalist and songwriter Stevie Knipe, who identifies as queer and non-binary, had this to say about the song in the press release: “‘Crystal’ is written from the perspective of feeling trapped while still being seen in a distorted way. It’s about knowing yourself but not being ready to face it. Thematically, I got more comfortable with getting darker. I knew there were things I wanted to explore that I didn’t get to on Driver, like the traumatic side of trying to unravel all this learned straightness. There were things happening interpersonally where I was like, ‘OK, now I need to really tackle the tough parts of this process.’”

The album follows 2021’s Driver and was recorded at Artfarm Recording studio in New York’s Hudson Valley. Compared to Knipe’s usual process, they describe the undertaking of Natural Causes as a “very communist practice of making a record. It was the whole band and our engineer Chance [Milestone], and we were all making choices as a unit. Every guitar tone, every sound that you hear was all decided together. We’re all the collective producer. I’ve never made a record like that before.” By Issa Nasatir

3. Hannah Cohen: “Dusty”

Upstate New York-based singer/songwriter Hannah Cohen is releasing a new album, Earthstar Mountain, on March 28 via Bella Union / Congrats Records. This week she shared its third single, “Dusty.”

Cohen had this to say about the song in a press release: “‘Dusty’ is about the relentless passage of time that we will all experience, and the way beauty and sorrow intertwine at every turn.”

Fellow singer/songwriter Sam Evian (aka Sam Owens, also Cohen’s romantic partner) produced Earthstar Mountain, recording it at their Flying Cloud Recordings in the Catskills, New York. The album features Sufjan Stevens, Clairo, Liam Kazar, Oliver Hill, and Sean Mullins.

Previously Cohen released the album’s near title track, “Earthstar.” Then she shared its second single, “Draggin’,” and announced some new shows. “Draggin’” was one of our Songs of the Week. By Mark Redfern

4. The WAEVE: “Eternal”

The WAEVE—aka Rose Elinor Dougall and Blur guitarist Graham Coxon—released a new EP, Eternal EP, today via Transgressive. Stream the whole thing here. It includes the previously unreleased songs “Eternal” and “It’s The Hope That Kills You.” “Eternal” was our favorite and makes the main list, with “It’s The Hope That Kills You” being an honorable mention.

The WAEVE previously shared the EP’s first single, “Love Is All Pain,” via a music video. It was #1 on our Songs of the Week.

Eternal EP follows City Lights, a new album the band released last year via Transgressive (stream it here). It was one of our Top 100 Albums of 2024. In January The WAEVE also released City Lights Sessions, a live album recorded live in the studio.

The band shared the album’s title track, “City Lights,” in May. It was one of our Songs of the Week. When the album was announced in June, they shared its second single, “You Saw,” via a music video. It was also one of our Songs of the Week. Then they shared its third single, “Broken Boys,” along with a live performance video for the song. “Broken Boys” was #1 on our Songs of the Week list. When City Lights was released, both “Druantia” and “Song For Eliza May” made our Songs of the Week list, with “Druantia” at #1.

City Lights is the band’s sophomore album and follows the duo’s self-titled debut album, which was one of our Top 100 Albums of 2023.

As with their debut album, James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Florence & The Machine, Foals, HAIM) produced City Lights. As with their last album, the album features Coxon on saxophone, among other instruments.

Coxon and Dougall first met backstage at a charity concert in London in 2020 and soon the idea was hatched for them to collaborate.

“I didn’t know when I was going to work again or try writing again until Rose came out and said, ‘How about we try writing together?’” said Coxon in a press release announcing City Lights.

“When I listen to the first album, I can hear me and Graham getting to know each other through making the record,” said Dougall.

They not only hit off musically, but romantically, falling in love and having a baby daughter together, Eliza, who was born in August 2022.

The WAEVE were interviewed in Issue 71 of our print magazine (get it here).

Dougall was also one of the artists on the cover of our special 20th Anniversary print issue, where you can read an exclusive interview with her. By Mark Redfern

5. HAIM: “Relationships”

HAIM returned earlier this week with a brand new song, “Relationships,” shared via a music video. It is the first single from an upcoming new album on Columbia Records. Details of the album, such as its title or release date, have yet to be released.

The sister trio is Danielle, Este, and Alanna Haim. Danielle produced the song with longtime collaborator Rostam Batmanglij. Camille Summers-Valli directed the “Relationships” video, which costars actor Drew Starkey. In the song Danielle sings about being stuck in a relationship. A press release says the song’s pop sound is an outlier in a more rock-focussed fourth HAIM album.

HAIM’s last album was 2020’s acclaimed Women in Music Pt. III. It earned them two Grammy nominations and was also #3 on our Top 100 Albums of 2020 list. HAIM were on one of the two covers of our 2021 Protest Issue. In 2021, Alana Haim also starred in Paul Thomas Anderson’s film Licorice Pizza. By Mark Redfern

6. Matt Berninger: “Bonnet of Pins”

This week, Matt Berninger of The National announced a new solo album, Get Sunk, and released its first single, “Bonnet of Pins.” He also announced some new tour dates. Get Sunk is due out May 30 via Book, Berninger’s imprint with Concord.

Get Sunk is Berninger’s second solo album and follows 2020’s Serpentine Prison. For the new album, Berninger partnered with Grammy Award-winning producer and engineer Sean O’Brien, who co-wrote many of the album’s songs. Get Sunk was recorded in a basement studio in Silverlake, CA. The album features a slew of special guests, including Meg Duffy (Hand Habits), Julia Laws (Ronboy), Kyle Resnick (The National, Beirut), Garret Lang, Sterling Laws, Booker T Jones, Harrison Whitford, Mike Brewer, and The Walkmen’s Walter Martin and Paul Maroon.

A press release says Get Sunk is “not necessarily an autobiographical album, the narrator is processing how he became himself. Berninger is an expert in what it feels like to lose all bravery, and Get Sunk points to an undulating reflection in the water. It’s about realizing that you are not yourself without a thousand others: parents, friends, siblings, spouses and exes, college roommates, childhood best friends, cousins, kids, and even strangers.”

The album was partially inspired by the singer/songwriter’s move to Connecticut after years living in Los Angeles. Once there he enjoyed the flora and fauna of the state and “rearranged dust-covered items in his barn into strange and surreal works of art. It felt good to be creating and to understand why he loves what he does,” as the press release points out.

Berninger adds: “I was able to get the blurry picture as close to just right for me.”

In 2023 The National released two albums, First Two Pages of Frankenstein and Laugh Track. By Mark Redfern