by Philip Moss

Richard Swift – Sept20

Since his passing in the Summer, the alternative music community came together to honour one of the most charismatic and influential musicians of the last decade.

Just before his passing, Swift completed his final solo album – The Hex – and the first single, Sept20, which is apparently the last song he ever wrote has been released this week.

The Hex is available to stream today. Its physical release will be through Secretly Canadian in December.

Lana Del Rey – Venice Bitch

Lana Del Rey launched Venice Beach – the lead single from her new album, Norman Fucking Rothwell – on Zane Lowe’s Beats Show.

Speaking to Lowe of the single she said, ‘I played it for my managers and I was like, “Yeah, I think this is the single I want to put out.” And they were like, “It’s 10 minutes long. Are you kidding me? It’s called ‘Venice Bitch.’” Like, “Why do you do this to us? Can you make a three minute normal pop song?” I was like, “Well, end of summer, some people just wanna drive around for 10 minutes get lost in some electric guitar.’

Norman Fucking Rothwell is out in 2019 on Interscope Records.

Steve Mason – Stars Around My Heart

Most of Steve Mason’s solo output has been written alone, but About The Light marks a change in approach as he enlisted the help of his touring band in the creative process- which is evident on the former Beta Band main man’s new single Stars Around My Heart.

“I decided with this album that I wanted to get my live band involved at every stage because I wanted to capture the energy that we produce when we play live shows, so this time the band and myself worked on a collection of songs over the course of last year,” Mason explained, which was also the reason he approached legendary producer, Stephen Street.

About The Light is out on 18th January through Domino Records.

Cat Power – Stay

Cat Power is no stranger to cover versions, having released The Covers Record in 2000, and Jukebox in 2008 – both of which saw her tackling some of her favourite ever songs.

This time, however, it’s Rihanna’s 2012 single, Stay, which Power takes on – and, as expected, she truly makes it her own.

Her new album, Wanderer, is out through Domino Records on 5th October.

Kate Teague – Gilly

Having already released two brilliant singles in 2018, Kate Teague drops Gilly – the third cut from her currently upcoming debut album.

Gilly is the most personal song yet released by Mississippi based singer, but only furthers the claim that her as yet untitled full length will be one of the most eagerly awaited debuts of next year.

Teague’s debut album will be released on Muscle Beach Records in 2019.

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