Weekly Music Roundup: The Ridge, The Waiting Room, and Wabi-Sabi

Rescue your Tuesdays with our weekly roundup of music news, videos, and songs that just might help you get through the rest of the week. This week, an early look at some promising albums from 2016, including a veteran English chamber pop band and an Arcade Fire member going solo. 

Tindersticks Release Simple Film For Emotionally Complex Song

Tindersticks, the veteran British indie/chamber pop band, have a new album coming out on January 22; it’s called The Waiting Room, and each song is accompanied by a short film. Stuart Staples’ songwriting tends to be emotionally understated but complex; the films that have surfaced so far are quite simple and minimalist. This song, “Hey Lucinda,” uses the most straightforward, prosaic language possible to convey a surprising mix of sadness, hope, ennui, and perhaps a little mischief. The video is a simple shot of an utterly generic, possibly quite depressing “Family Fun Park.” The song takes a slight detour towards the end, concluding with a lovely and unexpected combination of instruments. 

Trixie Whitley Doesn’t Want To Play Nice

When you see a title like “Soft Spoken Words” and the phrase “singer-songwriter” together, you might expect an introspective, confessional little tune. To which Trixie Whitley says, “bullshit.” Quite literally. You won’t hear this electric, snarling kiss-off on the radio anytime soon, but as a first glimpse of her new album, it is well worth checking out. The daughter of the ill-starred and under-appreciated Chris Whitley has already proven to be a fine guitarist and songsmith, and “Soft Spoken Words” is a promising look ahead. The album, Porta Bohemica, is due out February 5.

Arcade Fire’s Sarah Neufeld Scales New Heights

Violinist Sarah Neufeld has appeared on Soundcheck as a soloist before, so you may already be aware of her unusual double life. Neufeld is in the band Arcade Fire, which probably makes her the world’s most prominent rock violinist; but she is also a composer who has used layers of her own fiddle, and occasionally her voice, to create ambient, expansive soundscapes. She is preparing to release a new album, The Ridge, on February 26, and if the title track is any indication, it seems to occupy a kind of post-rock middle ground: still creating a lush tapestry of sound, but this time driven by Arcade Fire drummer Jeremy Gara’s playing and building to an almost cinematic peak before easing slowly away. 

Public Memory’s Moody Electronics

Public Memory is a one-man band consisting of Robert Toher, who is based in Brooklyn, made his forthcoming record in LA, and quite possibly had England on his mind. The album is called Wuthering Drum, a title you would not normally expect to find outside the land of Emily Bronte. And its use of bell sounds, especially in the opening and closing tracks, unexpectedly reminded me of Brian Eno’s “Here Come The Warm Jets.” This moody album is also full of downtempo electronics and instruments – including Toher’s voice – that seem to reach us through an opiated haze. The final song, “Lunar,” is available now; the rest of the album comes out on March 18.

Cross Record’s Even Moodier Electronics

Cross Record is the work of Emily Cross, who is human. I checked out some of her other videos to be sure, because in her new video, for a song called “High Rise,” she wears a full-length body stocking with two holes for her eyes which makes her look distinctly alien. The song is equally unsettling, a blend of lovely, breathy vocals floating over a sturdy processional rhythm and layers of sharp, stinging guitars. Fans of 90s shoegaze bands like My Bloody Valentine will be familiar with the idea, but Cross Record has a clean, bracing sound that is intense in a somewhat different way. Her album, Wabi-Sabi, is due on January 29.