Pop critics for The New York Times weigh in on notable new tracks.
Bad Bunny, ‘Una Velita’
On the seventh anniversary of Hurricane Maria, which left lasting damage to Puerto Rico, Bad Bunny has released the mournful, resentful, adamant “Una Velita” (“Little Candle”). “It’s going to happen again,” he warns in Spanish. “Here comes the storm, who’s going to save us?” Faraway guitars, deep Afro-Caribbean drumming and a choir back him as he recalls the insufficient government response to Maria: “Five thousand were left to die, and we’ll never forget that.” Before the next storm, he calls for God’s protection and for self-reliance: “It’s up to the people to save the people.”
Jane’s Addiction, ‘True Love’
The reunited original lineup of Jane’s Addiction has just canceled its tour and announced a band hiatus after an onstage fistfight midway through a Boston concert. But that hasn’t precluded the release of “True Love,” the second single from the reconvened band. It’s an unironic, even romantic tribute to “basking in the glory of true love,” free of anyone else’s judgments. The minor-key, relatively subdued arrangement — reverb-laden guitar, mallets on drums — only underlines the song’s sense of commitment, even if the band has fractured again.
Bon Iver, ‘Speyside’
Reemerging as Bon Iver after years of big-name pop collaborations — Kanye West, Taylor Swift — Justin Vernon returns to the unplugged sound of his pained, isolated, candid, folky debut album, “For Emma, Forever Ago.” He strums and picks an acoustic guitar and considers a life where “nothing’s really happened like I thought it would.” He sings about regrets, self-doubt and forlorn hope: “Maybe you can still make a man of me,” he offers.
Jamie xx featuring Romy and Oliver Sim, ‘Waited All Night’
“Waited All Night” reunites the three members of the xx for a song that propels the original group’s spirit of deep yearning and anxious uncertainty onto a high-tech dance floor. “Would you want to feel it/Could I be this close to you?” Romy sings; Sims muses about “the smile to die for/something just like yours.” As they sing about the hesitancy of waiting all night, Jamie xx’s production mutates through quick-changing techno and house permutations, urging them on.
Yola, ‘Future Enemies’
Yola makes a preventive strike against a tempting relationship in “Future Enemies,” already sure that it’s doomed. “Why don’t we just not?/So I don’t wish I’d never met you,” she reasons. The music makes clear it’s not an easy choice. It’s chunky, slow-building soul-rock that has her wailing and rasping and leaping up to her soprano, frustrated at her own better judgment.
Mortimer featuring Damian Marley, ‘In My Time’
Jamaican reggae singer Mortimer explores vulnerability, introversion and sorrows on his debut album, “From Within,” over roots-reggae tracks with 21st-century touches. Its opening song, “In My Time,” places a minor-key reggae throb under electronic blips. Mortimer broods about disinformation and racism, while Damian Marley takes on the manipulations of the internet: “Although you think you have a choice, dem ah tell you what to do.”
Oxlade featuring Wande Coal, ‘Asunasa (Hold Your Waist)’
“As soon as I hold your waist, all my sorrows disappear,” Nigerian songwriter Oxlade sings on his new album, “OFA (Oxlade From Africa),” flanked by harmonies and responses from Wande Coal. But it’s not an upbeat situation. Sometimes the singer has his “spirits lifted,” but elsewhere she’s “calling me a criminal” and has him “so addicted.” The Afrobeats rhythm is muffled, with terse minor keyboard chords and unexpected layers of bells and hand drums; the tone is needy and obsessive, far from bliss.
Manu Chao, ‘River Why’
After 17 years between studio albums, Manu Chao — the French-born, Basque-bred, polyglot, globe-hopping songwriter — has reappeared as if nothing has changed. “River Why” is from his new album, “Viva Tu,” and like his old international hits, it’s lean and catchy, built for singalongs. The rhythmic foundation is reggae, reduced to drum-machine loops and acoustic guitars. Maybe the song title is a reference to the 1957 war film “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” but “River Why” also hints at existential and ecological questions. Before Chao takes his verses, a female chorus chants, “This is not success, this is not conquest/This is just a collective suicide.”
Tucker Zimmerman, ‘The Season’
Songwriter Tucker Zimmerman, 83, has been releasing albums since 1969, garnering fans through the years including David Bowie and now Adrianne Lenker’s band, Big Thief, which backs him on an album due in October, “Dance of Love.” Zimmerman and Lenker share a fondness for folk-rock arrangements and wordplay that can be cryptic or droll. In “The Season,” they harmonize — his weathered voice and her fond near-whisper — over quietly strummed acoustic guitar and restrained pedal steel as they contemplate mortality. “I’m so lucky to be alive,” Zimmerman sings; Lenker adds, “and kicking too.”
Talking Heads featuring Arthur Russell, ‘Psycho Killer (Acoustic Version)’
A much-expanded reissue of “Talking Heads: 77,” the band’s debut album, includes this alternate version of “Psycho Killer.” David Byrne sings different lyrics in the second verse. But the even more significant change is that the familiar band arrangement makes way for cellist, songwriter, minimalist composer and disco producer Arthur Russell. He digs in with grunting cello riffs alongside the rhythm guitar, then seizes the end of the song with a ferocious, swooping tremolo solo — true punk cello.
cumgirl8, ‘Ahhhh!hhhh! (I Don’t Wanna Go)’
Wallflowers, introverts and party-haters now have an impeccable electro-pop anthem. “I just wanna be in my home alone,” the women in cumgirl8 sing over a metronomic, pulsating, octave-bouncing track that would make Eurythmics proud. Other lyrics, and a playful video, challenge all sorts of female stereotypes. Yet the track itself would easily pump up the party that the singers wouldn’t attend. It’s complicated.
The Armed, ‘New! Christianity’
The Armed’s 2023 album “Perfect Saviors” brought unabashed melody to the band’s longtime hard-core assault. “New! Christianity” previews “Everlasting Gaze,” an EP due in October that’s an epilogue to that album. The lyrics — from a would-be messianic narrator — continue the band’s fascination with faith and idol worship; they arrive as a stately melody besieged by background shouts and a quadruple-time barrage of drums.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
