New Music Friday: 13th Floor New Album Picks: February 7, 2025
New Music Friday is with us once more! And once more we have five new releases we think deserve…nay…demand…your attention. We all know about the new Kendrick Lamar album, but what about Squid, The Jellybricks and Nadia Reid?
The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda picks these five new releases for your consideration:
- Nadia Reid – Enter Now Brightness (Slow Time/Chrysalis) It’s the highly-anticipated 4th album from Nadia Reid. Enter Now Brightness is a record of poise and great beauty, the sound of a cellular shift, of pain giving way to tenderness and joy. It takes its title from a passage in a book Reid was reading from a line that seemed to call out to her from the page: ‘Brightness entered the study.’ “I wrote that down,” she says. “It was the image of opening the curtain, or turning the light on, or of standing in the wings of a theatre and waiting to go on stage. It’s the idea of life beginning now.” Click here to read the 13th Floor album review.
2. Squid – Cowards (Warped) Now on their third album, Cowards, Squid simultaneously grow in scope and return to basics. The English art rock quintet extend and blend textures of folk, kosmische, psychedelia, jazz and electronics, concocting a record all about evil. Nine tracks, each a story where the protagonists grapple with cults, charisma, and apathy—real and imagined characters navigating the murky waters between right and wrong. Watch for a 13th Floor MusicTalk interview with Squid coming very soon!
3. Sharon Van Etten – Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory (Jagjaguwar) Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory is sonically different from Van Etten’s previous work. Writing and recording in total collaboration with her band for the first time, Van Etten finds the freedom that comes by letting go. “Sometimes it’s exciting, sometimes it’s scary, sometimes you feel stuck. It’s like every day feels a little different – just being at peace with whatever you’re feeling and whoever you are and how you relate to people in that moment. If I can just keep a sense of openness while knowing that my feelings change every day, that is all I can do right now. That and try to be the best person I can be while letting other people be who they are and not taking it personally and just being. I’m not there, but I’m trying to be there every day.”
4. The Jellybricks – Dreaming In Stereo (Wicked Cool) Power-pop from Central Pennsylvania! The Jellybricks are known for their catchy, harmony-driven, melodic rock ‘n’ roll, drawing inspiration from the ‘60s British Invasion to ‘90s Alternative. Guitarist/vocalist Larry Kennedy says, “We are incredibly excited to be releasing our new full-length album, “Dreaming In Stereo” on Wicked Cool Records! It’s our second full-length release for the label, and it will be the eighth full-length release of our career. We’re always looking for new ways to present our songs to a dedicated listening audience who have supported us for nearly three decades. We hope that these songs will entertain and please our long-time fans, as well as find their way into the hearts, minds and souls of many new ones!” Watch for a 13th Floor MusicTalk interview with The Jellybricks coming soon!
5. Horsebath – Another Farewell (Strolling Bones) Americana via Nova Scotia! Horsebath is a band of five musicians/songwriters who are very aware of the legacy that goes before them. “We wanted to take an ego-less, music-first approach that features as many musical genres and influences as possible,” bassist Etienne Beausoleil explained. “I don’t think it can be categorized as a specific musical genre, but more as a feeling — of adventure, of the road, of beauty and heartbreak.” Another Farewell reflects the dizzying breadth of their interests: the Tex-Mex rhythms of the Sir Douglas Quintet, the cowpoke eccentricities of Lee Hazlewood, the cosmic country of Gram Parsons, the somber self-reflection of Leonard Cohen, the out-of-time storytelling of The Band. And, yes, watch for a 13th Floor MusicTalk interview with Horsebath!
