Here’s four recently released albums that we’ve been playing at OUTinPerth HQ.
Aldous Harding, Lorraine James, Pigeon and MUNA have got new records out and they supply a mix of pop, glitch, R&B, punk disco and everything in-between.
Aldous Harding
Train on the Island
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
New Zealander Aldous Harding continues to be one of the most fascinating musicians working today, and here she returns with her fifth album. Reunited with long term producer John Parish, who has also crafted recordings for PJ Harvey, Tracy Chapman and Sparklehorse, this is a stunning collection that bridges folk and warm pop sounds.
Aldous Harding is one of the most intriguing and creative people I’ve ever hung out with. We spent some time in a radio studio when her first album was released, an odd experience of pre-recording a chat and live performance, an audience of just one. Over the years we’ve done interviews about her work and I’ve caught her live several times. Aldous lives in a different realm than the rest of us, we just get to visit her world through her music.
Over ten new tracks we visit many different sounds and emotional journeys, but its a cohesive collection that flows from one song to the next. Venus in the Zinnia is upbeat jangly indie pop with psychedelic keys and a vocal duet from H. Hawkline. Title track Train on the Island is a slow chugging piano and drum ode that slowly builds, while opening track I Ate The Most is filled with lyrics that list many different challenges people face in life.
What Am I Gonna Do? is funkier, Riding That Symbol is angelic, and final tune Coats is a bluesy rock number. Across these ten tracks there’s great variety and lyrics that you’ll be pondering and deciphering over multiple listens.
Loraine James
Detached from the Rest You
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
British artist Lorraine James creates challenging music that sits at the intersection of R&B and glitch‑filled electronica. On this collection the artist’s vocals are upfront rather than buried in the mix, resulting in one of her most accessible offerings to date – though it remains a bizarre and unexpected sonic journey. If you like Aphex Twin, Seefeel, Spring Heel Jack, classic trip‑hop like Tricky, or the recent work of Arlo Parks, this will fit neatly into your listening.
Opening track A Long Distance Call hits hard with cut‑up sounds and harsh, clanging electronics—like a dial‑up modem glitching out or an old CD deteriorating into repetition. Slowly, the noise begins to cohere into melody; snippets of conversation drift in like a crossed line, and James’ moody, almost spoken‑word vocals slip through. A gentler sound arrives with The Book of South Doubt, though the bleeps, blips and swirls create an intriguing backdrop that soon overtakes the vocals. A collaboration with Sydney Spann on the single In a Rut offers a hypnotic blend of jazz‑infused vocals and trip‑hop‑styled spoken word.
Score, featuring vocals from Anysia Kym, continues the maximalist layering: R&B‑infused vocals, orchestral flourishes, metallic beats and a second melodic line. It’s like three records playing at once, yet perfectly synced.
Miho Hatori from Cibo Matto, Low’s Alan Sparhawk and British vocalist Tirzah all add vocal variety across their featured tracks. By the time we reach closing tune See Through, we’ve travelled from chaotic glitch to peaceful, melodic folky soul—though traces of the darker textures remain. Lorraine James is not an easy listen, but she is rich, layered and consistently unexpected.
MUNA
Dancing on the Wall
★ ★ ½
MUNA, the indie‑pop trio of Katie Gavin, Josette Maskin and Naomi McPherson, return with their fourth album – a burst of crisp, uplifting, summery pop from start to finish.
The album opens with It Gets So Hot, a track drenched in ’80s synths that would make Jean‑Michel Jarre or Vangelis proud. It’s upbeat, sweaty, and intense – an ode to the moment the AC cuts out and the heat takes over. Title track Dancing on the Wall brings drama and sweeping strings, while Eastside Girls feels tailor‑made for the likes of Katy Perry or Sabrina Carpenter.
Things get more interesting with Wannabeher, which pairs explicit, confessional verses with a gleaming super‑pop chorus. Big Stick turns its attention to our influencer‑driven social‑media world and the fragile self‑esteem it cultivates. MUNA’s latest collection is pure pop with maximum sheen. Bright, bold and polished.
Pigeon
Outtanational
★ ★ ★ ★
Pigeon hail from British seaside town Margate, but listening to them you’d believe they were a recently discovered lost indie disco band from Lagos. This is their debut album and it’s a stellar collection of tunes that straddle indie rock, disco, afro-funk and punk sounds.
The collection opens up with NRG which mixes a foreboding spoken-world verse, alongside a falsetto chorus from lead singer Falle Nioke. We dive into a punkier song with Black James Dean, a retro arcade sound dominates Miami, while Horse With a Blind is space-age world music. The band reportedly create their songs out of 30 minute long jam sessions, but by the time they are committed to vinyl they are tight tunes of just a few minutes each.
Mirror Test is an epic tune that feels like it dropped out of the late 1970s with guitars and cowbells, Huge Prototype sees Nioke singing that he could be “massive” and this album deserves to be. The expansive Today is Another Day is an uplifting groover, while closing track Caramel leaves us with a mellower moment.
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