Holy Moly, There Were a Ton of Great Releases This Week: Part One
Though musically different, Janelle Monáe and Jenny Lewis have to summer-defining records declaring that doing your own thing and accepting yourself is the key to happiness.
A few weeks ago, I mentioned that May was a bit of a dry spell for consistently noteworthy albums, and the first week of June continued this trend. Then this last Friday rolled around, and enough outstanding records dropped that would have kept me busy for the past month, but we’ll roll through them in a short week.
Here are two early summer-defining records you need to hear now, and I’ll be back Friday with the other batch of equally exceptional albums.
Janelle Monáe - The Age of Pleasure
You don’t need me to notify you about a release as massive as The Age of Pleasure, the fourth album by Janelle Monáe, her first since the critically-acclaimed Dirty Computer. I’m here instead to tell you that if you live under a rock and haven’t listened to The Age of Pleasure, get on it!
I’ve read far too many complaints about this record not musically matching her previous efforts. Still, if you accept The Age of Pleasure for what it is, a fun and free-wheeling summer pop record, this thing is addicting. A lot has changed for Monáe over the past five years, as she becomes more confident in her sexuality and smorgasbord of relationship preferences, and she celebrates this through reggae, R&B, and Afrofuture vignettes of liberating declarations. Ditching her signature tuxedo for a bikini, and often much less, Monáe is fearlessly free of the public image she’s been stuck under throughout her career on The Age of Pleasure.
Like Caroline Polachek’s Desire, I Want to Turn Into You from earlier this year, Janelle Monáe delivers a rare commercial pop “W” here, and with its running time barely over thirty minutes, you’ll be quick to grab more candy from The Age of Pleasure jar.
The Age of Pleasure is available on Bad Boy Entertainment.
Jenny Lewis - Joy’all
In the early aughts, Rilo Kiley, the indie rock act fronted by Jenny Lewis, was one of my favorite bands. Lewis, and fellow former child actor Blake Sennett, guided the group through four classic cult records, with 2004’s More Adventurous giving them massive mainstream buzz before imploding after their Warner Brothers dancefloor-driven debut, Under the Blacklight (which is still an excellent pop record). Things fell apart just when it seemed Rilo Kiley was on their way to being a household name, but Jenny Lewis was quick to move on, having already released the damn fine Rabbit Fur Coat with The Watson Twins between band breaks.
Lewis’s songwriting pace has slowed in the years since, but each time she releases a solo record, you know you’re usually in for something great as her craft and voice improve with each album. It’s been four years since On the Line, and with her new record, Joy’all is ready for a new chapter. A lifelong Angeleno, the west coast has always lent a vibe to Lewis’s work. For years, though, Lewis has been living in Nashville, and Joy’all is the first time we get to hear the country music town seep into her songs. Inspired by a pandemic-era songwriting series by Beck, Lewis used the exercise to craft these songs about the struggles of relationships in her forties, whether with others or with herself. Ultimately, Lewis chooses to lean into the album title and choose happiness. With lines like “my forties are kicking my ass, and handing them to me in a margarita glass,” on the single “Puppy and a Truck,” Lewis shows that she still has the wit which leads to her best songs.
Sonically, you’ll be pressed to hear a more perfectly polished album this year than Joy’all. Working with nine-time Grammy award-winning producer Dave Cobb (Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell, John Prine, Chris Stapleton, etc.) in the historically landmarked RCA Studio A, you’ll hear Nashville’s ghosts throughout the record.
