What Was That

By Lorde

The Californian hippy-chickness of Lorde’s 2021’s album Solar Power made it a less involving and enduring affair than its two predecessors. After her magic trick of turning the vividly personal into stadium pop on both breakthrough debut Pure Heroine and its even better big sister Melodrama, Solar Power felt smug, baggy and lightweight. So, it’s interesting here to hear Ella Yelich-O’Connor, 28, revisiting her teenage years (“Since I was seventeen, I gave you everything”) on this new single, as well as returning to the propulsive electronica of Melodrama’s meatier numbers. Much like Green Light was to Melodrama, What Was That is a promising, invigorating first cut for a new fourth album, done with US producer Jim-E Stack, who is also all over the new Bon Iver record. The song suggests if Solar Power was a bit stoned, the new album is made of stronger stuff (“MDMA in the back garden, blew our pupils up”) and it’s in a New York state of mind both in the lyric (Brooklyn music venue Baby’s All Right gets a mention) and mood. The new album will be right out after the inevitable social media campaign and cryptic Instagram posts about What It All Means. Oh well. Sounds like she’s got a comeback hit on her hands with this one. – Russell Baillie

You and Me Time

by James Bay and Sheryl Crow

Although country-rock by the numbers, this pairing of Britain’s popular Bay and the long-running Crow (who first appeared with the massive selling Tuesday Night Music Club album in 1993) works as a whoop-along upbeat single for mainstream and country radio. Nice sentiment in the midst of angst-pop: “All I want is you and me time”. Pop for adults? – Graham Reid

Dust on My Brain

By Bakers Eddy

Having got some local radio attention with Manners Street, which appeared in this column in February, Wellington-born, Melbourne based punk-pop band release another rousing number on the way to their second album. Complete with a deja vu “yeah-yeah” hook that sounds quite Young Blood by the Naked and Famous, albeit at much higher rpm. – Russell Baillie 

She Came for a Sweet Time

By Late Night Drive Home

The attention-getting second single from a forthcoming debut album from this Hispanic indie rock outfit from El Paso Texas suggests something much further away from the border – New York of the early 2000s. LNDH’s wiry guitars, the vocals of Andre Portillo, and the band-in-crammed-space vibe suggest them as the Lone Star State’s late-arriving heirs to the Strokes, among others. Seems to work. – Russell Baillie

Invincible (From Kaiju No 8)

by One Republic

The band which seems to have a knack of getting their songs well-placed: in Top Gun: Maverick (I Ain’t Worried); a collaboration on the slow burning dance anthem Fire for the UEFA Euro 2024 tournament and Nobody for the end credits of the anime feature Kaiju No. 8. This generic dancefloor pop appears in a new spin-off episode of Kaiju No. 8. Very passable electropop. “Big in Japan” used to be a joke, right? No longer. – Graham Reid

Darkness Always Wins

by Halestorm

Not quite as defeatist as the title suggests because as frontwoman Lzzy Hale explains, history is repeating, evil is prevailing, but we stay the course even if we may not see victory in our lifetime. That’s a lot of serious thinking to assimilate as this heroic rock anthem unfurls its military strength riffs and Hale’s inspirational howl. New album soon, let’s hope it arrives before evil takes an even greater grip. Play loud and hope for the best. – Graham Reid

Elgar Cello Concerto in E

By Jacqueline du Pré cello, London Symphony Orchestra, John Barbirolli conductor

Almost 57 when war was declared, Elgar was too old to fight in WWI. He was, however, deeply affected by the carnage, and is said to have been able to hear, from his Sussex garden, the bombs exploding in France. Elgar’s musical response was the Cello Concerto in E, his last major work, and arguably his greatest of all. It is fitting that this recording, featuring a young Jacqueline du Pré, is similarly regarded as one of classical music’s high points. – Richard Betts