7 New Songs You Should Hear Now | UNW

1. Raye featuring Al Green: “Goodbye Henry”

Though Raye has been big in the U.K. for a few years now — in 2024, she won more Brit Awards in a single ceremony than any other artist in history — she only recently broke through on this side of the pond with her soulful smash “Where Is My Husband!” Last month, she released her second album “This Music May Contain Hope.,” a wildly ambitious, gloriously theatrical LP chock-full of old-soul razzle-dazzle. (It has all but convinced me that Raye will be tapped for a Bond theme song in the next few years, and that she’ll probably win an Oscar for it.) One of my favorite tracks is this mid-tempo blast of meta-melancholy (“This is a sad song, though it feels happy,” Raye warns us upfront) that features a verse from a very special guest, the one and only Reverend Al Green.

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2. Jill Scott featuring Tierra Whack: “Norf Side”

Here’s another dynamic duo: the R&B eminence Jill Scott and the hip-hop innovator Tierra Whack, who both proudly represent North Philadelphia on this cut from Scott’s latest LP, “To Whom This May Concern.” Though the album came out in February, I’ve found myself returning to it quite a bit in the past few weeks; I really appreciate its lived-in wisdom and positivity. Whack scores extra Philly points here for rhyming “hoagie” with “rigatoni.”

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3. My New Band Believe: “In the Blink of an Eye”

The virtuosic experimental rock band Black Midi has been on an indefinite hiatus for the past two years, leaving its members free to pursue other projects. Cameron Picton, one of the group’s former lead vocalists and multi-instrumentalists, started a project last year called My New Band Believe and released a self-titled debut album earlier this month. As on this ornately arranged and frantically picked track, My New Band Believe often sounds to me like Destroyer might if Dan Bejar played a 36-string acoustic guitar, something I did not realize I needed in my musical life until right now.

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4. Wendy Eisenberg: “Meaning Business”

While we’re on the subject of guitar virtuosos valiantly attempting to compress their sprawling talents into folk songs that teem with kinetic energy, Wendy Eisenberg has a new self-titled album out, too. “I don’t see the little kid that grew so fast, and I really miss her,” Eisenberg sings on this ruminative pastoral that contemplates the curious nature of time.

▶ Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube

5. underscores: “Tell Me (U Want It)”

This shapeshifting, irresistibly catchy leadoff track from “U,” the latest album from underscores, the pop experimentalist April Harper Grey, considers the elusive nature of desire: “I get what I want and then find out right after I get it, I don’t even want it,” Grey sings amid rhythmic glitches and crystalline synths.