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Nov 11, 2022 By Mark Redfern (with Joey Arnone)

Welcome to the 39th Songs of the Week of 2022. We didn’t do a Songs of the Week last week because I was out sick. So once again this week’s list encompasses songs released in the last two weeks (although all but three of the songs are from this week).

In the last week or so we posted interviews with Frankie Cosmos and Eric Appel (the director of Weird: The Al Yankovic Story).

In the last week we reviewed a bunch of albums.

Covers of Covers, our first album, came out at the beginning of March on CD and digitally via American Laundromat. You can stream it here. You can also buy it directly from American Laundromat, via Bandcamp, or on Amazon.

Don’t forget to pick up our double print issue, our 20th Anniversary Issue (which is out now).

To help you sort through the multitude of fresh songs released in the last two weeks, we have picked the 13 best the last fortnight had to offer, along with highlighting other notable new tracks shared in the last 14 days. Check out the full list below.

1. Miss Grit: “Follow the Cyborg”

Last week, Miss Grit (aka Margaret Sohn) announced the release of their debut album, Follow the Cyborg, which will be out on February 24, 2023 via Mute. Sohn also shared a Curry Sicong Tian-directed video for the album’s title track. Check out the album’s tracklist and cover art here.

In a press release, Sohn elaborates on the new video: “I wanted to place my body in the cyber world, allowing the different variations of my ghost to move about freely. I wanted to look a little freakish, unrecognizable to myself to avoid my instinctive filtration.”

Follow the Cyborg was self-produced and features musical contributions from Stella Mozgawa of Warpaint, Aron Kobayashi Ritch of Momma, and Pearla.

In September, Miss Grit shared the album track, “Like You,” which was one of our Songs of the Week.

In 2021, Miss Grit released the EP Imposter. By Joey Arnone

2. Heather Woods Broderick: “Blood Run Through Me”

On Monday, Heather Woods Broderick shared a video for her new single, “Blood Run Through Me.” It is out now via Western Vinyl. The song features vocals from co-producer D. James Goodwin and Lisa Hannigan. Jeremy Johnstone directed the video.

In a press release, Broderick states that the new single is “about human connection and the ways in which we move through our experiences, in relation to one another. Everyone has their own perspective or view through which they experience life, and although we move through life somewhat collectively, we each have our own story to tell.

“The idea for the video was to capture individuals reacting to the song, highlighting people’s individuality with the song being the common denominator. It’s beautiful to learn about people through observation—through their movements large or small, or through making eye contact. It was incredible to see how this song made people want to move, or the emotion it evoked at times—to exchange the story in the song for a glimpse into these individuals’ experience.” By Joey Arnone

3. Fever Ray: “Carbon Dioxide”

Yesterday, Fever Ray (aka Karin Dreijer, formerly one half of the Swedish duo The Knife) announced a new album, Radical Romantics, and shared a new song, “Carbon Dioxide.” Radical Romantics is due out March 10, 2023 via Mute. Check out the album’s tracklist and cover art here.

Radical Romantics’ opening track, “What They Call Us,” was shared in October. Radical Romantics is the follow-up to Plunge, which was released in 2017 via Mute.

Vessel co-produced “Carbon Dioxide.” Fellow former The Knife member Olof Dreijer also did production work on Radical Romantics. Other co-producers and performers on the album include Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (Nine Inch Nails), Portuguese DJ/producer Nídia, Johannes Berglund, and Peder Mannerfelt and Pär Grindvik’s dance project Aasthma. Long-time collaborator Martin Falck worked with Dreijer on the visuals for the album.

According to a press release, on “Carbon Dioxide” Dreijer “wanted to describe the feeling of falling in love. Reference points span Henry Mancini’s ballpark standard ‘Baby Elephant Walk’ (Dreijer finds it to be the ‘happiest melody’) to 1 Corinthians 13:1 to Anne Morrow Lindberg’s 1955 essay collection, Gift from the Sea.”

“I just think that the direction could be nice, happy, full of everything, extra everything,” Dreijer said to Vessel during the song’s creation.

Vessel adds in the press release: “‘Carbon Dioxide,’ a compound which, being defined by its bond with oxygen, seems to me like a neat chemical expression of the essential compassion that the conditions for life on our planet depend. Compassion and joy; happiness guarded from sentimentality by the absurd and the grotesque; the extra-everything of unconstrained Nature.” By Mark Redfern

4. Steve Mason: “No More” (Feat. Javed Bashir)

On Tuesday, Steve Mason, former frontman of The Beta Band, announced a new album, Brothers & Sisters, and shared its first single, “No More,” which features Pakistani singer Javed Bashir. He also announced some 2023 UK tour dates. Brothers & Sisters is due out March 3, 2023 via Double Six, an imprint of Domino. James Hankins directed the “No More” video. Check out the album’s tracklist and cover art, as well as all Mason’s upcoming tour dates, here.

Brothers & Sisters was co-produced with Tev’n and also features British gospel singers Jayando Cole, Keshia Smith, Connie McCall, and Adrian Blake, as well as Kaviraj Singh on the santoor. It is the follow-up to About the Light, which was released in January 2019 via Double Six. That album followed Boys Outside (2010), Monkey Minds in the Devil’s Time (2013), and Meet the Humans (2016).

Mason had this to say about the new album in a press release: “To me, this record is a massive ‘Fuck you’ to Brexit. And a giant ‘Fuck you’ to anyone that is terrified of immigration because there is nothing that immigration has brought to this country that isn’t to be applauded. Can you imagine what this place would be like without that [immigration]? I mean what would it be like? Cornish pasties and morris dancing?”

Of “No More,” Mason had this to say: “This track is about Imperialism and in a subtle way, relative to some of my other work, references Australia, Partition and Africa through a combination of lyrics and music. I like to imagine the spirits of these cultures and people haunting the families who profited and were involved in their destruction down through the generations.” By Mark Redfern

5. Yo La Tengo: “Fallout”

Last week, Yo La Tengo announced the release of a new album, This Stupid World, which will be out on February 10, 2023 via Matador. They also shared a new song from the album, “Fallout.” Check out the album’s tracklist and cover art here.

“I want to fall out of time,” Ira Kaplan sings in “Fallout.” “Reach back, unwind.”

The trio also features Georgia Hubley and James McNew and a press release promises that This Stupid World is the band’s most live sounding album in years.

Yo La Tengo’s previous album, We Have Amnesia Sometimes, was released in 2020.

Read our 2018 interview with the band. By Joey Arnone

6. Margo Price: “Lydia”

Alt-country singer Margo Price is releasing a new album, Strays, on January 13, 2023 via Loma Vista. Yesterday, she shared another song from it, “Lydia,” as well a live performance video featuring a string quartet. Check out both the studio version and the live video below. Check out Price’s upcoming tour dates here.

Price had this to say about the new song in a press release: “I wrote ‘Lydia’ in one sitting in a tiny hotel room after walking around the city of Vancouver one day. I was jet lagged and feeling really depressed, hopeless, but instead of taking a nap, I picked up the guitar and the words just flowed out all in one quick moment. I hit record on my phone to make a demo and sort of blacked out or went into this meditative state, and boom—eight minutes later, I had this song. It’s one of the only songs I’ve ever written that doesn’t have any real melody or even rhyme, but somehow it still works. Songs like that are rare and don’t come often.

“It was inspired by a cacophony of things. There was a women’s health clinic and a methadone clinic with a needle exchange right outside of our venue. I was looking into the eyes of the people I passed and thinking about their stories and really being a conduit for pain.

“The song feels like a premonition now, with women’s rights being stripped and all the abortion bans happening. When I listen back, I hear what might go through a woman’s mind when she has a difficult decision to make about her body, her choices and her future.”

The string quartet in the live video features Chauntee Ross, Nicole Neely, Kristin Weber, and leader Larissa Maestro. The video was shot at Nashville’s Downtown Presbyterian Church by filmmakers Eric Geadelmann and Kelly Magelky.

Strays was produced by Price and Jonathan Wilson. It features guest appearances from Sharon Van Etten and Lucius, along with guitar from Mike Campbell.

In August, Price shared the album track “Been to the Mountain.” When the album was announced she shared its second single, “Change of Heart,” via a video for it.

Price also recently released her debut memoir, Maybe We’ll Make It.

We did a photo shoot with Price and her husband, fellow artist Jeremy Ivey, for our 2021 Protest Issue. By Mark Redfern

7. Ladytron: “Misery Remember Me”

Ladytron are releasing a new album, Time’s Arrow, on January 20 via Cooking Vinyl. Today, they shared its second single, “Misery Remember Me,” and announced some new U.S. tour dates. They have announced three West Coast shows for next May. Check out all the band’s upcoming tour dates here.

A press release says “Misery Remember Me” was “created as an ode to the human spirit against all odds.”

Ladytron’s singer Helen Marnie had this to say about the song: “We can try and try, but we’ll never escape who or what we are. And with that realization, we must embrace the now, but always allow ourselves to dream. ‘Misery Remember Me’ encapsulates this ethos.”

Previously Ladytron shared Time’s Arrow’s first single, “City of Angels.” “City of Angels” is the album’s opening track and was one of our Songs of the Week. Then they shared a cinematic video for “City of Angels.”

Time’s Arrow is the follow-up to 2019’s Ladytron. Since then the band have celebrated the 20th anniversary of their second album, 2002’s Light & Magic, and in 2021 the album’s “Seventeen” went viral again thanks to TikTok. In August we premiered a previously unreleased video for “Light & Magic.”

The Liverpool-formed band features Helen Marnie, Daniel Hunt, Mira Aroyo, and Reuben Wu.

Read our 2019 interview with Ladytron on their self-titled album.

Read our First Issue Revisited interview with Ladytron on their debut album, 604, from our 20th Anniversary Issue. By Mark Redfern

8. Sharon Van Etten: “When I Die”

Today, Sharon Van Etten released a deluxe edition of her most recent album, We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong. It includes the previously unreleased song, “When I Die,” which she also shared a lyric video for. You can also stream the entire deluxe edition here.

The album was originally released back in May via Jagjaguwar (stream it here). The deluxe edition was announced in October, which is when she shared a new song from it, “Never Gonna Change,” which was one of our Songs of the Week. The deluxe edition also includes two previously released singles that didn’t make it on the album: “Porta” and her beloved 2021 duet with Angel Olsen, “Like I Used To.”

Read our review of We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong here.

Van Etten released no advance singles from the album, preferring that fans heard the whole thing in one straight shot. But when the album was released the album’s “Born” and “Mistakes” both made our Songs of the Week list. Then she also shared a video for “Mistakes.”

In a previous press release Van Etten had this to say about preferring listeners hear the whole album at once: “From beginning to end, this album is an emotional journey that documents the rollercoaster of the last two years we have all experienced in our own ways. I hope you will take that ride with me. Thank you for staying by my side.”

Previously Van Etten shared a trailer for the album. The album didn’t feature her 2022 single “Used to It,” and it’s also not on the deluxe edition.

We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong is the follow-up to Remind Me Tomorrow, which came out in 2019 via Jagjaguwar.

Van Etten co-produced We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong with Daniel Knowles and recorded and engineering most of it herself in a new custom built studio in her family’s home in Los Angeles. Van Etten plays guitar, synthesizers, piano, drum machine, wurlitzer, keys, and more on the album, but was also joined by her regular touring band of Jorge Balbi on drums, Devon Hoff on bass, and live musical director Charley Damski on synthesizers and guitars.

“I wanted to approach this release differently, to engage my fans in an intentional way, in an effort to present the album as a whole body of work,” Van Etten said in the previous press release. “These 10 songs are designed to be listened to in order, at once, so that a much larger story of hope, loss, longing and resilience can be told.”

“Porta” was shared in February via a video for it and was one of our Songs of the Week. “Used to It” was originally penned for an HBO documentary, Baby God, about “a fertility specialist who takes it upon himself to impregnate women with his own sperm,” and was also one of our Songs of the Week.

Last year Van Etten and Angel Olsen released the joint song, “Like I Used To,” which was shared via a Kimberly Stuckwisch-directed video. The duet easily landed at #1 on our Songs of the Week list and was also #3 on our Top 130 Songs of 2021 list. Then they performed the song with a full band on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Then they shared an acoustic version of the song and performed the acoustic version on Jimmy Kimmel Live!.

Read our in-depth interview with Sharon Van Etten on Remind Me Tomorrow and check out our exclusive photo shoot with her. By Mark Redfern

9. Hatchie: “Nosedive”

On Wednesday, Hatchie, the shoegaze/dream pop project of Australian musician Harriette Pilbeam, shared a new song, “Nosedive,” via a video for the single. It’s the first new Hatchie song since the April release of her sophomore album, Giving the World Away, on Secretly Canadian. Hatchie is currently on tour with Alex G. Check out Hatchie’s upcoming tour dates here.

Pilbeam had this to say about the new song in a press release: “I wrote ‘Nosedive’ with Joe [Agius] and Jorge [Elbrecht] last year after we hit up an amazing goth megaclub in Denver on a weeknight. We were inspired to recreate the energy we felt there and experiment with a lyric-free chorus. There aren’t any other songs in our live show that are this punchy, so we wanted to write something angry and powerful. It’s about realizing you don’t have control over your life despite your best efforts; I wanted the lyrics to sound like the devil on your shoulder convincing you to self sabotage.”

Stream Giving the World Away here.

Read our interview with Hatchie on Giving the World Away here.

Read our rave review of Giving the World Away here.

Giving the World Away includes “This Enchanted,” a new song Hatchie shared in September 2021 via a video for it. “This Enchanted” was one of our Songs of the Week and one of our Top 130 Songs of 2021. When Giving the World Away was announced Hatchie shared a new song from it, “Quicksand,” via a video for the single. “Quicksand” was #1 on our Songs of the Week list. Then Hatchie shared its third single, title track “Giving the World Away,” via a lyric video for it. “Giving the World Away” also made our Songs of the Week list. The album’s next single, “Lights On,” was also shared via a video and once made our Songs of the Week list. Then she shared a video for “The Rhythm,” which was also one of our Songs of the Week.

Giving the World Away is Hatchie’s second full-length album, the follow-up to her acclaimed debut album, Keepsake, which came out in 2019 via Double Double Whammy.

Jorge Elbrecht (Sky Ferreira, Japanese Breakfast, Wild Nothing) produced the album, which also features long-time Hatchie collaborator and guitarist Joe Agius (who also releases music as RINSE) and Beach House drummer James Barone.

Hatchie is featured on Under the Radar’s 20th anniversary compilation album, Covers of Covers, where she covers HAIM’s “FUBT.”

Read our rave 8.5/10 review of Keepsake here.

Read our 2018 interview with Hatchie on her EP Sugar & Spice.

Read our My Favorite Album interview with Hatchie on Carole King’s Tapestry. By Mark Redfern

10. Patrick Wolf: “Enter the Day”

Today, Patrick Wolf shared his first new song in a decade, “Enter the Day.” It is the first single from an upcoming EP, The Night Safari, which is due out sometime next year.

The British musician was a regular staple of Under the Radar’s coverage in the 2000s and early 2010s, but then he just stopped releasing music. Wolf’s last album was 2012’s double album Sundark and Riverlight, although he returned to touring in 2018.

Today’s release date for “Enter the Day” is no accident, November 11 marks the 20th anniversary of the release of Wolf’s debut EP (simply titled The Patrick Wolf EP), released on November 11, 2002.

Wolf had this to say about “Enter the Day” in a press statement: “A charcoal drawing of a sparrow hawk was the last work my mother was making before she died and when I took my first walk to explore the land around my new home back when I moved to live by the sea, a sparrow hawk was soaring over me in silence at the mouth of the bay, that afternoon I went home to my upright piano and began writing this song, which ended up becoming an epilogue to the narrative of The Night Safari EP. As producer I crafted this song as a bridge out of the plaintive production of Sundark and Riverlight to where the new EP will safari the listener to.” By Mark Redfern

11. Alex Lahey: “Shit Talkin’”

Yesterday, Australian singer/songwriter Alex Lahey shared a new song, “Shit Talkin’,” via a lyric video. “Maybe they’re just racking up/All the ways that I fucked up,” Lahey sings. “I bet you when they’re on their own/They’re shit talkin’ all the way home.” The single is out now via Liberation.

Back in August Lahey shared the new song, “Congratulations,” via a video where she married herself. “Congratulations” was one of our Songs of the Week.

Last year, Lahey shared the song “On My Way” from the animated Netflix film The Mitchells vs. the Machines, and it nabbed a spot on our Songs of the Week list. That was followed by another new song, “Spike the Punch,” shared in October and also one of our Songs of the Week. Lahey was also one of the artists on our 20th anniversary Covers of Covers album, where she covered St. Vincent’s “New York.” By Mark Redfern

12. Fleet Foxes: “A Sky Like I’ve Never Seen” (Feat. Tim Bernardes)

On Wednesday, Fleet Foxes shared a new song, “A Sky Like I’ve Never Seen,” which features Tim Bernardes. It is taken from the forthcoming Amazon documentary, Wildcat, which comes out in theaters December 21 before hitting Prime Video on December 30. Watch the film’s trailer here.

Fleet Foxes’ frontman Robin Pecknold had this to say about the song in a press release: “I was inspired by how the film employed unconventional means to arrive at something universally moving, and was struck by all the collisions inherent in the film’s conceit—between species, between hemispheres, between individuals, between the psychological and the natural. In hotel rooms and in borrowed studios, on time stolen from a world tour, I put this song together. It was an honor to be asked to make a song that could serve as an end-cap to this unique and affecting story and to collaborate with Tim again.”

The press release describes Wildcat in more detail: “Wildcat follows the emotional and inspiring story of a young veteran (Harry Turner) on a journey into the Amazon. There, he meets a young woman (Samantha Zwicker) running a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center, and his life finds new meaning as he is entrusted with the care of an orphaned baby ocelot. For Harry, a trip meant to be an escape from the responsibilities of modern life turns out to be an unexpected adventure of love, discovery, and healing. Wildcat was directed by Melissa Lesh and Trevor Beck Frost and produced by Melissa Lesh, Trevor Beck Frost, Alysa Nahmias and Joshua Altman.”

Fleet Foxes’ most recent album, Shore, came out in 2020 via ANTI- and made it to #8 on our Top 100 Albums of 2020. On November 15, Pecknold is releasing Wading in Waist-High Water: The Lyrics of Fleet Foxes, a new book that collects all his lyrics for the band, with behind-the-scenes notes on each song by Pecknold. By Mark Redfern

13. David Brewis: “The Last Day”

Last week, David Brewis of English rock band Field Music announced the release of a new solo album, The Soft Struggles, which will be out on February 24, 2023 via Daylight Spring. Brewis also shared a new song from the album, the horn-backed “The Last Day.”

Last year, Field Music released an EP, Another Shot E.P. Their previous album, Flat White Moon, also came out last year via Memphis Industries (stream it here).

Read our recent My Firsts interview with Peter Brewis here.

Read our 2019 interview with Field Music. By Joey Arnone

Honorable Mentions:

These songs almost made the Top 13.

Kate Davis: “Consequences”

Dumb: “Civic Duty”

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds: “Pretty Boy”

Phoenix: “After Midnight”

Slug: “Cut of Your Jib”

Yves Tumor: “God is a Circle”

Work Wife: “Too Young To Understand”

Here’s a handy Spotify playlist featuring the Top 16 in order, followed by all the honorable mentions:

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