12 Greatest Songs of the Week: Jens Lekman, Baxter Dury, Wolf Alice, Saint Etienne, and Extra
Plus P.E., Massive Thief, Stella Donnelly, Suede, and a Wrap-up of the Final Two Weeks’ Different Notable New Tracks
Aug 09, 2025
Welcome to the twenty seventh Songs of the Week of 2025. This week Stephen Humphries helped me determine what ought to make the record. We thought-about over 40 songs and narrowed it all the way down to a High 12. We didn’t do a Songs of the Week final week as a result of I used to be on trip (acquired again Thursday), so this week’s record covers the final two weeks.
Difficulty 74, The Protest Difficulty, is out now. It options Kathleen Hannah and Bartees Unusual on the 2 covers and could be purchased from us immediately right here.
In latest weeks we posted interviews with Open Mike Eagle, Gwenno (a My Firsts), Frankie Cosmos (a My Firsts), Tunde Adebimpe (a digital cowl story), and extra.
Within the final week we reviewed some albums.
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That can assist you type by way of the multitude of recent songs launched within the final two weeks, we now have picked the 12 finest the final 14 days needed to provide, adopted by some honorable mentions. Try the complete record beneath.
1. Jens Lekman: “Wedding ceremony in Leipzig”
Swedish singer/songwriter Jens Lekman is releasing a brand new album, Songs For Different Folks’s Weddings, on September 12 by way of Secretly Canadian, and this week he shared its newest single, the 10-minute “Wedding ceremony in Leipzig.”
Songs For Different Folks’s Weddings is impressed by Lekman’s time performing on the weddings of followers. It’s accompanied by a e book of the identical title written by Lekman and David Levithan. The e book got here out earlier this week by way of ABRAMS.
“‘Wedding ceremony in Leipzig’ is a music that by no means wished to finish, it simply saved writing itself,” explains Lekman in a press launch. “I feel it was 20 minutes lengthy at one level earlier than I began chopping it down. I feel I used to be subconsciously impressed by Lou Reed’s ‘Avenue Problem’ once I was writing it. Within the music we discover J, the marriage singer in our story, in a relatively determined and weak state as he makes his approach to a marriage gig in Leipzig. There he’s positioned on the dreaded singles desk, consisting of a bunch of loners and weirdos. And thru tales informed on the desk, he begins to ponder what it means to be alone.”
Lekman’s 2004 music “If You Ever Want a Stranger (To Sing at Your Wedding ceremony)” impressed followers to achieve out to Lekman to sing at their weddings, one thing the musician took to as a paid facet gig at a time when the monetary outlook for many musicians is lower than sure.
The press launch explains the idea of the novel and album in nice element: “Songs For Different Folks’s Weddings is a piece of fiction about J, an unlucky-in-love musician who moonlights as a marriage singer. J gathers with {couples} earlier than their massive day to be taught extra in regards to the intimate, unusual issues that introduced them collectively, so as to write an unique music to carry out for them at their marriage ceremony. However regardless of J’s penchant for locating the proper phrases for others, he can’t appear to do the identical for his personal love together with his girlfriend, V. Narratively, Songs For Different Folks’s Weddings follows J and V’s relationship, altering musically because the couple navigates the ups and downs of affection–with every new marriage ceremony offering its personal sonic background.”
Coauthor Levithan provides: “If Jens and I’ve completed our jobs, the novel and the album inform either side of J and V’s story—and the strain comes from how these sides match collectively.”
The album’s lead single “Sweet From a Stranger” was one among our Songs of the Week.
Learn our 2017 interview with Lekman on Life Will See You Now. By Mark Redfern
2. Baxter Dury: “Schadenfreude”
British musician Baxter Dury is releasing a brand new album, Allbarone, on September 12 by way of Heavenly. Final week he shared its third single, “Schadenfreude.”
Dury had this to say in regards to the music in a press launch: “I cherished making ‘Schadenfreude’ at Paul Epworth’s palatial studio. As quickly as we had the backing monitor, it remained on loop performed by way of these big bespoke audio system that appeared like Cocaine Daleks. It has this optimistic pulsating French dance really feel compromised by this barely over trustworthy fragile man lyric. Schadenfreude.”
Beforehand Dury shared the album’s first single, title monitor “Allbarone,” by way of a music video shot in Venice, Italy. It was one among our Songs of the Week. Then he shared its second single, “Return of the Sharp Heads,” which was additionally one among our Songs of the Week.
Paul Epworth (Adele, Florence + The Machine) produced Allbarone, which was recorded at his Church Studios in London. It follows Dury’s 2023 album, I Thought I Was Higher Than You, in addition to 2020’s The Evening Chancers and 2017’s Prince of Tears.
Learn our 2017 interview with Baxter Dury. By Mark Redfern
3. Wolf Alice: “White Horses”
Wolf Alice construct as much as the discharge of their extremely anticipated fourth album The Clearing with a model new monitor, “White Horses,” shared this week.
It’s the one music on The Clearing to function drummer Joel Amey on lead vocals, earlier than a harmonious duet with Ellie Rowsell takes maintain. Amey says in a press launch: “I used to be impressed by what songs we had already that had been changing into The Clearing; the sonic shapes we had been creating, the large acoustics, the harmonies, however I wished to underpin it with a driving Krautrock beat.”
The lyrics discover themes of identification and household. “We’ve by no means actually recognized the place we got here when it comes to heritage till lately,” Amey explains. “My mum and my aunt had been adopted, and for years it posed questions of identification and the place our roots lay for all of us, however for me, they by no means appeared like solutions I wanted to seek out out.”
Reflecting on years spent touring with the band, Amey continues: “I used to be on this massive journey with my finest mates, by no means feeling the necessity to name one place house, residing out of a suitcase, all of the stuff that comes with being in a band. I felt that the solutions to ‘who I’m and the place do I come from?’ didn’t matter a lot; I’d chosen my household and so they had been the individuals round me.”
However that modified as he acquired older. “White Horses was me making an attempt to place all that right into a tune, and Ellie, Joff and Theo helped me all alongside the best way.”
“White Horses” follows the critically acclaimed singles “Bloom Child Bloom” (which was was #1 on our Songs of the Week record) and “The Couch,” which arrived shortly after the band’s wonderful sundown set at Glastonbury and was additionally #1 on our Songs of the Week.
The Clearing is band’s fourth album and follows Blue Weekend, which was #2 on our High 100 Albums of 2021 record. The band wrote the album in Seven Sisters, North London, England and recorded it final 12 months in Los Angeles with Grammy profitable producer Greg Kurstin.
The press launch says The Clearing was influenced by ’70s traditional rock and is akin to Fleetwood Mac making an album in North London in 2025.
Learn our interview with Wolf Alice on Blue Weekend. By Andy Von Pip
4. Saint Etienne: “Take Me to the Pilot”
British indie-pop trio Saint Etienne are releasing a brand new album, Worldwide, which they’re describing as their last album, on September 5 by way of Heavenly. This week they shared its second single, “Take Me to the Pilot,” by way of a music video. Paul Hartnoll of Orbital co-wrote and produced the music. Alasdair McLellan directed the music’s video, which stars the dancer Jet and was filmed in Doncaster, UK, and Rome, Italy.
Saint Etienne are Sarah Cracknell, Pete Wiggs, and Bob Stanley.
Stanley had this to say in regards to the new single in a press launch: “‘Take Me to the Pilot’ is a darkish thriller, a flight to someplace new, someplace to make your coronary heart beat quicker. It’s about escape, disappearance, reinvention. Who’s the pilot? You don’t get to seek out out—that’s the thriller, and the enjoyable. Paul Hartnoll from Orbital and Tim Powell from Xenomania labored on it with us, and it would simply have the very best bassline we’ve ever launched.”
Wiggs provides: “Again in 1990, after Bob had written a bit on Orbital, the Hartnoll brothers kindly allow us to see their stage setup, we hadn’t completed something dwell but and had been barely mystified. I feel we remained so. Years later, now a lot wiser, I used to be reintroduced to Paul at a celebration in Hove, the place I now dwell. We saved bumping into one another on the seafront, acquired chatting, and though I wasn’t certain he’d say sure, I requested if he’d be up for writing a music with us. He did—and we like it!”
McLellan had this to say about directing the music’s video: “We had been taking pictures this lad known as Jet, a breakdancer, for Enviornment Homme+ when Bob acquired in contact a few video for Saint Etienne. I filmed Jet breakin’ exterior a bungalow in Tickhill, the village close to Doncaster the place I grew up. When Bob talked about the album was known as Worldwide, I made a decision to develop the thought and shoot a second half in Rome. It occurred to coincide with the Vatican selecting the subsequent Pope, so I assumed why not have Jet dancing by way of the streets, with piazzas and Ponte Sant’Angelo’s angel sculptures within the background? As we moved by way of the town, the video unfolded right into a form of breakin’ pilgrimage to St Peter’s within the Vatican.”
Beforehand Saint Etienne shared Worldwide’s lead single, “Glad.” “Glad” options Jez Williams of Doves on guitar and was co-written and produced with Tom Rowlands of The Chemical Brothers. It was shared by way of a music video and was one among our Songs of the Week.
The band say they aren’t precisely breaking apart and stay finest pals, however a press launch says “they don’t really feel like they need to go on ceaselessly and wished to exit with a bang.” Does this imply they’ll proceed to tour and play exhibits? Does it actually imply that in 10 years they’ll reform and put out a brand new album? All we all know is that the band are calling this their last album and we’ll take them at their phrase.
Worldwide was co-produced with Tim Powell (previously of Xenomania) and incorporates a slew of different friends, together with Confidence Man (whose Janet Planet duets with Cracknell on “Model New Me”), Erol Alkan, Vince Clarke, Nick Heyward (who duets on “The Go Betweens”), and Paul Hartnoll of Orbital.
The album is the short follow-up to The Evening, which solely got here out final December however was extra of a chillout immersive album supposed to be listened to in a single sitting than an everyday Saint Etienne album. The album earlier than that was 2021’s I’ve Been Attempting to Inform You.
Learn our 2025 interview with Saint Etienne on The Evening.
Learn our 2017 print journal interview with Saint Etienne.
Learn our 2017 prolonged Q&A with Saint Etienne. By Mark Redfern
5. P.E.: “Colour Coordinator” (Feat. Eleanor Friedberger)
6. Massive Thief: “Grandmother” (Feat. Laraaji)
7. Stella Donnelly: “Standing Ovation”
8. Suede: “Dancing With the Europeans”
9. Nourished By Time: “BABY BABY”
10. The Beths: “Mom, Pray for Me”
11. The Antlers: “Carnage”
12. Fats Canine: “Pray to That”
Honorable Mentions:
These songs virtually made the High 10.
Animal Collective: “Buddies on the Blackboard”
Ganser: “Stripe”
IDLES: “Rabbit Run”
Prewn: “System”
Slothrust: “Wildcard”
Wombo: “S.T. Titled”
Right here’s a useful Spotify playlist that includes the High 10 so as, adopted by all of the honorable mentions:
