We have been spoiled already this year with so much incredible new music, but today, March 25th, might be the most excited we’ve been here at Left of the Dial. We were so excited and overwhelmed by how much killer stuff came out today that we had to make a little holiday of it. We called in our team of writers to talk about a few of the albums we’re most excited for. Follow the links below to read more about each one and find out where you can pick them up! You can also tune into this week’s Left of the Dial podcast, where Kitzy and Andrea discuss these albums.
Bel – Beaches
“Equipped with a voice as flexible as it is featherweight, Isabel Furman (aka Bel) has quietly built a name for herself amid Philly’s underground. Her live shows display a young yet self-assured performer aware of her strengths as a songwriter; her debut EP Medicine, released early in 2020, furthered that notion. Amid breezy progressions and an intimate ambiance, Furman evinced sharp insights on how reexamining your past helps you gain your sea legs as a burgeoning adult.” – Read the rest of Rob’s review.
Camp Cope – Running With the Hurricane
“On Running with the Hurricane, Camp Cope write anthems.
That’s not a statement of quality so much as a statement of intent: on the Australian three-piece outfit’s third record, the band creates songs that are purpose-built to soar, that are aimed squarely at the part of the brain that needs to sing along in a crowd. You can picture nearly every track played live to a rapt audience; the songs feel big, with communal pleasure built in.” – Read the rest of Leah’s review.
Carly Cosgrove – See You in Chemistry
“Growth is difficult. It’s messy, confusing, and it’s never as clean as the movies make it seem. See You In Chemistry, the new album from Carly Cosgrove, understands that growing up is hectic and comes with loss, pain, and identity crises. As drummer Tyler Kramer puts it, ‘It’s not the obvious, cliché growth album. It’s more about how hard growth actually is.'” Read the rest of Jenn’s review.
Proper. – The Great American Novel
“The Great American Novel—Proper.’s follow-up to their 2019 album I Spent the Winter Writing Songs About Getting Better—might not be an emo album, but it’s obvious that the band still has a love and affinity for the genre. The Great American Novel’s soaring melodies and lyrical wordplay show a clear understanding of what makes emo, emo—even if, musically, the album refuses to settle into the genre.” – Read the rest of Jesse’s review.
Riverby – Absolution
“So much of Riverby’s newest album, Absolution, out today on Take This to Heart Records, is about control. Finding it. Taking it. And, if you’ve watched the video, you know it’s appropriate that its opening track “Baseless” feels like a full on baseball bat swing to the face. It’s a song that literally, figuratively, and musically, refuses to pull any punches. ‘It’s basically ‘I Love Rock and Roll’ with the weirdest riffs in between,’ Riverby’s lead singer/songwriter August Greenberg told Left of the Dial when they joined us on the podcast in February. It is also a deeply personal song, one that, when it was released, came with a content warning, and as August said, ‘This was kind of the first real song about something that happened in my life like that, that I put out there, so it didn’t even matter whether the response was good or bad, the fact that there was one at all, was terrifying.'” – Read the rest of Andrea’s review.
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