New releases last four weeks: Pop

Review: Norwegian indie talent Girl In Red kicked off her musical journey by sharing her home-recorded tunes as a teenager back in 2017. She has since become renowned for her raw lyrics and for delving into the everyday struggles and intricacies of relationships and has won a legion of fans, not least among them Taylor Swift,who invited her out on tour. Her breakout moment came with the viral sensation 'I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend,' followed by the enchanting 'We Fell in Love in October' in 2018. Fast forward to 2021, she unveiled her debut full-length album and soared up the charts. Now she is back with I'm Doing It Again Baby which comes on limited gatefold red vinyl and is full of more of her guitar-driven melodic indie-pop sounds and singalong hooks.

Review: Fabiana Palladino's long-awaited debut album brings plenty of smooth and high gloss sound back to the fore. Following the end of a significant relationship, Palladino uses the album to delve into themes of love, loneliness, and relationship norms and in the process crafts a ten-track album that superbly blends r&b, soul, pop, and disco influences from the 80s and 90s with a contemporary twist. Self-produced and featuring collaborations with notable musicians like Jai Paul, Pino Palladino, Rocco Palladino, Steve Ferrone, and Rob Moose, the album is a classy journey through shapeshifting sonics and intimate introspection, marking a significant milestone in Palladino's musical journey.

Review: Not long after a lovely 7" from Ryusenkei in the form of 'Spring Rain', CMT is back with more beguiling and beautiful sounds from the Japanese artists. As always she mixes up elements of jazz funk, city pop, disco and more next to swooning instrumentals while her delicate voice soars. 'Timemachine Love' has a nice upbeat disco feel and rolling bass that never lets up on on the flip of this special sealer vinyl is 'Rainy Cinderella (radio edit) which is a more slow and sentimental soul sound that has poised bass and melancholic horns.

Review: In 2024 urban and club are often interchangeable terms. Both are also painfully reductive, but that's a point for another time. Los Angeles-based vocalist and producer serpentwithfeet is a case in point, an artist who deftly weaves together sexy and seductive with nightlife energy, proving not only the breadth of each canon but also how much ground they can share. While this may not be unfamiliar, it's relatively new ground for the man with the mic in question, whose previous exploits have often been rooted in gospel tones, nodding to his own upbringing in a religious household. GRIP is musically revelatory in that sense, then, and impeccably crafted.