It’s one thing to craft a great song, but its another skill to create a cohesive album that takes a listener on a journey.
Here’s four recently released albums that we’ve been playing at OUTinPerth HQ, new records from Jessie Ware, Kiiōtō & Lou Rhodes, Tiga, and Joe Jackson.
Jessie Ware
Superbloom
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
On her sixth album, Jessie Ware is taking us to the dance floor — but it’s not just any disco. It’s a sophisticated world of strings, dance beats and smooth vocals.
After a short prelude, we launch into the lead single I Could Get Used to This, a song we immediately fell in love with when it was released a few months ago. A more laid‑back disco groove arrives with the title track, mixing in beats reminiscent of ’90s house. At the forefront, though, are Ware’s elegant, multi‑layered vocals. The night at the disco continues with the most recent single Automatic, featuring a voice‑over from Coleman Domingo and a sampling of ’70s goodness from Les Baxter and his 101 Strings Orchestra.
After a short interlude, we move into the next section of the record, which shifts into a slightly different sound with Sauna — a very sultry tune. If the first part was seduction, we’ve now moved on to the next phase. Mr Valentine has a cheerleader vibe, Love You For continues the journey, and then we arrive at Ride. This song divided fans when it first came out due to its heavy reliance on a recognisable Ennio Morricone sample, but it fits perfectly into the trip we’re taking.
Don’t You Know Who I Am sounds like a lost Shirley Bassey number with its smoky spoken‑word verses. We get our first truly laid‑back moment with 16 Summers, and Jessie Ware begins to prepare us for departure with a tender ballad about leaving. The next track feels like we’re boarding a plane, and No Consequences brings in a gospel choir — we’ve moved from seduction and heat to falling in love. The final sign‑off comes with Mon Amour. Jessie Ware has created an album that is a thrill from its first moment to its last.
Kiiōtō
Black Salt
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Lou Rhodes was the vocalist in ’90s band Lamb, who combined trip‑hop and drum ’n’ bass with a jazz vibe. Alongside bandmate Andy Barlow, they released seven excellent albums. When the band went on hiatus, Rhodes launched a solo career that has so far included four acclaimed records leaning toward a more folk‑influenced sound. In 2023 she launched a new project, Kiiōtō, with Rohan Heath, and their debut album arrived the following year.
Now comes a second album from the project, filled with jazz, country and blues influences. It opens with Month, a simple jazz number that features Rhodes’ distinctive vocals backed at first by a sparse piano before the drums and double bass kick in. Butterfly sounds like the kind of track that would have fit on a Lamb, Portishead or Tricky record two decades ago — except here it’s performed with a jazz outfit rather than electronic production. The single Warpaint takes us into new territory with noodling guitars, a country‑blues vibe and confessional storytelling.
Throughout the album we meander beautifully between different musical elements — it’s jazzy, soulful, gospel‑tinged and at times slightly experimental. Highlights include White Noise, Zero Gravity and the album’s closer Five Eight.
Joe Jackson
Hope and Fury
★ ★ ★
Back in the early ’80s, Joe Jackson was topping the charts with pop hits like Is She Really Going Out With Him?, Real Men and Steppin’ Out. He’s never returned to the charts, but he has steadily continued making albums often described as “sophisticated jazz‑pop”. This is his twenty‑second studio album, and it’s not entirely what I expected.
It opens with Burning By the Sea, a chugging, tribal sing‑along that paints a vivid picture of an English seaside town. “Come for the funfair, stay for a fight,” he proclaims as alongside his band he describes a world of fish and chips, drinking, seagulls, council flats and bumper cars. It’s a bold, brash and slightly menacing portrait of England. Now in his early seventies, Jackson sounds loose, riotous and unfiltered as we move into I’m Not Sorry.
Made God Laugh is more in line with the music we might associate with Jackson — a chirpy piano ditty with a solid rock backing. Do Do Do is upbeat, while Fabulous People offers a fun look at coming out, telling the story of a young man named Billy who “tried being himself but no one cared”.
Jackson is a storyteller, creating characters and delivering songs that are straightforward — the messages aren’t hidden in metaphor or ambiguous lyrics. He sings about what he sees. The Face is another song about finding your place in the world and breaking free of mediocrity. Yet while he writes about escape and freedom, Jackson also celebrates the mundane rhythms of everyday life: seaside towns, coach trips, bawdy jokes and beer.
Jackson packs a lot into a three‑minute tune — the kind of music Noël Coward once created, full of characters and sharp observations about society. He might not be for everyone, but it’s a rich world he creates.
Tiga
Hotlife
★ ★
After a decade away, Tiga returns. Opening with Hot Wife, his collaboration with Boys Noize, we’re dropped straight into a world of electro‑pop. Squelchy acid beats drive High Rollers, which comes with a slightly dodgy rap from Tiga. Iamwhatiam, a collaboration with MRD, continues the cold, harsh electronica with its repetitive vocals.
The journey continues with Silk Scarf, a collaboration with Fcukers, before Friction increases the intensity. One of the more interesting moments is a cover of the INXS classic Need You Tonight, though Tiga asking us to “slide over here” doesn’t quite land with the same charisma Michael Hutchence brought to the original.
Track after track, we get beats and Tiga’s detached vocal delivery, but few of these songs have the pop hooks of his earlier work. The exceptions might be I Know a Place, which is slightly more upbeat, and the album’s closer Ecstasy Surrounds Me. Overall, this feels like a record strangely out of place — hardly breaking new ground and lacking real high points.
