Lately July 27
Recap of July 20-24
Hello!
Thanks so much for reading Lately. I’m working away each week combing the internet to find new music releases that speak to me, as well as sharing the music that I’ve been into lately.
New Releases
Lizzy McAlpine - The light in the painting
Didn’t think we’d be getting a new Lizzy McAlpine album this year, even though Older came out 2 years ago it feels like it was just yesterday, especially since the (and wiser) extended version came out November 2025. But she’s announced Angel coming out September 18th, which is a true treat. I liked a lot of the tracks on Older, I thought it was a really strong project that dipped in the middle a bit but was still very memorable. Her voice is so incredibly strong, and her songwriting has only gotten better. This lead single is truly beautiful, I think it works perfectly as an opening track as well. I love how sparse it is, building slowly and peacefully until this cathartic and emotional drop happens in the last minute that gives the song so much weight. It actually is quite similar to Older’s opener “The Elevator” in that sense, but this is a more refined and impactful version.
Tiny Habits - Belt Loop
The third recent single from Tiny Habits is another heater, they’ve really got a handle on their sound now and are gearing up for a great album. This one has some funk-jazz influence and almost sounds like it has some Hiatus Kaiyote to it as well. I love the piano tone here, the vocal harmonies are super lush, and it’s just really effortless.
Quadeca - Hell of a time
Apparently Quadeca has a new album coming out, Life 1, but I had to literally google “new Quadeca album 2026” to figure that out. Obviously he’s been up to something as this is his third single in the past few months, with this one probably being the weakest. It’s too bad because on paper I love the idea of an electronic Quadeca track with double time drums and a big euphoric ending, but I feel it takes too long to sort itself out? The first half of the track feels a bit lazy to be honest, but I still think there’s some good work here and I’m excited for the new album!
Sister Ray - Planet News
A friend of mine recently sent me Sister Ray, no idea where he found her but she makes very beautiful modern folk music. This new single is lovely; I’m always a sucker for strings, and her voice kind of has a Waxahatchee-meets-Adrianne Lenker type of tone to it. It doesn’t seem that she’s releasing a new album soon but I sure hope she’s got more singles on the way.
Fenne Lily - Thank You Sorry
This new single actually came out last week but I totally missed it - I’m very excited for Fenne Lily’s fourth album Win Win that unfortunately isn’t out until October. Too long of an album rollout! Still, this is another great track, this is the first project I’ve been aware of Lily for and I absolutely love the timbre of her voice. It’s deep and rich yet sort of floating and hard to pin down, the production is full and I love the guitar riffs that have a bit of Radiohead to them.
Alex Cameron - Late to Set
I feel completely 50/50 on Alex Cameron’s new album; there are some good tracks, there are some bad tracks, and most of it just sits right in the middle of boring. Which is such a shame, Cameron’s Forced Witness and Miami Memory are two sharp, funny, and memorable albums, and this work just doesn’t have the same wit and charm to them. I would imagine much of the lost oomph here is the fact he’s no longer working with saxophonist Roy Molloy, who was his right hand man and a genuinely important addition to his work. I can’t really find an answer on why they aren’t working together anymore, I don’t think they’re famous enough for anyone to write about it. There just isn’t much here in terms of melody, lyrical content, or just general effort in this one; half the time it doesn’t even sound like Cameron wants to be on these tracks.
Charli xcx - Music, Fashion, Film
I almost didn’t want to write about Charli xcx’s new album because I like her a lot and I don’t want to be a hater, but it’s also the only major album release this week (aside from The Strokes album that honestly I’m not even bothering with). I just don’t know what she was going for with this album, where her head was at musically or lyrically or anything. The production is so rough around the edges, the lyrics are so stream-of-consciousness, and it feels like she’s this other, less competent and emotionally aware version of herself here. Maybe that’s harsh but it just comes from disappointment because I want her to succeed and make great music and she’s done that consistently up to that point, but there’s not one track I’d come back to here.
What I’m Listening To
Sometimes you have to remind yourself of what a legend Stevie Nicks is and listen to “Landslide” a bunch of times in a row. Imagine writing such a perfect song that everyone wants to cover it all the time? And that’s before even mentioning “Silver Springs”?? I don’t feel I have all the tools to really accurately write about how good of a songwriter she is. Aside from “Everywhere” she wrote all of Fleetwood Mac’s best songs, with the one bone I can throw Lindsey Buckingham being "Never Going Back Again." This week in particular though it’s been all “Landslide” all the time, I love it so much. I was listening Ólafur Arnalds on The Art of Longevity a few days ago and he said something rather encouraging about the future of music in the age of AI:
“Making music easily is not a new thing - pop music has been using ready made loop packs for a while now. It’s not new that you can make music by just ‘picking’ the music and not really having to create it. But, it’s not any easier now than it ever was before to write ‘Both Sides Now’ by Joni Mitchell.”
Granted, he admitted that this was an extrapolation of a quote he saw on Instagram of all places, however I still think it holds a lot of merit. And it made me think of Landslide, that’s the kind of song I think about that needs pure artistry and humanity.
I’ve also been listening a lot to this piano track “Living Room” by German artist La Louve, I found it a couple years ago and I go back to it all the time. It’s got such a beautiful and comforting motif to it, it’s an incredibly warm piece that feels very circular, if that makes sense? It’s really strong compositionally where it’s anchored in it’s main chord progression, and it takes lots of different paths throughout the piece but its emotional core never feels far away. I think it’s a brilliant composition.