The first and last Fridays of April are like mini Christmas mornings for music lovers—packed with releases we’re looking forward to. And the two in between aren’t too shabby either. Here are the 10 April albums we’re most excited about this month.
April 7
Blondshell: Blondshell
To accompany her self-titled debut record, Sabrina Teitelbaum, aka Blondshell, has already released the single “Joiner,” a tender, soaring paean of glittering acoustic wonder. “Joiner” is hypnotic, with hooks that stick with you for the long haul. What makes Teitelbaum’s work so compelling is how she is able to inject such poignant, specific imagery atop arrangements fluttering with such a recognizable alchemy and groove. “You’ve been running around L.A. with trash / Sleeping in bars with a gun in your bag / Asking, ‘Can I be someone else?’” she sings with the grandeur of a seasoned veteran who’s mastered a perfect verse. It’s clear that Teitelbaum is fixing to be a powerhouse in indie rock, and, if “Joiner” is any indication, the trajectory of Blondshell knows no ceiling. —Matt Mitchell
Devon Gilfillian: “Love You Anyway”
After kicking off the Paste Party in Austin earlier this month with a joyful, soulful set, Philadelphia native Devon Gilfillian continues to make waves with his “Right Kind of Crazy,” his latest single from his upcoming album Love You Anyway. Influenced in equal parts by the hip-hop of his own childhood and the soul music of his father’s, the album still feels of the moment. “Right Kind of Crazy” is a frenetic song of desperation and desire with a melody that will stick with you long after its final fade. —Josh Jackson
Wednesday: Rat Saw God
Asheville rockers Wednesday have returned with their fifth studio album, Rat Saw God. It’s the band’s first project of new music since Twin Plagues in 2021, though they released a record of covers, Mowing the Leaves Instead of Piling ‘em Up last year. Twin Plagues established Wednesday as a premiere rock band unafraid of mixing the soft and the loud. Kicked off by the heavy, sprawling, eight-minute single “Bull Believer,” Wednesday are proving why Rat Saw God is one of the most-anticipated albums of 2023. The track covers an entire country of sounds, pointing to Wednesday’s continued growth as a collective. The production is tight, the guitar work is immense and Karly Hartzman’s vocals are aweing. Hoping to build on the successes of their past two records, along with guitarist MJ Lenderman’s acclaimed 2022 solo effort Boat Songs, Wednesday are back with a well-curated vengeance. —Matt Mitchell
More notable April 7 releases: Daughter: Stereo Mind Game, Devon Church: Strange Strangers, Jana Horn: The Window Is the Dream, Matthew Logan Vasquez: As All Get Out, Mudhoney: Plastic Eternity, Overcoats: Winner, Ruston Kelly: The Weakness, Yaeji: With a Hammer
April 14
Fenne Lily: Big Picture
Bristol-born musician Fenne Lily’s third album Big Picture is one of the best forthcoming singer/songwriter projects on the docket in 2023. A follow-up to 2020’s BREACH, Big Picture is beautiful and tender, brimming with sharp lyricism and storytelling. The album was mixed by Jay Som’s Melina Duterte and some of the songs were done with contributions from Christian Lee Huston and Katy Kirby. Headlined by the mystical lead single “Lights Light Up,” Lily, again, is showcasing why she is one of the brightest songwriters we’ve got right now. “Lights Light Up” features a hypnotizing, supple guitar part paired with a well-paced snare drum. “We held each other while everything burned up ‘round us / And inside of me, too / That’s called love,” Lily sings on the track. Big Picture is a detour from Lily’s tales of retrospect on BREACH, as she fills the tracklist with vivid imagery of the present, sketching out a novela-in-song about two people doing whatever they can to keep their heads above water. “Writing this album was my attempt at bringing some kind of order to the disaster that was 2020,” Lily said of the album in a statement. “By documenting the most vulnerable parts of that time, I felt like I reclaimed some kind of autonomy.” Big Picture is a confident catalog of love amid a mirage of unanswerable questions and doubts. —Matt Mitchell
Natalie Merchant: Keep Your Courage
Since leaving 10,000 Maniacs way back in 1994, Natalie Merchant has refused to let her work get pinned down as she’s worked in the mode of smoothed out pop and gone deep in an exploration of traditional folk music and poetry. Rest assured that her first album of original material in nearly a decade will also defy any expectations as she worked on Keep Your Courage with a batch of contemporary classical composers and arrangers including Gabriel Kahane and Megan Gould and welcomed in contributions from global artists like Syrian clarinetist Kinan Azmeh and the Celtic ensemble Lúnasa. —Robert Ham
More notable April 14 releases: Angel Olson: Forever Means (EP), Bodywash: I Held the Shape While I Could, Brian Dunne: Loser on the Ropes, El Michels Affair & Black Thought: Gloriuos Game, Feist: Multitudes, Fruit Bats: A River Running to Your Heart, John Vanderslice: CRYSTALS 3.0, Kara Jackson: Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love?, Kid Koala: Creatures of Late Afternoon, Metallica: 72 Seasons, Neil Young & The Santa Monica Flyers: Somewhere Under the Rainbow, Temples: Exotico, The Tallest Man on Earth: Henry St., The Wood Brothers: Heart Is the Hero
April 21
Cinder Well: Cadence
Folk artist Cinder Well’s 2020 release No Summer was one of that year’s most pleasant surprises—an album that let the influence of traditional Irish music sink deep into songwriting already steeped in Americana and pop. The music was astringent, warming and wild. Well’s follow-up Cadence (April 17) leans a little more homegrown, recorded as it was near Venice Beach and with a band that pulls the music into a lane previously opened up by like minded artists such as Fleet Foxes and Laura Veirs. —Robert Ham
Everything But The Girl: Fuse
If “Nothing Left To Lose,” the first single released from Fuse, Everything But The Girl’s first new album in nearly a quarter-century, is anything to go by, the duo is picking up both right where they left off and smack dab in the center of our current musical epoch. That track is a soulful banger with gobs of sub-bass that stick to the ribs and flickering synths that briefly reveal the trysts and break ups happening in the darker corners of the dance club. The rest of the record follows suit, while sliding easily into lush ambient tracks suffused with cloudy memories. —Robert Ham
More notable April 21 releases: Esther Rose: Safe to Run, Ian Hunter: Defiance Part 1, Rodrigo y Gabriela: In Between Thoughts… A New World, Silver Moth: Black Bay, Smashing Pumpkins: Atum, St. Paul & the Broken Bones: Angels in Science Fiction, The Heavy: Amen, The Infamous Stringdusters: A Tribute to Flatt & Scruggs, The Mars Volta: Que Dios Te Maldiga Mi Corazon, The Rishis: August Moon, Trapper Schoepp: Siren Songs, Valley Queen: Chord of Sympathy
April 28
Indigo de Souza: All of This Will End
To celebrate the announcement of her forthcoming record All of This Will End, North Carolina singer, songwriter and indie rock powerhouse Indigo De Souza blessed us all with “Younger & Dumber,” a gargantuan acoustic ballad swollen with catharsis, ache and retrospect. It was one of the most emotional teaser tracks in recent memory, as De Souza opted to let us all know, quickly, that what was to follow her terrific 2021 record Any Shape You Take was nothing short of divine. To keep the momentum immense, she followed it up with “Smog,” a backbreaker indie track glossed over with delicious disco inflections. Where “Younger & Dumber” found her reflecting on the heartbreaking loss of her own youth, “Smog” is a story spun with doubt in the present. Here, she is restless, attempting to understand her own flaws, which include feeling most like herself at night when everyone else is asleep. The arrangements on the track are catchy and balanced. In the verses, De Souza takes a monotone, patient approach, until she lets her vocals cascade perfectly into a sound wall packed with an atmospheric pastiche of drum machines and synths: “I come alive in the nighttime, when everybody else is done / I come alive, it’s the right time to really start having fun / I don’t know how to turn around if I’m not ready / I don’t know how to tell you that your jokes aren’t funny.”
Joseph: The Sun
The Sun is the sister trio’s fourth studio album, following Good Luck, Kid released back in 2019. The band fundamentally started by playing ethereal folk, but gradually strayed from their dreamy rural sound to a grittier dynamic in Good Luck, Kid. Their soul-searching lyrics are elevated by gorgeous vocals and unique harmonies throughout their discography. Their voices are alluring and can reel in any kind of audience to listen to what they have to say. In their newest single “Nervous System,” the band calls out their own experiences with anxiety—hard lessons learned through relationships—and personal growth. It’s a classic pop song with strumming acoustics, a steady kick and sparkly electric guitar hooks. The chorus brings the most energy to the track with the sisters’ harmonies and phrasing, singing the lyrics, “No it’s not selfish if you save yourself. Don’t feed the paranoia, that won’t help. It’s in your head and it’s under your skin,” to drive the point in feeling safe within yourself despite negative external circumstances. —Rayne Antrim
The National: First Two Pages of Frankenstein
For the first time in four years, Brooklyn rock band The National have returned with new music. First Two Pages of Frankenstein, the follow-up to the band’s critically acclaimed 2019 record I Am Easy To Find, will arrive on April 28 via 4AD. The record will be the National’s ninth studio album since their self-titled debut in 2001 and will feature guest appearances from Sufjan Stevens, Phoebe Bridgers and Taylor Swift. First Two Pages of Frankenstein serves as the band’s first new music since their 2021 single “Weird Goodbyes,” which featured vocals from Bon Iver. The first single teased from First Two Pages of Frankenstein, “Tropic Morning News,” points to the National taking an upbeat direction akin to their 2013 project Trouble Will Find Me. With glittering guitars, atmospheric synths and Matt Berninger’s sprawling vocals, “Tropic Morning News” is an amalgamation of everything that makes a perfect National song work: fine-tuned arrangements, contemplative yet vulnerable lyrics from Berninger and a great, soul-awakening Aaron Dessner guitar part. —Matt Mitchell
More notable April 28 releases: Annie Blackman: Bug (EP), Braids: Euphoric Recall, Country Westerns: Forgive the City, Great Lake Swimmers: Uncertain Country, Jesse Ware: That! Feels! Good!
JFDR: Museum, Josh Ritter: Spectral Lines, Joy Oladokun: Proof of Life, Megafauna: Olympico, Neil Gaiman and FourPlay String Quartet: Signs of Life, Smokey Robinson: Gasms, The Damned: Darkadelic
The National: First Two Pages of Frankenstein, Tim Hecker: No Highs, Tommy Emmanuel: Accomplice Two, Zoon: Bekka Ma’ingan