Here are the albums to soundtrack the start of your summer
Summer is finally here, hurrah!
Which means you're probably looking for a soundtrack to all of those outdoor summer gatherings we're being encouraged to pursue – and the good news is that there's plenty of promising new albums on the way.
Below, we've chosen five of the albums we're most excited about this month.
WOLF ALICE – 'Blue Weekend' [June 4th]
There are many who will continue to insist that the era of guitar bands is over– but Wolf Alice remain one of the best ripostes to that outmoded opinion. The English four-piece's two albums to date have both been blisteringly fresh takes on alt-rock and their third is set to continue that trend. It's been a long four years since 'Visions of a Life', but if the singles released so far from 'Blue Weekend' are anything to go by, it'll be worth it.
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GARBAGE – 'No Gods No Masters' [June 11th]
Yes, Garbage are still a band. In fact, the Shirley Manson-led troupe celebrate their 28th birthday this year and are releasing their 7th studio album to mark the occasion. 'No Gods No Masters' is their first album in five years, with Manson revealing that the number 7 plays a role in its themes: “the seven virtues, the seven sorrows, and the seven deadly sins”. Drummer Butch Vig, meanwhile, has said that it recalls 2001's 'Beautiful Garbage' in its eclecticism. No bad thing, for sure.
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JOHN GRANT – 'Boy from Michigan' [June 25th]
We will always listen to any album that John Grant releases – even if, as his last one, 2018's 'Love is Magic' is a million miles away from the album that first made us fall in love with him (2010's 'Queen of Denmark'). The American musician always has something to say, no matter what genre he uses. The title of his fifth studio album suggests that he's returning to his roots thematically, if not musically; 'Boy from Michigan' is said to be his most honest record to date – which is really saying something for an artist who always wears his heart on his sleeve.
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SAINT SISTER – 'Where I Should End' [June 25th]
The Northern Irish duo relased their first album back in 2015, but their second sees them take a more hands-on approach to their work – they co-wrote, arranged and produced 'Where I Should End' themselves. Guests on the album include Lisa Hannigan, while new single 'Manchester Air' was written before the Repeal referendum in 2018. Considering how pretty much everything they've done to date has been nothing less than beautiful, we're buzzing at the thought of a whole album of long-awaited new material.
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KOJAQUE – 'Town's Dead' [June 25th]
One of the most hyped hip-hop artists on the Irish scene right now releases his long-awaited debut album. The Cabra-born rapper, aka Kevin Smith, impressed pretty much everyone with his concept mixtape 'Deli Daydreams' in 2018; it was nominated for the Choice Prize and earned him tours with the likes of Lana Del Rey and Slowthai. The founder of the Softboy Collective/record label has also won awards for his filmmaking, too (he is a Fine Art graduate of DIT, and his 'Love in Technicolour' graduation film won an award in 2017) and has been invited to speak at Trinity College's Philosophical Society in the past. Clearly not your average rapper, we're intrigued to see what his album will bring.