New Music Friday: The best albums out Feb. 27

Summary

NPR Music – New Music Friday: The Best Albums Out Feb. 27

Air Date: February 27, 2026
Host: Robin Hilton (in for Stephen Thompson)
Guest: Raina Duras (Host, World Cafe on WXPN)
Episode Theme: A survey and spirited discussion of the most notable new albums released on Feb. 27, 2026, featuring a wide range of genres and artists, with thoughtful commentary and personal insights from NPR Music’s team.

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Main Theme & Overview

The episode dives into a jam-packed New Music Friday, exploring anticipated album drops from a diverse array of artists—Bruno Mars, Mitski, Gorillaz, Heavenly, Voxtrot, Nothing, and more. Hosts Robin Hilton and Raina Duras reflect on the cultural weight of the day’s releases while exploring themes of nostalgia, personal transformation, loss, and the passage of time, drawing both from the albums themselves and their own lived experiences.

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Key Albums & Discussion Points

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1. Bruno Mars — The Romantic

• [02:04] Main Single: "I Just Might"
• Context: First solo album in a decade; last project was with Silk Sonic (2021), prior solo in 2016.
• Discussion:
  • Album extremely tight-lipped pre-release; only single available.
  • Debuted #1 on Billboard Hot 100 and in multiple countries (Costa Rica, Kazakhstan, Belgium, Peru).
  • Maintains his signature "boppy, groovy, retro" sound.
  • Quote [02:40], Raina Duras: "It's boppy, it is groovy, it is retro... music for walking down the street on a sunny day when you're in a really good mood."
  • Quote [03:25], Robin Hilton: "Also, instant party. I mean, it is all the feeling with Bruno Mars. I love Bruno Mars just because I always feel better whenever I put any of his stuff on."
  • Performance at the Grammys noted as less dance-heavy than expected but still highly charismatic.
• Memorable Moment: Dreaming of a Tiny Desk Concert by Bruno Mars ([04:02]).

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2. Mitski — Nothing’s About To Happen To Me

• [04:21] First Single: "Where’s My Phone?"
• Themes: Isolation, interior vs. exterior life, women's roles, and control over narrative.
• Discussion:
  • Album fuses orchestral sound (carried from previous record) with grittier garage rock.
  • Influenced by Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle and The Haunting of Hill House ([07:12]).
  • Explores tension between public expectations and private identity, especially as a woman and a famous artist.
  • Quote [07:53], Robin Hilton: “It feels like a lot of the album has to do with isolation—not necessarily loneliness, but being alone, if that makes sense.”
• Standout Tracks ([08:12]–[09:24]):
  • "The White Cat" — trippy, PJ Harvey-meets-surf-rock inspired by Jackson.
  • "Dead Women" — addresses how society tries to control women’s stories, especially posthumously.
  • Lyric Sample [09:24]: “She gave her life so we could have her in our dreams.”
• Insight: Raina recently interviewed Mitski, offering deeper perspective into her intent ([05:12]).

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3. Gorillaz — The Mountain

• [10:50] First Single: "The Manifest"
• Origin: Shaped by personal loss (deaths of close family for Jamie Hewlett & Damon Albarn) and a transformative trip to India.
• Thematic Arc: Uses the mountain as a metaphor for life, death, and spiritual journey.
• Sound: Global influences, Indian music fusion; compared to "the Gorillaz White Album."
• Quote [12:25], Robin Hilton: "There's all this loss, all of this searching...but I wouldn't call it a super moody album. It's more like Wonder Gorillaz."
• Quote [12:36], Raina Duras: “It kind of feels life affirming more than morbid.”
• Features: Large roster includes Anoushka Shankar, Black Thought, Johnny Marr, Sparks, and posthumous features from Bobby Womack, Tony Allen, Proof.
• Highlight [13:35], Raina Duras: “They really let their guests be their guests, you know?”

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4. Heavenly — Highway to Heavenly

• [16:55] Featured Song: “Portland Town”
• Background: British twee pop pioneers, first album in 30 years; last release was 1996.
• Discussion:
  • Initially thought to be a new band by both hosts—revealed as genre originators.
  • Quote [17:46], Raina Duras: “I was like, wow, these guys are really doing a great job of sounding like an 80s or 90s twee pop band from the UK, right? And what do you know, they basically invented it.”
  • Band reuniting carries heavier context—death of a member led to original retirement of the name.
  • Themes of gender identity, toxic masculinity, nostalgia, and reflection on aging.
  • Scene Stealing: Tackles sexual assault and accountability ([20:21]).
  • Excuse Me: Bittersweet meditation on lost youth; "We never realized that what we had would be the best we got" ([21:45]).
• Vibe: Glittering, light, but often bittersweet lyrically.

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5. Voxtrot — Dreamers in Exile

• [22:37] Title Track: "Dreamers in Exile"
• Background: Austin indie band, first album in 20 years; prior output mostly EPs/compilations.
• Tone: 80s-inspired indie rock, reflective of college/alternative radio but with grown-up wisdom.
• Quote [24:14], Robin Hilton: “This sounds like an album that's been encased in amber...it's not like the sound of the early 2000s...It's very 80s indie rock.”
  • Thematic focus on aging, life’s regrets and joys—impossible to have written with the same resonance in their early 20s ([24:57], [26:22]).
  • Fighting Back: Story of struggle post-breakup, working as a courier, drive to return.
  • New World Romance: Lines like, “It's a beautiful world, can I please stay in it?...There are wild roses still blooming in me” ([27:44]).
• Personal Story [23:46], Raina Duras: “When Voxtrot was first kind of out, I used to play their song... so often and so loud in my room that my sister now hates it.”

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6. Nothing — A Short History of Decay

• [30:26] Title Track: “A Short History of Decay”
• Background: Philly-based shoegaze band, six years since their last album; deep wrestle with trauma and illness.
• Frontman’s Struggles: Nikki Palermo faces essential tremors and wrote about the physical and emotional “decay” of aging ([31:17], [32:17]).
• Quote [33:45], Robin Hilton: “We get, like, glimpses of the softer side of the band... it opens up, it gets really big and more and more heartbreaking.”
• Themes: Vulnerability, overcoming addiction, growing older, and confronting personal demons.
• Track Highlight—"Never Come Never Morning": Sweet opening masking pain of childhood abuse.
• Quote [34:04], Raina Duras: “He's writing about things on this album that he's never really talked about before, things he was scared to write about.”

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Lightning Round: Other Notable Releases

[35:18] Buck Meek — The Mirror

• Intimate, delicate, recorded in a log cabin (vocals on the porch!).
• Quote [35:18], Raina Duras: “Tender, sensitive guy somewhere quiet singing to you... lovely, thoughtful, introspective lyricism.”

[36:16] Maria BC — Marathon

• Picked by Hazel Sills: “A beautiful, dark album about surviving in our world today.”
• Texturally rich: “Some songs sound like intense drone tracks, others like folk.”

[37:18] Bill Callahan — My Days of 58

• Noted by Ann Powers for its humor and humanity: “A beautiful and funny and deeply human reflection on this time in his life… such a people record.”
• Quote [38:22], Ann Powers: “It's beautiful how we grow in life, isn't it?”

[38:53] Gina — The Pleasure is Yours

• Picked by Sheldon Pierce: Texas avant-garde meets Detroit drums; modern hip hop soul with both futuristic and throwback vibes.
• “Seems to exist on a continuous them of their respective reference points, which are Dilla, the Roots, Erykah Badu, Georgia M. Muldrow... just light and fun and it's one of my favorites of the year.”

[40:10] Sarah Kirkland Snyder — Forward Into Light

• Picked by Tom Huizenga: Orchestral piece inspired by the women’s suffragette movement’s emotional contours.
• “She’s not trying to tell their story so much as... to distill the emotional psychological contours of faith, doubt and what it means to persevere.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Robin Hilton [03:25]: “I love Bruno Mars just because I always feel better whenever I put any of his stuff on.”
• Raina Duras [05:12] on Mitski: “She had this orchestra in there and it comes back for this record.”
• Robin Hilton [07:53] on Mitski: “It feels like a lot of the album has to do with isolation...but being alone, if that makes sense.”
• Raina Duras [12:36] on Gorillaz: “It kind of feels life affirming more than morbid...”
• Robin Hilton [18:00] on Heavenly: “Patience zero. They started like nearly 40 years ago... a very Athens, Georgia band to me, like circa 1993.”
• Raina Duras [24:57] on Voxtrot: “He sings about...after the band broke up, he worked as a courier during Grammy and Oscar season, delivering couture from boutiques to mansions and hotel rooms...”
• Robin Hilton [33:45] on Nothing: “It gets really big and more and more heartbreaking. And he sings about getting older and how much harder life has gotten.”
• Ann Powers [37:18] on Bill Callahan: “Now he has become one of my very favorite artists and this album... He is 58 years old, and it is such a beautiful and funny and deeply human reflection on this time in his life.”

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Structure & Flow

• [00:22–04:04] Bruno Mars – The Romantic
• [04:04–09:54] Mitski – Nothing’s About To Happen To Me
• [09:54–14:21] Gorillaz – The Mountain
• [16:42–22:08] Heavenly – Highway to Heavenly
• [22:08–28:21] Voxtrot – Dreamers in Exile
• [29:20–35:00] Nothing – A Short History of Decay
• [35:00–41:36] Lightning Round & Staff Picks (Buck Meek, Maria BC, Bill Callahan, Gina, Sarah Kirkland Snyder)

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Final Thoughts

This episode of New Music Friday is a celebration of energetic returns, personal reckoning, and artistic evolution. The hosts not only review records but skillfully weave in themes of growth, societal change, and personal struggle, making the conversation feel rich, timely, and empathetic. Whether listeners are seeking noise-drenched catharsis, pop uplift, or meditative contemplation, February 27th offers a release to suit—and, as always, NPR’s team curates with insight and passion.

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Transcript

[Announcer]

This message comes from Capella University. That spark you feel, that's your drive for more. Capella University's flexpath learning format lets you earn your degree at your pace without putting life on pause. Learn more at capella.edu 1, 2, 3.

[Robin Hilton]

Happy Friday, everyone. From NPR Music, I'm Robin Hilton sitting in for Steve Stephen Thompson, who is away this week. It is New Music Friday, and here to talk about the best new albums out on February 27th is host of World Cafe on WXPN, Rayna Duras.

[Raina Duras]

Hello, Robin. It's great to be here. Please excuse my sort of scratchy voice. I have the same cold everybody else seems to have right now, and I'm just getting over it. So I'm happy to be here.

[Robin Hilton]

We can do this. We're gonna get through it together. This is a bonkers release day. Absolutely stacked. Mitsky, gorillas, Buck Meek, Bill Callahan. Incredible release week. I kind of. Do you ever wonder, like, what's going on?

[Raina Duras]

Like, are they planning this?

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah, like, talk to each other, spread it out.

[Raina Duras]

You know, I also, I feel like this time of year it's a great time to release an album because like, nothing else is really happening. People aren't distracted.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah. We've got all the time in the world. We're gonna get to as much as we can on this episode of New Music Friday. But I want to start with one of the most anticipated releases out today that we weren't actually able to hear in its entirety. It is the long awaited new album from Bruno Mars called the Romantic. And the one single that they've shared ahead of it is called I just might.

[Music Snippet / Song Lyrics]

I just might look at my baby. I just might look at my baby. Hey.

[Robin Hilton]

Well, Raina, this is one album that they really kept under wraps. And I mean, you and I have got some pull, but no, I think

[Raina Duras]

I asked if you guys had an advanced stream and the response I got was definitely not.

[Robin Hilton]

Definitely not. But let's talk about what we do know. His first solo album in a decade. He did have that project with Silk, Sonic, with Anderson paak back in 2021. But his first album since he put out 24k mad in 2016 and people are ready for it. This song that we're listening to, it debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. He performed it at the Grammys. Big tour planned this year.

[Raina Duras]

Yeah. And number one in lots of countries. I mean, Costa Rica, Kazakhstan, Belgium, Peru. Everybody loves Bruno Mars. And in this song, you know, he kind of, it's not like he's Switching anything up too majorly here. It's boppy, it is groovy, it is retro, which is really where he seems to be comfortable lately. Especially, like, when you're talking about Silk Sonic. I will say I am someone who, like, unironically loves the song Uptown Funk. I love it. I don't know if I'm someone who would identify as a Bruno Mars fan, which is fine, I think, with an artist like Bruno Mars. Cause it's sometimes just about the feeling and, like, the pop single. Even with this song, it's music that's for, like, walking down the street on a sunny day when you're in a really good mood.

[Robin Hilton]

Also, instant party. I mean, it is all the feeling with Bruno Mars. I love Bruno Mars just because I always feel better whenever I put any of his stuff on.

[Raina Duras]

Yes.

[Robin Hilton]

And I think, to your point, with this album, expect retro, expect nostalgia, expect deep grooves. He's also so fun to watch. Did you catch his Grammy performance?

[Raina Duras]

I didn't, I didn't.

[Robin Hilton]

Oh. So I like. He actually didn't end up dancing as much during that set as I was hoping he would. Like. I've got the kids in the room. I'm like, watch this, watch this. It's gonna be amaz. And he didn't move around quite as much as I was hoping he would. But he's such an incredible dancer. I'd love to get him at the tiny desk.

[Raina Duras]

Oh, yeah. I'd love to see the moves you get pulled back there.

[Robin Hilton]

So the album from Bruno Mars is called the Romantic. It's out now on February 27th. Let's get to another super anticipated album out now that we were able to hear ahead of its release. It's Mitsky's Nothing's about to Happen to Me. This is the first single from it. Where's my phone?

[Music Snippet / Song Lyrics]

A woman always on the street Called me a ditch a ditch all my blood what she said I just want my mind to be a clear glass Clear blast With nothing in my head I thinking surely somebody will save me at every turn I learn that no one will I just want my mind to be a clear glass Clear blast With nothing stay oh, where did I leave Where I go Where I.

[Raina Duras]

First of all, it's her first album since 2023. The album in 2023 was called the Land Is Inhospitable and so Are We. And she had this orchestra in there and it comes back for this record. I mean, I love Mitsky. I think that this album really is interesting in that it marries this orchestral Sound she's been working on with a more rock, garage band sound that she originally went into the album intending to focus on. And then she said the songs kind of called to her and asked for the orchestra to come back. Side note, I just went to New York to interview Mitsky on Friday about this record, so I have some insight on it, and I'm just really excited to. To see what people's reaction is to this.

[Robin Hilton]

Well, I think it's another really big swing of a record for her. I mean, you hear it not just across the album, but even, like, in a single song. Like, you take the opening song in a lake. For so much of this song, it has this almost like Laurel Canyon kind of folk vibe to it. Like you could. I kept picturing her playing it on an auto harp, you know, like sitting under a tree or something.

[Music Snippet / Song Lyrics]

But in a lake, you can backstroke forever. The sky before, before you, the dark right behind.

[Robin Hilton]

But then it takes this sort of show tune, Broadway turn. In the back third of the song, the strings come in, horns come in for a few beats. It becomes more conceptual. Like, there's this, like, ambient street sounds and horns honking.

[Raina Duras]

Yeah.

[Robin Hilton]

And then it finally, at the end, it just takes this huge, big turn into an anthemic rock song.

[Raina Duras]

Yeah.

[Robin Hilton]

Incredible.

[Music Snippet / Song Lyrics]

In a big city you can start over the lights all around you Dark, safe inside In a big city.

[Raina Duras]

She also was really influenced by a book called we have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. And a lot of the songs follow a narrative from this character's perspective. There's a lot of tension between the outside world's expectations and your own interior life, which I think is really interesting when you're somebody like Mitsky, who has a very active fan base, who has set up some pretty strong boundaries around her own personal life when it comes to, like, those fans and public interest into it. So it opens up a lot of interesting questions that she sort of exploring on the record.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah, it feels like a lot of the album has to do with isolation. Not necessarily loneliness, but being alone, if that makes sense. You know, like how you make sense of the world and how you fit in it, you know, when so much of your time is just spent inside your own head. Like there's a song called the White Cat.

[Raina Duras]

Yes.

[Robin Hilton]

And it's kind of like a trippy take on PJ Harvey, particularly about halfway through, kind of crossed with surf rock or something.

[Raina Duras]

Sure, yeah.

[Robin Hilton]

But I think the song was inspired by Shirley Jackson's the Haunting of Hill House in this passage where she talks about A white cat sitting on the steps of the house. And their narrator in the story says, I could live there all alone, no one would ever find me.

[Music Snippet / Song Lyrics]

Gotta go to work to pay for that cat's house. For the red corseted wasp who lives in the roof.

[Raina Duras]

We were talking about that sort of tension between outside expectations and your own interior life and sort of the isolation of that. There's another layer there, and it's one that we talked about when I spoke to her, and that is the expectations around being a woman and how women are supposed to behave. And one of the songs that gets into that is the song Dead Women where Mitsky sings about people wanting a woman to die, basically, so that they can control their story, they can dig through their life, find their details, and take over a woman's narrative, which I think is an interesting thing to explore as a woman and also especially as a famous woman.

[Music Snippet / Song Lyrics]

Dream of flying stabbed me 27 times ransack the house for what you look she want your keep Then embal me up Cause you're hosting the viewing Saying she gave her life so we could have her in our dreams.

[Robin Hilton]

New album from Mitsky is called Nothing's About To Happen to Me, out now on February 27th. Let's go next to the band Gorillaz, Damon Albarn, Jamie Hewlett, they're back with an epic new album called the Mountain. This is a song called the Manifest.

[Raina Duras]

So this album sort of had its start a few years back when Jamie Hewlett had to go to India because his mother in law had a stroke. And he spent a bunch of time there and he really fell in love with India and said, okay, I want Damon to come back with me. So they went out and right before they went back, David Alpern's dad died and then hewlett's own dad 10 days later. Like it was a bunch of death sort of surrounded the beginning of this album along with this trip to India. And you can hear both of those things really loud and clear on this record. They have said that the mountain is a metaphor for the journey of life. It is about life, it is about death. And it has a lot of those sort of Indian music inspirations. It's kind of like the Gorillaz White album a little bit.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah, it's very epic, sprawling, a very global sound. And as you say, because of the loss leading up to them making this album, you hear them sort of seeking higher truths and meaning in the wake of all of that loss. There's a song called the Hardest Thing and you Hear Albarn repeat this line. The hardest thing is to say goodbye to someone you love. He repeats it over and over.

[Music Snippet / Song Lyrics]

You know, the hardest thing is to

[Robin Hilton]

say goodbye to someone you love.

[Tom Huizenga]

You love.

[Music Snippet / Song Lyrics]

That is the hardest thing.

[Robin Hilton]

So, like, there is all this loss, all of this searching and. But I wouldn't call it a super moody album.

[Raina Duras]

No.

[Robin Hilton]

Or like a sad album. It's more like Wonder Gorillas. Yeah. And also, like, kind of like a sense that they're just in awe, like, kind of marveling at being here.

[Announcer]

Yeah.

[Raina Duras]

Yeah. It kind of feels life affirming more than, like, morbid or anything like that. And there. I mean, there are lots of guests on Gorillaz albums, but the list of guests on this one, oh, it's off the hook. Truly extensive. You have Anusha Shankar, who's Ravi Shankar's daughter. You hear her playing right away. The sitar Black Thought, Johnny Marr Sparks, Markie Smith of the Fall. There are Argentinian EDM artists, American rappers. There's a US Youth Poet Laureate on here, and which is fitting for an album that really is a meditation on life and death. There are a bunch of posthumous features, too, which is really interesting. Bobby Womack, Tony Allen, the Detroit rapper Proof. They are all on the record.

[Robin Hilton]

And very often I think that these songs kind of assume the identity of the artists who are featured on them.

[Raina Duras]

Yes.

[Robin Hilton]

It's like they're not just in service to gorillas, if that makes sense. Like, their fingerprints are all over these.

[Raina Duras]

Totally. My note said they really let their guests be their guests, you know? The song the God of Lying features Joe Talbot from Idols, and it does feel spooky. Kind of feels like a cartoon haunted house, which is a fun angle to take on a record that's about death. And, you know, when I was listening to it, I was like, I will add this to my Halloween season playlist for next year in advance.

[Music Snippet / Song Lyrics]

Oh, don't you say that you think that I'm in glory.

[Robin Hilton]

So the new album from Gorillaz, it's called the Mountain, out now on February 27th. We got to take a quick break here, but we will have more for you right after this, including new ones from the bands Heavenly, Voxtrot and a few others were excited about.

[Announcer]

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[Robin Hilton]

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[Raina Duras]

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[Announcer]

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[Sheldon Pierce]

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[Announcer]

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[Robin Hilton]

NPR, I'm Robin Hilton. It's New Music Friday. Raina Duras of WXPN is here. We're talking about the best albums out on February 27. Raina, what do you got cooking up at WXPN and World Cafe that you can tell us about?

[Raina Duras]

Well, we've got Kate Le Bon on the show today, today on Friday, and I was just in New York doing an interview and session with Mitsky, so you can look for that in a couple of weeks. We have an upcoming session with Big Thief as well, and we're just, you know, we're gearing up for spring at World Cafe and at wxpn. So there's lots of stuff coming that I am not allowed to tell anybody about yet.

[Robin Hilton]

Those are all some heavy hitters in our world.

[Music Snippet / Song Lyrics]

Yeah.

[Robin Hilton]

Kane Labon, Mitsky.

[Raina Duras]

Yeah.

[Robin Hilton]

Good stuff. Well, let's get to some more albums that are out today, starting with this very jangly pop band called Heavenly. They're based out of Britain. Their new alb out now is called highway to Heavenly. This is a song called Portland Town.

[Music Snippet / Song Lyrics]

I'm hiding out in the trees once again lost in the leaves Hide my eyes and pretend I'm in a place full of misfits like me A place I could be Just who I want to be Take me down just hold my head inside your heart and town I wanna find myself in Brookland.

[Robin Hilton]

So, Raina, I have to admit, I'm a little late to this one. And when I say I'm a little late, I mean like around 35 or 40 years. Not the first time there's been a band that everyone loves, that I've never heard of. But this is a band. Like, I thought they were totally new. I'd never heard of them, and they've been at this for a very long time.

[Raina Duras]

Robin, I'm so glad you said that because when I listened to this album before reading anything, I was like, wow, these guys are really doing a great job of sounding like an 80s or 90s tweet pop band from the UK, right? And what do you know, they basically invented it.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah, yeah. Patience zero. They started like nearly 40 years ago and it's been incredibly. It's been 30 years since they put an album out. The last One was in 1996. It was called Operation Heavenly, which, like, this is a thing they do. They put the band's name in all their album titles. Like they had one called the Decline and Fall of Heavenly and Heavenly versus Satan. And now we've got this one, highway to Heavenly. You know, I lived in Athens, Georgia back in the 90s, and this is a very Athens, Georgia band to me, like circa 1993. A little quirky, very homemade, you know, very scruffy, a little trippy. There's some spoken word guitar rock, like on this song, Portland Town, that it almost has like a B52s vibe, which is one of the more popular Athens, Georgia bands. But I love the vibe.

[Raina Duras]

And also, I mean, you picked a great track to start with. I mean, Portland Town. I feel like maybe in 2026, we're not all talking about how weird Portland is as much as we were, but they sing about it. They imagine a place for misfits and weirdos and outcasts, not unlike Portland's reputation. So, yeah, it really fits into that kind of DIY underground twee world. They did say, you know, their last album, like you said, was in 1996. Right before they put that out, their band member, Matthew Fletcher took his own life. And then after that, they said they were going to retire the band name. So this really is kind of a big deal that they're back. And I think they just premiered some songs at a show in 2023 and that's all we've really heard from them since then. So it's interesting, I think, having a band from the 90s, like there's a twee band from then come back now in 2026, because they came up in the 90s and when they did, they really made a choice not to present themselves as super masculine or super feminine because the 90s was really gendered. And now in 2026, there are all these conversations around toxic masculinity and the idea of trad wives and they're coming back, doing this again. And it kind of feels like a magnified version of what they were initially opposed to. You can hear that in the lyrics of the song Scene stealing. It's addressed at a guy who's like, famous cool, has a big ego, and whose reputation gets deservedly ruined after he sexually assaults a woman.

[Music Snippet / Song Lyrics]

See stealing lust feelings. Seen stealing lies feelings.

[Robin Hilton]

I mean, these are really heavy topics and. And at the same time, they wrap it in this, like glittering, as you say, TWI pop that if you're just listening to it, it sounds so light and airy and fun. There's momentum to it. You take a song like Press Return, the energy in it is. Is so good. There's this quirky little Farfisa organ or something kind of behind the guitars, super hooky, super catchy. And then there's a song like Excuse me. When I listened to it, I was like, well, it just kind of put this big goofy smile on my face, you know. When I first listened to it, I thought, you know, oh, they're really capturing what it's like to be young and in love. But the more I listen to it, I realize, no, they're older now and they're remembering somebody from their past. And it's like they see someone on the street that reminds them of that person. And then the song ends with the line, we never realized that what we had would be the best we got. And now it's gone. Yeah, so there's this. Yeah, just this thread of melancholy that runs through these.

[Music Snippet / Song Lyrics]

My mind medal upon what we do. All kinds of crazy stuff. Tase enough for you? It wasn't quite enough. Started to sleep.

[Robin Hilton]

Well. The album again from Heavenly is called highway to Heavenly, out now on February 27th. Next up is a new one from a band called Voxtra. And this is an Austin band that like Heavenly is back after a really, really long break. They released their debut album in 2007. It was a self titled album. And now, nearly 20 years later, they've got a follow up, their sophomore full length, nearly two decades later. It's called Dreamers in Exile. And this is the title cut.

[Music Snippet / Song Lyrics]

I was a boy at 19 going nowhere, nowhere fast. You were the storm I was chasing after. I thought that the weight of my dreams was a scar that would never last. You gave me some skin and I'm the gift of laughter. Play disorder again while it's dark outside before I turn into a song

[Announcer]

I

[Music Snippet / Song Lyrics]

saw those years with hunger in my eyes as we turn to lovers Just before the dawn and I shouted under pink October skies Is there anything left? Home this place called home I always say you'll be the last one standing Tomorrow when the morning comes if the music stops and I'm the last one standing I'll know that the race was run, the race was won.

[Raina Duras]

Okay, so Robyn, when I was younger, when Voxtrot was first kind of out, I used to play their song, the start of something so often and so loud in my room that my sister now hates it. And she will get legitimately angry if I play it. Even now, she'll get mad and she'll leave the room. I still love it. I was excited to see these guys are back. They kind of came back in 2022 after more than a decade of being broken up. This is only their second full length album.

[Robin Hilton]

It's incredible.

[Raina Duras]

Everything else was eps and compilations and live stuff.

[Robin Hilton]

This sounds like an album that's been encased in amber, like Unearthed by scientists who are now studying it to try to understand, like, what music used to sound like. But it's not like the sound of the early 2000s, when they were first making music. It's very 80s indie rock. This is like college rock. You wouldn't necessarily hear this on top 40, but the kind of band where, like, you and a few of your friends were lucky enough to find out about them and you're keeping them to yourselves, no one else is really listening to them. I did go back and listen to their first album because it had been so long, and in some ways it sounds like they just picked up where they left off. But thematically, I'm not so sure this is an album that they could have made before now.

[Raina Duras]

One reason I feel like this had to have been made now is because of frontman Ramesh Srivastava is singing about a lot of personal stuff. This accumulated life experience. There's a whole bunch of different places where he does that. One of the songs is Fighting Back where he. He sings about, after the band broke up, he worked as a courier during Grammy and Oscar season, delivering couture from boutiques to mansions and hotel rooms, which, I don't know, like, your band breaks up, you have, like, this relative success. It breaks up, and then you're delivering clothes to people winning awards. That is a really, maybe painful, but interesting experience. And the song itself has this driving beat that. That feels like it could be the soundtrack to a training montage. Like, you get the feeling that this Was all just like, he was taking all these things and putting them inside and, you know, using it as fuel for when he would come back.

[Music Snippet / Song Lyrics]

Yeah, I know you love a man who comes fighting back I still wrestle with the vices of a teenage punk and I know we've got the guts for the elegant age we still set the controls for midnight I'm ready to die to love to let my high self gone I'm ready to forgive my heart I'm ready to lose control I

[Robin Hilton]

mean, the whole album is really like this, you know, it is so reflective, very wistful at times. There's this sense that time is moving too fast and like he. He just can't hold onto it as much as he want. Like, everything is slipping away. Like, if you listen to the opener Another Fire, you know, he sings about being hungry for the kill and chasing another fire. But, like, how the body is letting you down as you grow older. It's. Honestly, it's not the kind of song you could write when you're in your early 20s. I don't think.

[Music Snippet / Song Lyrics]

The world's become one the dreams of the father realized in the.

[Raina Duras]

At the same time, I do feel like this album kind of took me back there because the music itself, it has many, many cathartic moments, especially in the hooks of the songs. I'm thinking of a song like New World Romance, which ties into what you're saying. There's the line, it's a beautiful world Can I please stay in it? Life goes by in a New York minute There are wild roses still blooming in me There are moments in that song where I can imagine I can put myself back in the, like, dance club that I went to in Toronto when they were first a band. And I could imagine everybody just jumping up and exploding when the hook hits.

[Music Snippet / Song Lyrics]

It's a beautiful world Can I please stay in it? Life, it goes by in a New York minute There's wild roses still blooming in me I'm gonna lie ahead on a dream vacation While history comes. Still calling the faithless out to believe and by the said give the air I'll kiss the cigarette

[Robin Hilton]

the album, again is Dreamers in Exile from Boxtrot, their first in 20 years. We got to take another quick break here, but when we come back, we're going to talk about the album. I'm most excited about this one week, Raina. It's from a band from where you are, Darren Philly. We'll have that plus our lightning round right after this.

[Sheldon Pierce]

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[Announcer]

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[Robin Hilton]

It's new Music Friday. I'm Robin Hilton here with Rayna Duras talking best new albums out on February 27th. Next up is a new one. I have been looking forward to this since last fall when we first heard that it was coming. It's the new album from the Philly band Nothing. It's called A Short History of Decay and this is the title cut. So this is their first new album in six years. And Raina, as I mentioned, this is one of your hometown bands. So I feel like I should kind of let you go first here.

[Raina Duras]

Well, you know, back in 2020, the frontman Nikki Palermo thought that maybe the band was done, but then he wanted to bring it back. He wanted to do it again. And there really kind of is a theme emerging here, Robin, in some of these records we've been talking about, about like the passage of time, getting older, maybe not being able to do all the things you once were able to do. Nikki Palermo has been open, especially around this album about the onset of something called Essential Tremors, which is a non life threatening neurological disorder. It makes the body shake uncontrollably both physically and verbally. So you can imagine how difficult that would be, especially if you're trying to play music. And that idea, it's even in the title. I mean, decay of your body maybe not being up for what it once was. It really stretches through the whole record.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah, and they wrote about it on the closing track, Essential Tremors. You know, his voice is really out in the clear. It's not buried in reverb as much as previous records, which was very intentional. He said he wanted people to hear the tremor in his voice on this song.

[Music Snippet / Song Lyrics]

Running, running half asleep and I'm losing steam wrestling with myself and all these memories the closer that I get to dissecting the regret Honesty ain't free and freedom is set.

[Robin Hilton]

He really went through it after that last record. I feel like we're lucky to have this record album because as you said, Palermo thought maybe the band's done now. We've taken it to Its natural conclusion. He struggled with substance abuse in the years since. You know, he said he was. There were ER visits, relationships fell apart, and then he developed these tremors. But somehow he got through it all and found this kind of clarity that brought him back to making this album. And, you know, I. I will just say straight up, I think this is the best album. Nothing's ever done done. It's more nuanced. I think it's the most honest and revealing. It's the most complex emotionally. And I just think musically it's the most accomplished. We get, like, glimpses of the softer side of the band. It opens with this song called Never Come Never Morning. And when it starts off, it sounds so beautiful and so sweet. It's like this reflection on childhood. And I thought, oh, you know, Dominic Palermo. He's like, remembering moments like hanging out on lazy days, but then you realize, oh, God, no. He's talking about growing up with an abusive father. So much pain in it. And then it just, like, opens up. Yeah, the song opens up. It gets really big and more and more heartbreaking. And he sings about getting older and how much harder life has gotten.

[Music Snippet / Song Lyrics]

Painted angels Laced in naked sea Filled up with aspirin When I was old. The ocean's wave could not keep me

[Raina Duras]

home I'm glad you brought up that first song. I mean, the very first lines of that song are, when I was young, life was easy. And he has said, Nikki said, that he's writing about things on this album that he's never really talked about before, things he was scared to write about. And so while, you know, sometimes, if you. If you are a really big shoegaze fan, sometimes that wall of sound can feel oppressive. I think that having that sort of vulnerability and that tenderness and those quieter moments makes it more accessible for somebody who maybe has never listened to them before. I will say lead single, Cannibal World. The drums are amazing. This song is scary, it is fast, and it feels, like, woozy and weird. So there's that side of it, too.

[Robin Hilton]

Again, the album from Nothing, A Short History of Decay, out now on February 27th. As I said, it's an absolutely stacked release week with way more albums than we could ever get to on a single show. So we're doing a quick run through of some of the other notable releases, out now on February 27th. Raina, what else are you loving this week?

[Raina Duras]

I'm really loving the Buck Meek album. It's called the Mirror. It's personal, but it doesn't come off as indulgent. He recorded it in a log cabin, but he recorded his vocals out on the porch. And honestly, that sounds like the perfect place to listen to it. You can imagine this tender, sensitive guy somewhere quiet, it singing to you. You can be alone and really appreciate his lovely, thoughtful, introspective lyricism.

[Robin Hilton]

Well, normally we'd throw more albums into the mix ourselves here, but this week, week, we thought we'd bring on some of the other brilliant curators and writers and reviewers from the NPR Music team to tell us what they're loving this week, starting with editor and close personal friend of mine, Hazel Sills.

[Raina Duras]

We are close personal friends.

[Music Snippet / Song Lyrics]

Yeah.

[Raina Duras]

My pick this week is the album Marathon by the artist Maria BC this is a very beautiful, dark album about surviving in our world today. It's full of really interesting textures. I feel like some songs sound like intense drone tracks, and then elsewhere, it kind of sounds like a folk album. I just found it to be a very stunning, you know, almost meditative release.

[Robin Hilton]

All right. Anne Powers, host of the plus episode for NPR Music. Hey, Ann.

[Ann Powers]

Hi, guys. How you doing?

[Robin Hilton]

What do you want? A flag for us is this week.

[Ann Powers]

Well, I want to flag the new record by Bill Callahan. It's called my days of 58. You you probably know of Bill Callahan. He's been making records since the early 90s, originally under the name Smog and then under his own name for the past 20 years or so. I have a confession to make. Like, early on, I was not only not a fan of Smog, but I was, like, actively uninterested in Smog. I found Callahan's work kind of awkward and offensive. But both of us have grown since then, and now he has become one of my very favorite artists and this album, my days of 58. He is 58 years old, and it is such a beautiful and funny and deeply human reflection on this time in his life. This record is so fun and joyful. It's shambolic. The band is the same one that was on on Bill's live album Resuscitate. And it's just such a people record. I love it completely.

[Robin Hilton]

I would never think to call a Bill Callahan project a people record.

[Ann Powers]

It's beautiful how we grow in life, isn't it?

[Music Snippet / Song Lyrics]

And not wonder, where do they go? Where do they go? Like, where do they go?

[Robin Hilton]

Let's go to Sheldon Pierce. Hey, Sheldon.

[Sheldon Pierce]

Hey, Robin.

[Robin Hilton]

You were just on All Songs Considered on Tuesday with a bunch of new jams. But what else are you loving? That's out on February 27th.

[Ann Powers]

Yeah.

[Sheldon Pierce]

My pick is the Gina record The pleasure is yours. Gina is a new duo of the experimental Texas multi hyphen it live spelled L I V E and the Detroit drummer and producer Kareem Riggins. And their new record, which is a debut, is sort of like a marvel of modern hip hop soul. It's full of like translucent R B vocals and lush skipping drums. The album is kind of futuristic and throwback all at once and like seems to exist on a continuous them of their respective reference points, which are Dilla, the Roots, Erykah Badu, Georgia M. Muldrow. But the record is in a kind of near constant state of play and it's just light and fun and it's one of my favorites of the year.

[Robin Hilton]

And that's Gina. G E N A. All right, last but not least, NPR's classical music editor, Tom Huizenga. Hey Tom.

[Tom Huizenga]

Hey Robin. I've got some amazing orchestral music by composer Sarah Kirkland Snyder. It's called Forward Into Light. It's the title track from a new record performed by the Metropolis Ensemble. I think a lot of people probably know her best as the co founder of the so called indie classical label New Amsterdam, which has released a lot of really cool records by Missy Mazzol and aroujoftab and Caroline Shaw. Snyder herself is, I think, a little bit of a late bloomer as a composer, best known for a song cycle called Penelope back in 2010. But her first opera just premiered in LA. I just saw it in New York last month. And Forward Into Light is a piece for orchestra commissioned by the New York Philharmonic, and it's inspired by American women's suffragists, including people like Sojourner Truth and Susan B. Anthony. But Snyder says she's not really trying to tell their story so much as what she says to distill the emotional psychological contours of faith, doubt and what it means to persevere.

[Robin Hilton]

All right, thanks everybody.

[Ann Powers]

Thank you.

[Sheldon Pierce]

Thanks, Robin.

[Tom Huizenga]

Thanks.

[Announcer]

Thank you.

[Robin Hilton]

That'll do it for this week's new Music Friday. Raina Duras from World Cafe and wxpn. Thanks as always.

[Raina Duras]

Thank you.

[Robin Hilton]

All right, if you enjoy the show, be sure to leave us a glowing review on Apple or Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Noah Caldwell and Elle Manion and edited by Otis Hart. Our production assistant is Dora Levitt. The executive producer of NPR Music is Soraya Muhammad. Stephen Thompson will be back next week to discuss new music with Nate Chinin from wrti, also in Philadelphia. Until then, be well, take care and treat yourself to lots of great music.

[Music Snippet / Song Lyrics]

Music.

[Sheldon Pierce]

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