Vampire Weekend – Father of the Bride
It felt like a long time between Vampire Weekend’s third record, Modern Vampires of the City, and the rollout for Father of the Bride, but the New York indie band returned in a big way with 18 tracks that run almost an hour long. The band basically added Danielle Haim of HAIM as an honorary member of the band, with full-on duets on three tracks and additional backing vocals for six more. Having moved more towards Jerry Garcia than Paul Simon, the album is full of acoustic guitar licks, like on lead single “Harmony Hall”, that’ll soothe the wildest of barbarians, and short, catchy tracks, like the Steve Lacy feature “Sunflower” and the jaunty, percussive “Bambina.”
Alex Lahey – The Best of Luck Club
Australian singer-songwriter Alex Lahey’s debut full-length album was full of punchy riffs and perfect choruses. Much of what made that album so great is still hanging around on the follow-up, The Best of Luck Club, but with a more cynical take on things. The downturn from ecstasy-inducing songs like “I Love You Like A Brother,” “Backpack,” and “Everyday’s the Weekend” towards the bad-break wallowing of songs like “I Don’t Get Invited to Parties Anymore” and “Misery Guts” is portrayed in the instrumentation as well, with a darker air hanging over the entire affair. Nevertheless, Lahey’s pop songs fit either mood.
Ian Noe – Between the Country
On debut album Between the Country, Ian Noe a ‘40s troubadour stuck in a single town, waiting for that train out that’s never coming. His voice portrays a disenchanted old man, despite his young age. Between the Country is yet another Dave Cobb-produced stunner from an up-and-coming country singer.
Carly Rae Jepsen – Dedicated
The queen of indie pop finally sorted through her massive catalog of unrecorded and unreleased songs to drop 14 (or 15, if lead single “Party for One” is considered an album track) new ones on us. Like Emotion before it, there may be one or two too many of her synthpop jams that made the cut, but the album is an undeniably fun listen regardless, from the bizarre re-appropriation of the Harry Nilsson-penned “He Needs Me” from the soundtrack to the Robert Altman film Popeye, to the feel-good Electric Guest-collaboration “Feels Right” to the aforementioned single/bonus track self-love anthem.
Ten Tonnes – Ten Tonnes
In the vein of modern British guitar pop like The Kooks and The Wombats, Ten Tonnes’ self-titled debut album brings some shine, if also a lack of much depth. The songs are airy with sing-along choruses and plenty of la-la-la’s, perfect for summer road trips and pop music mixtapes.