Happy April! This has been a crazy week without even factoring in yet another huge New Music Friday. This week I review nine albums, including Angine de Poitrine, Arlo Parks, Robber Robber, deary, Joe Pernice, The Bevis Frond, and more.

There are even more reviews in this week’s Notable Releases, including Thundercat, Sunn O))), Wendy Eisenberg, Charley Crocket and more.

You can hear me talk about some of this week’s albums, as well as my trip to Knoxville for Big Ears and a look back at Belle & Sebastian’s first two albums on BV Weekly.

Speaking of podcasts, I talk to The New Pornographers’ Carl Newman on this week’s episode of BV Interviews.

Head below for this week’s reviews…

ALBUM OF THE WEEK #1: Robber Robber – Two Wheels Move the Soul (Fire Talk)
Inventive, confident second album from this Burlington band outpaces their debut

Nominee for Best Album Opening of 2026: Robber Robber’s Two Wheels Move the Soul blasts into the room unannounced, like Kramer, with a squall of feedback, distorted bass, and a crash cymbal that immediately gives way to a ticking hi-hat, lighting the fuse for the action sequence to come. “The Sound It Made” is a high-speed chase — part Prodigy maximalism, part Sonic Youth Kim Gordon cool — that shouldn’t work, but their custom chassis, including dynamite drummer Zack James, makes all the swerves and explosions feel balletic.

Two Wheels Move the Soul, the second album from this Burlington, VT band, is full of unexpected, electrifying moments like that. Not all are quite so showy, but their confidence and creativity shine throughout. It all hinges on the creative partnership between James and singer/guitarist Nina Cates, who pull elements from the past and make them sound like the future — not Jetsons-style, but a tangible glimpse of what’s ahead: shiny and grungy, melodic and dissonant, overstimulated yet chill.

Not to overhype: Robber Robber make indie rock with elements of post-punk, pop, and electronic music, but they rearrange those familiar building blocks into something you’ve never quite heard before, with savvy musicianship and plenty of swagger. Cates’ vocal delivery — full of attitude but never breaking a sweat — keeps those wheels on the road through hairpin turns and rain-slicked curves. Robber Robber are one of those groups with a real alchemy, making this album even more exciting than their assured debut.

Dig the vertical thrust of “Avalanche Sound Effect,” the grungy, funky “New Year’s Eve,” the sinister, sharp-angled “Watch for Infection,” the slashing “Talkback,” and the simmering “It’s Perfect Out Here in the Sun.” Final track “Bullseye” starts like it’s going to be the most traditional song here — very ’90s — but in its last minute it rips open, sounding like they’re clawing through your speaker cone in a show of pure rock prowess. Robber Robber know how to open an album, close an album, and everything in between.

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ALBUM OF THE WEEK #2: deary – Birding (Bella Union)
This is how you do shoegaze

My favorite of the new wave of shoegaze bands to emerge over the last half decade, London’s deary have floated above the rest with a deep love and innate understanding of the genre and its sonics, plus a desire to push things forward — and the good sense to know that all those effects pedals can’t hide weak songwriting. Formed in 2021 over a shared love of Cocteau Twins, deary have now finally released their debut album via Bella Union, the label run by Cocteaus bassist Simon Raymonde. A bit of a full-circle moment.

You can hear the influences in deary’s music — they’re not hiding them on Birding — but it’s not pure pastiche. Just when you’re about to dock them a point, like on the languid calm of “Terra Fable,” they throw in a dance beat or some other unexpected sonic bauble that makes it their own. Dottie Cockram has the kind of voice made for this style, and guitarist Ben Easton ensures it’s always bathed in the right glowing light. Fans of the OG bands, especially Slowdive (to whom they owe a lot), will eat this up.

That said, the best songs here are the ones that stray furthest from the source. “Garden of Eden” is gorgeous choral folk, with relatively unadorned acoustic guitar at its core, and “Alfie” owes more than a little to mid-’80s sophistipop like The Blue Nile. Then again, sometimes they nail the shoegaze thing so well you just have to give it up, like on “Seabird,” as Dottie layers ethereal glossolalia harmonies atop Ben Easton’s tidal wave of cerulean guitars. It may not be doing anything new, but it is still perfection.

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Angine de Poitrine – Vol II (self-released)
Hey, have you seen this weird band with the polkadots?

French-Canadian microtonal dadaist math-rock sensations Angine de Poitrine blew up thanks to a KEXP Sessions video a couple months ago that’s had just about everyone on the internet asking, “Who the hell are these two polka-dotted weirdos?” Maybe not who they actually are under the makeup and costumes — people seem to enjoy the mystery — but more “Where did they come from and what kind of music is this?” YouTube is now full of videos trying to break it all down.

The hype is still crescendoing — welcome to the party, Dave Grohl — as the duo release their second album, and you’re probably either A) all in or B) ready to throw your phone into the ocean until you’re sure they won’t pop up in your feed again. You’ve also likely already heard most of Vol II if you’ve watched the KEXP session, and the studio versions don’t sound all that different. It does feel a little less otherworldly when you’re just listening, though, and not watching them make all these sounds in real time.

That said, opener “Fabienk” is a banger and the perfect introduction to the album and the duo’s signature mix of early Devo, King Gizzard, and whatever Les Claypool project you prefer. It’s a dizzying — and to some, maddening — sound built on interlocking bass and guitar riffs and hyper-precise drumming. If you make it through that one, you’re going to love the five that follow in a similarly frenetic, polka-dotted suit.

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The Bevis Frond – Horrorful Heights (Fire)
Nick Saloman keeps on chooglin’ and we wouldn’t want it any other way

The Bevis Frond are kind of the UK’s Guided by Voices: there’s only one constant member, in this case Nick Saloman, but he’s incredibly prolific and just keeps churning them out. Saloman is also a total guitar shredder, so he sits somewhere between Robert Pollard and J Mascis, with a Richard Thompson sense of melody. Really, though, after 40 years they just sound like themselves.

Horrorful Heights is the 27th Bevis Frond album — a 20-song, 88-minute double, to be specific. “As usual, it’s a collection of what I thought were my best songs of the last couple of years,” says Nick. “I just sit down and write stuff when the muse hits (which is pretty frequently), but somehow this time I felt there was a slightly different feel to the songs. Nothing very different, you understand, but perhaps just a bit more commercial. It wasn’t intentional, it never is — I just write and what comes out is what you get.”

What you get is another winner, full of ragged guitar heroism, woolly melodies, well-worn harmonies, psychedelic touches, and dusty twang. I tend to favor the gentler songs, like “Best Laid Plans,” adorned with pedal steel and warm melancholy. It’s exactly what you expect from The Bevis Frond, which is also exactly what you want.

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Joe Pernice – Sunny I Was Wrong (New West)
The Pernice Brothers and Scud Mountain Boys frontman steps in to the spotlight on this solo album ft Aimee Mann, Teenage Fanclub’s Norman Blake, and more

You may know Joe Pernice — one of the most underrated songwriters (and singers) of the last 30 years — from Scud Mountain Boys or his long-running project The Pernice Brothers. Over the last two decades, the latter has mostly been just Joe, but there’s a distinct Pernice Brothers sound — somewhere between The Byrds and The Zombies — that has made their records feel like part of an unbroken line.

Sunny, I Was Wrong, though, is a true solo record, and while Joe hasn’t changed his songwriting style — still in top form — this one has a noticeably different feel. It was recorded live in the studio with a backing band that includes Jim Creeggan (Barenaked Ladies), Mike Belitsky (The Sadies), Mike Evin, and Mike McKenzie. It might be the most countrified Joe has sounded since dissolving Scud Mountain Boys, in the best kind of bar-band way.

There are also a number of welcome guests: Teenage Fanclub’s Norman Blake adds his distinctive harmonies to “I’d Rather Look Away,” and Aimee Mann elevates the already great “Deep Into the Dawn,” which Joe says is his favorite recording he’s ever made. A couple songwriting legends show up, too: Austin outlaw country great Rodney Crowell on “It Won’t Be Me,” and Jimmy Webb, who plays piano on the weepy “It Got Away From Me,” which also nods lyrically to Webb’s classic “MacArthur Park.”

None of the guests steal the spotlight, which remains firmly on Joe. “Making music is not always easy, but it’s still magical for me when you find that thing that makes the song pop,” he says. “I don’t think I’ve made a better album than this one, or one that pops like this one. It feels like I’ve made a big leap.”

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Arlo Parks – Ambiguous Desire (Transgressive)
Mercury Prize-winner Arlo Parks finds love — and a new sound — in Brooklyn

While on tour for her second album, 2023’s My Soft Machine, Arlo Parks met someone in Brooklyn, fell hard, and decided to stay. She also fell in love with the city and it’s nightlife, frequenting dance clubs like Nowadays and Basement, and wandering around Bushwick and Williamsburg in the wee hours. All of that informs her fourth album, a collection of airy, clubby songs and a detailed journal of a magical time in New York, where even memories of past heartbreak feel fond. The electronic music she became immersed in has been absorbed into her already dreamy sound, now with more synths, breakbeats, and samples. It’s a distinct turn, but one that makes perfect sense for an artist who is still growing.

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Billy Fuller – Fragments (Invada)
Beak>’s bassist goes solo with this groovy, mostly instrumental head trip

While Bristol band Beak> are on a break, looking for a new singing drummer after Geoff Barrow decided to retire from live performances, bassist Billy Fuller — who has also played with Massive Attack, Baxter Dury, and Robert Plant — has released his debut solo album. Fragments is an apt title, as it’s mostly song sketches and ideas, with Fuller noting, “A few are ideas that were originally intended for Beak>, and others are me just being in the moment.”

Mostly instrumental, the album makes it clear Fuller’s contributions to his band go well beyond bass — though his basslines remain crucial — as he explores synthy post-punk, krautrock, psychedelia, and a few pieces that sound like auditions for the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. While we wait to find out what Beak> 2.0 will sound like, there’s a lot to dive into here.

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Nightmares on Wax Vs Adrian Sherwood – In A Space Outta Dub (Warp)
Another amazing full album remix from dup and post-punk pioneer Adrian Sherwood.

Dub and post-punk producer/icon Adrian Sherwood has been blowing minds with his unique style for over 40 years, and he’s been experiencing a new wave of creativity over the last decade — relaunching his label On-U Sound, producing higher-profile releases, and, crucially, becoming an in-demand full-album remixer. In recent years he’s transformed Panda Bear & Sonic Boom’s Reset and Spoon’s Lucifer on the Sofa — two records outside his usual wheelhouse — into brand-new, equally compelling creations. He’s now working a little closer to home with this collaborative 20th anniversary subatomic makeover of downtempo pioneers Nightmares on Wax’s fifth album, Ina Space Outta Sound.

Sherwood doesn’t just remix tracks in cases like this — he rebuilds them from the ground up, bringing in his stable of On-U Sound all-stars to play on them. He’s also tightened things up considerably — In a Space Outta Dub is 20 minutes shorter than the original — while still letting individual tracks, like “You Bliss” (fka “You Wish”) and “Flippin Eck” (fka “Flip Ya Lid”), stretch out. The original is terrific, but Sherwood improves on it, making a more timeless record in the process.

More: listen to my interview with Adrian on the 3/23 episode of BV Interviews.

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John Andrews & The Yawns – Streetsweeper (Earth Libraries)
Another laid back gem from this members of Woods, Cut Worms & Quilt

John Andrews has played in Woods, Cut Worms, Hand Habits, and the much-missed Quilt, and across those groups he’s handled most of the instruments you’d associate with a rock band — and a few you might not (musical saw). He’s also no slouch as a songwriter and frontman, making the kind of ’70s-inspired, lazy-day mellow pop that owes a lot to The Grateful Dead and maybe Bread, and sounds particularly good on a breezy spring day.

There’s even a very NYC ode to the season, “Goodbye Dirty Snow,” on his fifth album, Streetsweeper, which he made with Luke Temple, who brings a magic-hour glow to the proceedings. Enjoy this one while spring is still with us.

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INDIE BASEMENT CLASSIC: Human League – Dare (Virgin, 1981)
One of the defining synthpop albums of all times still sounds fresh 45 years later

Hailing from the industrial city of Sheffield, The Human League began life in 1977 as part of the city’s avant-garde post-punk scene alongside Cabaret Voltaire and Clock DVA, making music that was forward-thinking but decidedly uncommercial. But their debut single, “Being Boiled,” was built on pop hooks, and the band soon signed to Virgin Records, shifting their focus from abandoned warehouses to the charts. A rift grew between frontman Phil Oakey and the band’s other creative forces, Martin Ware and Ian Craig Marsh, who left to form Heaven 17, leaving Oakey to reconstruct The Human League just weeks before a planned tour.

This would change the course of the band, as would a night out at the Crazy Daisy nightclub, where Oakey spotted Susan Ann Sulley and Joanne Catherall, then 17 and 18, and asked if they’d like to join. (He even asked permission from their parents.) The band also recruited a couple of ringers in synth whiz Ian Burden and Jo Callis of punks The Rezillos, both of whom brought a strong sense of melody that, along with producer Martin Rushent, proved to be the final piece of the puzzle.

Dare is all bangers, from opener “The Things That Dreams Are Made Of” to singles “The Sound of the Crowd,” “Love Action (I Believe in Love),” and “Open Your Heart,” plus the Judge Dread-inspired “I Am the Law.” Then there’s “Don’t You Want Me,” which the band thought was too cheesy to release and of course became a worldwide smash that, a zillion plays and karaoke butcherings later, still hasn’t worn out its — or Dare’s — spark.

Looking for more? Browse the Indie Basement archives.

And check out what’s new in our shop.

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THE MOON & THE MELODIES: 12 SONGS FEATURING ELIZABETH FRASER

This Mortal Coil – “A Song to the Siren”

Most people want Elizabeth Fraser for her voice’s more angelic qualities, but she’s got quite the range, and her lower register can be just as transportive, as this spine-tingling cover of Tim Buckley’s “Song to the Siren” proves. This Mortal Coil was the recording project of 4AD Records founder Ivo Watts-Russell and producer John Fryer, and “Song to the Siren” — Ivo’s favorite song of all time — was TMC’s debut single in 1983. With guitar from Robin Guthrie, it remains one of the most unforgettable showcases for Fraser’s emotive pipes. This Mortal Coil’s version has touched a lot of people over the years, perhaps none more so than filmmaker David Lynch, who has called it his favorite piece of music ever. He was obsessed with “Song to the Siren” during the making of Blue Velvet, and wanted Fraser and Guthrie to perform it in the film, but usage rights were out of the film’s budget. Lynch eventually got to use it 10 years later in Lost Highway. “That song does something to me, for sure,” Lynch told The Guardian.

Jeff Buckley & Elizabeth Fraser – “All Flowers in Time (Bend Toward the Sun)” (demo)

Jeff Buckley loved This Mortal Coil’s cover of his father’s “Song to the Siren,” and the musical admiration was mutual, as Fraser was enamored with Jeff Buckley’s album Grace. Their mutual admiration grew into a short but passionate love affair somewhere around 1994, which was not long after her relationship with Robin Guthrie ended. (Cocteau Twins continued till 1997.) “I just couldn’t help falling in love with him,” she said in BBC documentary Jeff Buckley – Everybody Here Wants You. “I read his diaries, he read mine. We’d just swap…I’ve never done that with anybody else.” While it didn’t last, at least one song was written during their relationship. “All the Flowers in Time (Bend Toward the Sun)” is a gorgeous duet between Buckley and Fraser, with Jeff singing the chorus of “Oh, all flowers in time bend towards the sun / I know you say that there’s no-one for you / But here is one.” It’s a rough demo that has never been commercially released, but you don’t really need much more than their voices to have you wondering what could have been.

Elizabeth Fraser w/ Massive Attack at Radio City Music Hall, 2019 (photo by P Squared)

Massive Attack – “Teardrop”

Elizabeth Fraser’s most popular song, Cocteau Twins or otherwise, is probably “Teardrop,” one of three songs she sings on Massive Attack’s 1998 album Mezzanine. It is the trip hop group’s biggest UK hit, reaching #10, and it went to #1 in Iceland, and in the ’00s became known as the theme song to TV show House. Liz says she learned of Jeff Buckley’s death while recording it which influenced her lyrics. “I’d got letters out and I was thinking about him,” Fraser told The Guardian. “That song’s kind of about him – that’s how it feels to me anyway.” Interestingly, the track was almost given to Madonna. Massive Attack’s Mushroom sent Madonna the instrumental and she really wanted to make it a single of her own. No disrespect to Madge but we’re glad 3D and Daddy G won out. She can still belt it out, too.

Felt – “Primitive Painters”

One of the great UK indie singles — and duets — of the mid-’80s came about through happenstance. Felt, the cult band led by the iconoclastic Lawrence, hired Robin Guthrie to produce their 1985 album Ignite the Seven Cannons, the centerpiece of which was “Primitive Painters,” with its hypnotic, cyclical riff. (You’re right, it does sound a little like Guns N’ Roses’ “Paradise City.”) Liz Fraser came to visit Guthrie in the studio while Felt were working on the song, and he had the idea to have her sing on it. Lawrence told Uncut: “He just played her the end section. I wrote the lyrics out for her on a piece of paper, she went in, listened to it once on headphones, and then just improvised around it. It was as real as that. It was a remarkable moment. When you listen back to something like that, we knew we’d got it.” A classic was born.

photo by Barnaby Roper

Jónsi – “Cannibal”

One wonders if The Cocteau Twins didn’t inspire all of what we think of as “Icelandic music” — the kind that sounds like glaciers and waterfalls — even if just through osmosis. Sigur Ros certainly got compared to the Cocteaus a lot when they first started, though the band always claimed they’d never listened to them. (Never?) “I really didn’t like that,” says Sigur Ros’ Jónsi of the comparisons. “I hated being compared to anybody. Then I got really into Cocteau Twins like two or three years ago. They’re so good. I understood the comparison then.” Thankfully he came around as it’s given us “Cannibal” from Jónsi’s new solo album. It’s the sound of two one-of-a-kind, unearthly voices meeting in the heavens.

Dif Juz – “Love Insane”

Dif Juz were one of 4AD’s early signings, an instrumental post-punk group whose sound fell somewhere between Cocteau Twins’ ethereal wash and Dead Can Dance’s baroque orchestrations. (The mix proved influential on the ’90s post-rock scene.) Their 1985 album Extractions features this beautiful collaboration with Fraser that pairs her voice with delicate piano and saxophone. The group’s Richard Thomas would return the favor by playing saxophone on Cocteau Twins’ 1986 album Victorialand.

Ian McCulloch – “Candleland”

Here’s another case of two iconic ’80s voices coming together to make magic. Echo & the Bunnymen frontman Ian McCulloch brought in Fraser to sing on the title track of his 1989 solo debut. “Candleland” has a bit of a Cocteau Twins sound to it, with a gentle melody and treated, arpeggiated guitars, and would probably be considered a pleasant but less impressive song without her. What really makes “Candleland” soar is the alchemy of McCulloch’s smoky croon and Fraser, who is at her most angelic here. The call-and-response at the end of the song could go on twice as long — three times — and would not get old. McCulloch & Fraser worked similar magic on “Heaven’s Gate” from his second solo album, Mysterio.

Medicine – “Time Baby 3”

Los Angeles shoegaze band Medicine were kind of America’s My Bloody Valentine, not afraid to mix harsh noise, ethereal beauty and electronica in new and cool ways. The band appeared in the 1993 film The Crow, performing a rocking version of Time Baby II” in a club scene. The Crow soundtrack, however, featured a dreamy remix of the song by Robin Guthrie, dubbed “Time Baby III.” Guthrie added some of his signature guitar stylings and brought in Liz Fraser for backing vocals. Most of what Fraser does is subtle, but then she unleashes her full power on some “no no nos,” sending things into the stratosphere.

Elizabeth Fraser – “Moses”

Fraser hasn’t made much music under her own name since the Cocteau Twins disbanded. She released a limited edition single, “Underwater,” in 2000 (only 200 pressed); contributed a cover of Chic’s “At Last I Am Free” to Rough Trade’s 25th anniversary cover comp Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before; and she put out this 2009 single which she released as a tribute to her friend and Echo & The Bunnymen collaborator Jake Drake-Brockman, who died that year. Made with her partner, drummer Damien Reese (Lupine Howl, Massive Attack, EATB), “Moses” rides a trip hop vibe by way of the French Riviera, but Fraser’s voice is really the main instrument, with layer upon layer of gorgeous harmonies.

Howard Shore – “Lothlorien (feat. Gandalf’s Lament)” (from Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring)

When you’re making movies out of some of the most beloved fantasy novels of all time — say, The Lord of the Rings series — it’s good to have access to a “Voice of God” who is used to singing in invented languages. Director Peter Jackson and composer Howard Shore brought in Fraser for The Fellowship of the Ring scene where the Fellowship rests in Lothlórien, while the elves sing a lament for Gandalf. Needless to say, her Elvish is impeccable (skip to around 2:30 mark on the track to for Fraser’s entrance). They brought Fraser back for The Two Towers’“Isengaard Uleashed” sequence. Speaking of heavenly voices: Fellowship of the Ring‘s soundtrack also featured Enya.

Yann Tiersen – “Kala”

Composer Yann Tiersen, who gained fame in 2001 for his Amelie score, released Les Retrouvailles in 2005 which found him collaborating with a number of great vocalists, including Jane Birkin, Tindersticks frontman Stuart Staples and Fraser, who contributed to two songs on the album. “I was a huge fan of [Cocteau Twins] and of her voice,” Tiersen told The Beijinger. They wrote the fanciful, swooping and dramatic “Kala” together. “It’s like a very good moment in the studio we spent together…to see her working and see her ideas coming from nowhere. It was great.”

The Wolfgang Press – “Respect”

Chances are you’ve never heard Liz Fraser like this before. Certainly not since, either. The Wolfgang Press were a dark and brooding band signed to 4AD, cut from the same cloth as The Birthday Party but with an interest in funk, dub and drum machines. Having become fast friends with Liz and Robin of the Cocteau Twins, TWP asked Liz to sing on their debut EP…for a cover of Aretha Franklin’s “Respect.” It’s true. Liz provides the “Just a little bit!” backing vocals in the chorus. “Our version was too rigid,” Wolfgang Press frontman Mark Allen said in 4AD chronicle Facing the Other Way. “It should have been thrashier, heavy, more tribal. It was almost comical by the end.” It’s probably the most comical song 4AD released in the ’80s, and more of a curio than anything else, but it’s nonetheless interesting to hear Fraser so outside her wheelhouse.