1) The Wallflowers, “Exit Wounds” / Jakob Dylan and Co.—and, with lineup changes, the Co. is significant here—are back after nine years with a fresh set of thoughtful, textured rock. The band’s strengths reveal themselves again on a tune like “The Dive Bar in My Heart.” There, a slightly altered guitar lick leads a loping, piano-adorned groove, setting Dylan up for a dark-tinged vocal and tasteful use of metaphor, getting to the heart of heartbreak. Those elements suffuse “Exit Wounds” and make The Wallflowers feel as relevant as ever.
2) Andrew Bryant, “A Meaningful Connection” / The Mississippi-based songwriter (and half of one of my favorite 21st-century bands, Water Liars) just keeps turning out softly wrenching albums. Bryant perfectly threads the needle between sad-bastard ballads (which I’m a sure proponent of) and songs that end on an upturned note, as if they are asking a question, groping for the sort of hope the title suggests.
3) Ducks Ltd., “Get Bleak” / I dig the seven-song set from this Toronto band—gliding, slightly grungy indie rock that never loses its sense of momentum. (Highly) recommended if you like: Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Royal Headache, et al.
4) Nick Cave, “Stranger Than Kindness” / Bouncing off the diving board of a very intimate exhibit, this companion book sifts the artifacts of a singular artistic life—that of the Australian rocker, screenwriter and novelist. You comb through notebooks of Cave’s handwritten lyrics, and his personal collection of Jesus artwork. You also read Cave’s thoughts on God and the self. From an early passage, a sort of table-setter for the rest of the book:
You become an individual, surrounding yourself with all that you love. You are wounded too, sometimes, and left scarred. Yet you become a heroic and unique embodiment of both the things you cherish and the things that cause you pain.
5) Alina Stefanescu, “Eight Poems” for KGB Bar Lit / The best poems are about four or five things at once (because we ourselves are) yet can be distilled to a single feeling, an impression. Stefanescu’s poems do this as well as anyone’s, and the sizable collection here is such a gift. These poems are sexy and shy, particular yet in conversation with their influences, aware of God’s eye yet keenly focused. They marry multiple seasons of life and always leave the reader feeling more alive, more themselves—even in someone else’s words.