Yumi Zouma. Photo: Aaron Lee
We're all going to be spending more time at home in the coming weeks. The Herald entertainment team has some great recommendations for your time in.
The multi-talented Canadian musician, singer and producer has concocted a loose concept album, framing herself as a "anthropomorphic goddess of climate change" setting right the injustices mankind has inflicted on our planet. Cripes. She has her work cut out - but aren't we all looking for a new beginning of some kind?
Self-confessed "normal fella" Niall Horan proves he's not immune to love's ups and downs with his new album, Heartbreak Weather. The former One Direction star sweeps listeners through 14 tracks where the perspective, emotion and music are always shifting.
The Canadian electronic pop artist, real name Alexandra Ashley Hughes, has come into her own as an artist on her second album. The tracks are infectious and layered with spooky vocals. It includes noteworthy collaborations with Mitski on Susie Save Your Love, and Troye Sivan on Love Me Wrong.
The electro-pop of Yumi Zouma is as comfy and cosy as a favourite sweater and has the same relaxing effect when you put it on. Their fourth record doesn't break their finely crafted mould but this is not the time for drastic, sudden movements. Instead, make a nice cup of tea and simply let the Christchurch band's soothing sounds and warm earworm hooks wash over you.
Despite his controversial political views, early reviews concede that Morrissey has come up with a fairly impressive new album. The former Smiths frontman explores avant-garde and electronica in a bold release that will challenge perceptions.
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Dunedin folkie Nadia Reid expands her sonic palette on her third full-length record without getting carried away. Sensibly, Reid's earthy voice, searching lyrics and the strum of her acoustic guitar remain the focus while the luxuries of brass, synths, strings and drums engage in a delicate dance around them. An album with more questions than answers giving you plenty to ponder as it burrows under your skin.
The bass-heavy, roots-reggae grooves and Hall's show-stopping vocals combine to make a potent and powerful album that ends up greater than the sum of its inspirations. Leaning deeply into the heavier reggae styles of the 70s, as opposed to the chart-friendly pop variety, it's an album that could come only out of Aotearoa.
Blow away those isolation blues with the dynamite new record from Auckland's rockabilly queen, Tami Neilson. Sounding exactly like a long-lost album from Nashville's legendary Sun Records, this is a half-hour of stripped back, hip-shaking, good time rock 'n' roll that's guaranteed to get your joint jumping - even if our isolation precautions mean you're the only one in it.
On the 10-track follow-up to critically acclaimed debut Clean, Sophie Allison employs a spectrum of emotion across her lyrics and sonically weaves a consistent body of work.
Let Kevin Parker help you forget about all the world's worries and whack on Tame Impala's new blissed-out record, The Slow Rush. Following on from 2015's critically acclaimed Currents, Parker's fourth studio album boasts 12 tracks, melding psychedelic rock with elements of acid house and disco.
Remember the good old days of grunge? Now you can wind the clock back all the way to the 90s and re-acquaint yourself with Pearl Jam. The Seattle rock veterans are alive and kicking with their 11th album, and first in seven years, Gigaton, set for release on March 27.
Pop-punk legends Green Day are supposed to be headlining a major tour Down Under in November – depending how long coronavirus continues to impact our lives. In the meantime you can wrap your ears around new album Father Of All, which is just 26 minutes long and sounds a world away from the catchy material that has defined their career.
The legendary singer-songwriter's first new offering in five years sees him re-interpret more than a dozen classic standards, from jazz to show tunes from Rodgers and Hammerstein.
You could be forgiven for thinking Bob Geldof's group had called it a day but the Rats are back with their first album in 36 years. The Dublin outfit behind I Don't Like Mondays reformed in 2013 nearly 30 years after they disbanded, so you can either embrace the nostalgia or discover them for the first time.
One of the world's biggest pop stars, the Biebster, as no one calls him, made a fairly subdued return to the spotlight last month with his fifth studio album, and first in five years. Now 26, he's all grown up after getting sober and getting married, and Changes captures his sound progressing further into R & B with touches of electro and trap.
The Prince of Darkness may be battling Parkinson's disease but last month released his best album in years with Ordinary Man. The 71-year-old former Black Sabbath frontman is joined by Elton John on the title track and Post Malone on single It's A Raid. A follow-up is already in the works for this year.
From homegrown reality shows to global Netflix hits.