
Every week on RELEVANT Recommends, we recommend a few new releases worth your time and attention. Here are our favorite things coming out this week.
Shad: TAO
We at RELEVANT love Shad, so any new album from him is very exciting for us. TAO continues the Canadian rapper’s trajectory of invigorating hip-hop chalk full of thoughtful observations and self-deprecating humor. We’ll be listening to this one a lot this fall.
Noah Gundersen: A Pillar of Salt
Noah Gundersen’s quiet evolution continues apace, as the Olympia native continues to push his Americana sound into new territories and higher highs. He’s also continuing to explore his religious roots, trying to figure out how he’s been shaped by his devout upbringing and what he brings to the spiritual conversation today.
UPPERROOM: Love Note
This group of artists continues to set the tone for just how interesting and collaborative worship music can be in this era, reaching across multiple aisles to work with different artists all over the world.
Shannon Lay: Geist
Shannon Lay is from Los Angeles, but her music calls to mind the vistas of the open road, whether you’re cruising up the California coastline or through the Iowa cornfields. Geist is full of gentle, expansive melodies that are sparsely composed but feel like they could fill a whole horizon.
Magdalena Bay: Mercurial World
Indie pop duo Magdalena Bay sound like if one of those fake bands on a Nick Jr. TV show grew up. Bouncy, trippy melodies invite a lot of dancing, but existential lyrics get at the anxiety of our present era.
Lamb
Just in time for spooky season, A24 is back with a very strange, unsettling movie about a couple of Icelandic sheep farmers (Noomi Rapace and Hilmir Snaer Gudnason) on the edge of the world who are struggling to conceive until they happen upon very bizarre miracle, the details of which are probably best left unspoiled but, well, suffice to say, be careful what you wish for.