New FUV Faves: Week of August 22

A snapshot of some of the new music you're hearing on WFUV:

Alvvays, "Easy on Your Own?"
This pretty, shoegazy track — which questions university life — comes from the Canadian quintet's upcoming third studio album, Blue Rev, released on October 7. It's the band's first album in five years, since 2017's Antisocialites, which was shortlisted for Canada's prestigious Polaris Music Prize in 2018 and won the Juno that year for Best Alternative Album.

Alvvays (pronounced "always"), is led by singer and guitarist Molly Rankin, who hails from tiny but densely populated Prince Edward Island. Her bandmates are keyboardist Kerri MacLellan, guitarist Alec O’Hanley, bassist Abbey Blackwell, and drummer Sheridan Riley. As part of their fall North American tour, Alvvays plays Brooklyn's Kings Theatre on November 16.

Broken Bells, "Saturdays"
Danger Mouse is extremely busy these days. Not only did the powerhouse producer (real name Brian Burton) release Cheat Codes with The Roots' Black Thought this month, but Burton's other side gig, Broken Bells, has a forthcoming album this fall too — the band's first since 2014's After the Disco.

Burton and The Shins' James Mercer release their third collaborative album, Into the Blue, on October 7. "Saturdays" is the second single from this new project; Broken Bells released "We're Not In Orbit Yet..." in June. Mercer is equally time-crunched these days, touring with The Shins to mark the 21st anniverary of that band's Oh, Inverted World — and that band will be in New York City this week, playing Radio City Music Hall (8/23) and Brooklyn Steel (8/24).

First Aid Kit, "Out of My Head"
In addition to covering Don Henley's "The Boys of Summer," which FUV has been spinning, First Aid Kit have a fifth studio album, Palomino, due out on November 4. As always, the Swedish sisters' soaring harmonies on "Out of My Head," their new single, are divine.

Palomino is the first album that Johanna and Klara Söderberg have recorded in Sweden since their debut album, The Big Black & The Blue, a dozen years ago. Said the sisters in a press release: "It’s probably our most pop sounding record yet. We took inspiration from all over the place — old acts such as Fleetwood Mac, Carole King, Tom Petty, T Rex, Elton John but also Angel Olsen, Whitney, and Big Thief. The title is a reference to freedom, learning how to stand on your own two feet."

First Aid Kit have wrapped up their tour supporting Lord Huron, which included a stop at Forest Hills Stadium on August 19.

Sylvan Esso, "Echo Party"
Wanna dance? You've got a jittery end-of-summer dubstep anthem, "Echo Party," thanks to Sylvan Esso, who dropped a surprise album, No Rules Sandy, this month, previewing it in its entirety at the Newport Folk Festival in July. Amelia Meath and her husband Nick Sanborn recorded No Rules Sandy in a rented East Los Angeles studio in just three weeks, reveling in sensual, glitchy, electronic experimentation.

In a profile of the North Carolina duo in the New York Times, Jon Pareles writes that this new album, a companion to 2020's more wistful Free Love, "celebrates renewed, unconstrained motion: lighthearted on the surface, purposeful at its core."

Sylvan Esso open for Odesza at Forest Hills Stadium on August 26 and 27.