The Most Exciting Upcoming Releases, Fall 2024
Clockwise from top right: Cool World, Seed of a Seed, SABLE, The New Sound, Night Palace
2024 is stacked. Nearly every week, our feeds are flooded with announcements of upcoming releases and music news. When you’re someone who wants to listen to as many new releases as possible, this constant bombardment of information can be overwhelming and difficult to keep up with. To help you sort out what you should prioritize listening to, I’ve compiled five significant upcoming fall releases that I think you should listen to when they release.
Geordie Greep, The New Sound
When Geordie Greep, enigmatic guitarist and frontman of English prog maestros Black Midi, announced his debut record, The New Sound, hot on the heels of his band's decision to go on indefinite hiatus, it certainly came as a shock. To learn out of the blue that one of the most preeminent bands in modern rock music is calling it quits (for now) was already enough of a shock; yet to find out just days after that the group’s eccentric beating heart already has another batch of songs teed up for release was even more surprising, and a welcome surprise at that. While listening to “Holy, Holy,” the first single released alongside the announcement of The New Sound, it’s apparent that in translating his skillset to solo work, Greep has not lost any of the unconventional pizazz that made him such a showstopper - both on record and live. Everything you love about Black Midi is here: off-kilter guitar, operatic vocals, a smorgasbord of jazz fusion, prog, and samba, and even Greep’s signature narrative sweet spot for exploring the minds of pathetic, wretched men. And yet, there’s something so distinctly…Greep about it all, that totally separates this music from Black Midi, as though everything that Greep brought to the band has been carefully extracted and given its own room to flourish. It’s cleaner, simpler, and, intentionally or not, probably the funniest song he’s ever written. The New Sound releases October 4th on Rough Trade; “Holy Holy” and “Blues” are available to stream on all platforms now.
Chat Pile, Cool World
Late-stage capitalism doomsayers Chat Pile are back and bleaker than ever on Cool World, the long-awaited follow up to their exceptionally brutal, fiercely political 2022 debut God’s Country. The Oklahoman metal firebrands made a name for themselves with their distinctly miserable brand of sludge, a heady cocktail of gargantuan bass, serrated, dissonant riffs, and the downtrodden vocals of Raygun Busch, whose tendency to snap from woebegone sobs to blood curdling screams of agony on a moment’s notice provides for some of the most authentically terrifying moments in recent metal memory. The band shows no signs of slowing down on their new record, as their intense disdain for the capitalist ennui possessing the midwestern USA only grows stronger; “The wicked jester is dancing and clapping/As my big strong hands kill the people they told me,” rasps Busch with a blatantly sardonic tone in his voice on “Funny Man”, as if he already knows the futility of his words. Cool World releases October 11 on The Flenser, while “Masc”, “Funny Man” and “I Am Dog Now” are available to stream everywhere.
Bon Iver, SABLE,
Bon Iver is back! After a hiatus of over five years, Justin Vernon has returned to bless the world with a new EP, SABLE,, alongside leading single “S P E Y S I D E.” Vernon’s last proper release was 2019’s impressionistic I, I, which saw the singer-songwriter delving even deeper into his electronic impulses than the already outlandish 22, A Million several years prior. On “S P E Y S I D E” though, Vernon dials back the scale significantly. “These songs are reflections of unfinished business, of guilt and anguish,” reads the EP’s Bandcamp page, “SABLE is named for near-blackness, the record an externalized projection of his turmoil.” Likewise, the Wisconsin icon’s new single strips the sound down to his roots, all the way back to the intensely lonely cabin-fever of For Emma, Forever Ago; “But maybe you can still make a man from me/Here on Speyside quay/With what’s left of me.” SABLE, releases October 18 on Jagjaguwar; “S P E Y S I D E” is available to stream now.
Haley Heynderickx, Seed of a Seed
Haley Heynderickx, a songwriter most recognizable for the ever-popular chamber folk ballad “The Bug Collector,” is set to release her sophomore effort Seed of a Seed on November 1st, her first full-length record since 2018’s beloved I Need to Start a Garden: the title track and “Foxglove” have thus far been released as singles ahead of the album. “Seed of a Seed”, a characteristically gorgeous, acoustic ditty with cello and upright bass accompaniment, sees Heynderickx looking bigger than ever as she takes in the scope of her life, the lives of her parents, and even the lives of her grandparents, in a search for some greater purpose. Instead of trying to understand everything, though, Heynderickx finds that the sweetest pleasures come in small packages - a glass of wine, a little bit of time to yourself, or just another hand to hold through it all. Seed of a Seed is out November 1st on Mama Bird Recording Co. “Seed of a Seed” and “Foxglove” are available to stream now.
Mount Eerie, Night Palace
At this point, it’s undeniable that Phil Elverum is bona fide indie royalty. The legendary indie folk luminary behind The Microphones and Mount Eerie has, over the last two decades, cemented himself as one of the greatest creatives of his generation. Whether it be because many of his releases - such as 2001’s The Glow Pt. 2 or 2003’s Mount Eerie - are among the most striking and singular albums in the entire modern musical canon, or because his humbleness, musical sincerity and steadfast adherence to DIY-style production have made him one of the most commendable figures in all of indie, Elverum’s legacy is practically uncontested. At a whopping one hour and twenty-one minutes, Night Palace is set to be the longest record in his discography, a surprising fact considering that Elverum often includes multiple longform compositions on the same album. His last release, the 2020 Microphones revival record so aptly named Microphones in 2020, was composed of a single 45- minute piece, an intricate and meditative bird’s eye view of Elverum’s entire career and legacy soundtracked by a singular repetitious acoustic riff and a whirlpool of droning, eddying guitars. Now, on the 26- track Night Palace, Elverum goes in the opposite direction, and based on the fantastic lead singles “I Walk” and “Broom of Wind,” it sounds as though he’s returning to the classic indie folk sound of his heyday. However, the critical difference is that today, he sounds more content than he’s ever been. Night Palace comes out November 1st. “I Walk” and “Broom of Wind” are available to stream now.