Now Hear This: Pillow Queens, Stevan, Fontaines DC, Neil Young and Arlo Parks, plus spotlight artist Emily Barker

In her weekly column, our music correspondent goes through the best new releases

Singer-songwriter Emily Barker (Emilie Sandy)

In these tumultuous times, music can feel as much of a refuge as it’s ever been. Before you get stuck into the new tracks and albums out this week, I’d encourage everyone and anyone to read critic and editor Joseph “JP” Patterson’s beautifully written piece on UK rap that speaks to black pain here.

There are some incredible new releases out this week. Let’s start with Arlo Parks’s cover of Radiohead’s “Creep”, which reminds me of Damien Rice’s spinetingling 2003 rendition in terms of delivery. Parks’ version, however, reduces the tempo even more as she sings over sparse, faltering piano notes.

Australian multi-instrumentalist and producer Stevan has just released his debut mixtape, Just Kids, astonishingly recorded by between the ages of 16-19. It’s really something, incorporating gentle ripples of funk, hip hop and indie, as he delivers poignantly candid lyrics in a way that is entirely disarming. Keep an eye on this one.

Fontaines DC continue the build-up to their hugely anticipated second album, A Hero’s Death, with “I Don’t Belong”, a striking piece of lo-fi, Sonic Youth-inspired atmospherics. It’s a treat to see the release of “Handsome Wife” by Fontaines DC’s fellow Dubliners Pillow Queens, who started a few years ago and who are now ready to share their debut record with the world. The single is a slice of indie rock propelled by industrial guitar squalls and superb vocal performances from Sarah Corcoran and Pamela Connolly. Even more Irish excellence comes from The Clockworks with their timely track “The Future is Not What It Was”, a compelling and politically minded number on which it sounds as though the band have held matches to their own guitars – some proper fiery riffs there.

Tame Impala’s Jay Watson has offered a new album as GUM, titled Out in the World. The title track is a hazy, psychedelic but danceable number, while “Airwalkin’” treads a squelchy path over synths and funky beats. Other albums to check out this week include Orlando Weeks (formerly of The Maccabees) with his gorgeous solo album A Quickening, and Jehnny Beth with To Love is To Live. Rock duo Larkin Poe sound about ready to grind guitar bros under their boots on the stomping title track from their album, Self Made Man.

Singles-wise, I’m keen on Kendji Girac’s “Habibi” and Kojo Funds with “Vanessa”. French singer Amel Bent and rising R&B star Imen Es teamed up for the Afrobeats-influenced siren’s song, “Jusqu’au bout” (Until the End). The track was produced by Renaud Rebillaud, the man behind a number of hits by French-Congolese megastar Gims, including “La Même”. Fellow French artist and director Woodkid (Yoann Lemoine) has released the magnificent “Pale Yellow”, the second track from his forthcoming, yet-to-be-titled album.

“If ‘Goliath’, my first single, summons the massive, the titanesque,” Woodkid says, “‘Pale Yellow’ is more about the machine inside, the inner monster. This is a song about the shape of chemical addiction and the power of resilience against self-destruction.”

Kawala have dropped yet another gem (maybe their best yet) with “Ticket to Ride”, a sunny yet sensitive song about wanting to escape into your own dreams. I’m loving the twang on Neil Young’s new single “Vacancy”, ahead of the release of his “lost” 1975 album, Homegrown, next week. Abou Debeing, formerly of French hip-hop collective L’Institut, has collaborated with Dadju on the catchy, house-influenced “Attitude”, while London’s own D-Block Europe are here with the visuals for “Free 22”, their tribute to an absent friend.

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My spotlight artist this week is Emily Barker, who’s been around for a while but who just shared her stunning new track “Return Me”, lifted by soaring violins and her gorgeous, lilting voice. It’s her first release since signing to record label Thirty Tigers, home to many a talented country/Americana artist, and feels like a perfect fit. Recently, Barker found herself returning to subjects from her earliest songs, so “Return Me” gravitates around those themes of home and family.

“I started to ask myself whether or not the path I am on is still the right one in light of the sombre and overwhelming revelation that our earth is very sick,” Emily said of the track. “Whether the journey is leading me where I want to go…whether it is time at last to return to my first home – a question that seems to have no answer, despite the number of songs I have dedicated to it.”

Check out "Return Me" and read her Q&A

– Hey Emily, how are you doing in these incredibly tumultuous times?

They are tumultuous times aren’t they! My year started with my wedding in Australia, where the bushfires were raging; I have friends in Nashville, where parts of the city were devastated by a tornado in early March, and then came lockdown. My inherent optimism leads me to hope that something good will come from all this – like much of the music industry, I took part in the #showmustbepaused black out day last week and hope we can all progress as people and there will be real, positive change.

In some ways, lockdown has been a challenge for me because I’ve always been restless - along with the optimism, I inherited the busy gene from my parents. Lukas and I are lucky enough to have our own studio so we’ve been doing lots of recording and we've been helping out some of our elderly neighbours with weekly shops and errands, making new friendships along the way. I joined the ranks of people home-baking during lockdown and baked my first ever loaf of bread. I'm gluten-intolerant, so didn't have to fight in the aisles for a bag of flour, but it did make it probably the most expensive loaf in history with all the nuts and seeds I used.

– Do you find yourself turning to anything in particular for moments of solace?

I spend so much time on the road that the enforced time at home has given me the opportunity to dig into my vinyl collection and to spend more time with the clunky old piano in my living room: I’ve been rearranging some of my songs that were originally written for guitar and just enjoying the warm, enveloping sound it makes.

I’m lucky enough to live in a beautiful part of the country. Lukas and I set ourselves the challenge of discovering somewhere new by foot every weekend - the South Cotswolds are abundant in beauty and it’s been incredible to stumble across ancient burial sites, such as the long barrow on Selsley Common; pass under magnificent old beech and ash; see the flowers burst open; and watch nature enjoying a break from human activity – it’s been so peaceful you can hear a bird's call from across the neighbouring valleys.

– Tell me a bit about the new music, when did you start writing and did you draw on any specific themes/influences?

I'm an avid reader, so much of what I've written about has been inspired by stories, news, books, poetry. More recently I've been listening to a lot of podcasts and watching documentaries, like the incredibly powerful 13th by Ava DuVernay. Since my last album, the songs I've been writing have explored the connections between themes of home, environmental destruction, equality and justice, and the individual in relation to society. Initially I thought I was writing about disparate subjects, but as the collection of songs built up, it became clear how they fed into one another.

– What do you have lined up for the rest of the year?

Like most people, all my plans went out of the window! I do have lots of new music coming though and I’m looking forward to sharing that, starting with this new song Return Me.

Some of my poetry is being published this year for the first time, which I’m really excited by. Writing poetry is a relatively new creative outlet or me and one I’ve been enjoying immensely – I’m hooked on poetry podcasts such as Tracy K Smith’s, The Slow Down and Pádraig Ó Tuama’s, Poetry Unbound.

In the meantime, I’ll be keeping busy writing songs and poems and I’m working on a short story too. Of course, I can’t wait to be able to get back on the road as soon as it’s safe. Nothing beats the raw feeling of being on stage, sharing songs with an audience.