New Music Friday: 13th Floor New Album Picks: March 17, 2023

New Music Friday is here again. The 13th Floor’s Marty Duda presents this week’s 5 new albums for your consideration including 3 Kiwis, a Canadian and some Swedes.

1. Unknown Mortal Orchestra – V (Jagjaguwar): A double album from UMO! Here’s what Ruban Nielson has to say about it: “In Hawaii, everything shifted off of me and my music, suddenly I was spending more time figuring out what others need and what my role is within my family. I also learned that things I thought were true of myself are bigger than I thought. My way of making mischief – that’s not just me – that’s my whole Polynesian side. I thought I was walking away from music to focus on family, but the two ended up connecting.”

2. Mice On Stilts – I Am Proud Of You (Self): Seven years in the making! I Am Proud Of You explores the growing pains of addiction, sobriety and recovery. From court houses to hospital beds and jail cells to rehab, the album is an introspective offering of redemption.

3. Death and Vanilla – Flicker (Fire): The Swedish trio return with their unique pop music revitalised after assimilating the motorik spirals of Can, Philip Glass and The Cure’s dreamier pop sounds. Click here to watch the 13th Floor interview with Death and Vanilla

4. Lynn Miles – Tumbleweedy World (True North): The 16^th album from veteran Canadian singer-songwriter Lynn Miles. “These are songs that arrive at a moment when global instability illuminated the fragility of personal relationships,” she says. “They’re about impermanence (“I’m a lonesome drifting girl / In my tumbleweedyworld”). About incompatibility (“I wish you were a night owl, too”). About the left (Johnny Without June) and about the leaving (Hide Your Heart). About spiteful endings (All Bitter Never Sweet). About how those endings are never crystal clear, about the complications of regret (“All these years I’ve been carrying around this heart / There’s always been a tiny missing part / I couldn’t name it or maybe I wouldn’t dare / Cause I know I’d have to walk through fire to go back there”). They’re songs about navigating life’s hurdles, about dodging tumbleweeds, about leaving stuck situations.

5. Surf Friends – Sonic Waves (Flying Nun) Their 5^th Studio Album! Surf Friends say of Sonic Waves that “the focus of the record was to keep it raw and more distorted than previous releases. Most of the tracks’ guitars had separate channels recorded via a Peavey Rage 108 distortion amp – as a side note, Jeremy Toy (She’s So Rad, Leonard Charles, Sommerset) put this together like 25 years ago for Brad when he was his guitar teacher! Mark Howden also pushed us a bit in production, which was cool.”