Yasmin Williams 
Acadia  
(Nonesuch) 
★★★★

INSPIRED to take up the acoustic guitar after playing the Guitar Hero 2 video game, 27-year old Yasmin Williams now makes her debut for a (relatively) major label. The Virginia native plays the finger-style sitting with the instrument on her lap, conjuring stunningly beautiful, melodic contemporary folk music.  

She significantly broadens her sound on Acadia, working with other talented musicians like Rich Ruth (synths) and William Tyler (guitars). On Harvest she is joined by Darian Donovan Thomas on violin, while Hummingbird is a foot-tapping bluegrass workout. Later tracks like Dreamlake and Malamu include electric guitar riffage, with the latter a tribute to her early guitar heroes Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobain. 

Picked by Pitchfork online music website as one of the 25 New and Rising Artists Shaping the Future of Music in 2023, Williams is a worthy soaring star. 

The War On Drugs 
Live Drugs Again 
(Super High Quality) 
★★★★

FOLLOWING their 2020 record Live Drugs, the similarly imaginatively titled Live Drugs Again is a fantastic record of the intense touring schedule of The War On Drugs over the last four years. 

With nearly all of the songs taken from their last three critically acclaimed albums, the Philadelphia six-piece have become an electrifying live band. Frontman Adam Granduciel sounds a little unhinged at times, including on Burning where he spits out his lines and unleashes a Springsteenesque howl. 

He’s also one of the best aural world-builders working today, his motorik-Heartland Rock soundscapes stunning in their scope and emotional depths. The near 11-minute Under The Pressure rivals the studio version for its intensity, while Harmonia’s Dream comes into focus after a slow-build The Who-style synth intro. 

With the audience’s whoops and claps carefully bookending Granduciel’s immersive anthems, this is first-class Arena Rock. 

Various Artists 
Silver Patron Saints: The Songs Of Jesse Malin 
(Glassnote) 
★★★

INTRODUCED to the UK with his 2002 album The Fine Art Of Self Destruction, last year US singer-songwriter Jesse Malin tragically suffered a rare spinal stroke, leaving him paralysed from the waist down. 

With treatment limited by his health insurance, he has moved to a Buenos Aires facility for intense physical therapy. 

The 27 tracks on this tribute/benefit record, available in digital and LP formats, shows the Noo Yawker has made a lot of (famous) friends during his career. Artists including The Hold Steady, Lucinda Williams and Elvis Costello, Frank Turner and Billie Joe Armstrong, and each cover is one of Malin’s streetwise, invariably rousing indie rock songs. 

Oh Sheena finds Counting Crows on top form, while Bruce Springsteen’s take on She Don’t Love Me Now sounds like it was recorded during the sessions for his recent album of soul standards.