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New Music
Our favorite local music this month
As the leaves fall and the temperatures cool, local musicians are offering up music that welcomes change. A meditative new chapter from a favorite musician. A '90s alt-rock inspired album that explores the apathy and anxiety of the modern age. Our music critics share the new music from local artists that stuck with them this month.
Weakened Friends, 'Feels Like Hell'
Weakened Friends, an indie-rock band from Portland, Maine, begins its third album with the musical equivalent of an uphill sprint. The first four tracks of “Feels Like Hell” are a string of raw, riff-laden songs. “Get f---ed/ You’re a poison in my veins/ I’ll tear ‘em out/ ‘Til I’m nothing/ Bleed me out,” vocalist Sonia Sturino hollers on the album’s nihilistic opener, “Tough Luck (Bleed Me Out).” This effectively sets the tone for what’s to come: a tightly-written album very much indebted to ‘90s alt-rock, yet by no means in thrall to nostalgia. For Weakened Friends, the furious, stick-it-to-the-man ethos of that musical era provides the ideal emotional resonance to explore the apathy and anxiety of the modern age. “I stalk you from the screen/ It makes me feel insane/ I used to be around/ Now you’re just these lights and sounds,” Sturino sings on “Nosebleed,” their voice vibrating with barely suppressed panic.
None of which is to say that the band is incapable of anything resembling softness. Sturino exudes toughness as both a vocalist and a songwriter, but doesn’t shy away from vulnerability. “Maybe the worst of me’s worth something,” they sing on “Not For Nothing,” a line that passes for equanimity in an otherwise self-flagellating milieu. The band’s indebtedness to pop manifests in sticky hooks and soaring bridges, buoying the music’s natural antipathy. “Feels Like Hell” concludes with a cover of Natalie Imbruglia’s 1997 hit “Torn,” a beloved touchstone for Weakened Friends’ millennial cohort and arguably the band’s only capitulation to nostalgia. It functions as a release valve for all that anguish, an affirmation that it’s possible to derive pleasure from pain without prettying it up. — Amelia Mason
Jen Kearney, 'Gas Station Poet'
This truly outstanding release from Boston soul siren Jen Kearney shows that rhythm and blues remains a prime outlet for social commentary. Kearney describes the album as an examination of how greed and division have impacted modern life. It’s a message that her strong singing and the danceable grooves of her all-star Boston band deliver better than any academic essay. And just as Marvin Gaye and Bill Withers’ secret weapon was percussionist Bobbye Hall, much of the magic on the Latin and Afro-funk-inspired record comes from the presence of Lowell’s Yahuba Jose Garcia-Torres. (Kearney may have cut her teeth on the Boston roots rock scene, but she also spent several years as a member of U.K. acid jazz greats Snowboy & the Latin Section.)
Some of the cuts are right out of the headlines, like the class division anthem “Long Division” and “11 Minutes,” a musical critique of the brief all-female space trip. Others, like the title track and “Burn Me Down,” are portraits of humans trying to make it through today’s obstacles. One thing they all have in common is that they prove that music can still be smart and funky at the same time. — Noah Schaffer
Jen Kearney appears with Jesse Dee at Sanctuary in Maynard on Nov. 29.
Emmie Kelly, 'Mary'
Sapphic pop artist Emmie Kelly’s latest single “Mary" is about a toxic relationship with a girl who leaves her behind. It's a nostalgic retelling of heartbreak with vibrant strumming and effective storytelling. Kelly’s voice flutters and echoes as she tells the story of a girl who promised her the world and left. Now, she’s stuck “on the side of the road” searching for the piece of her heart that was ripped from her chest. “Did you fly to Japan?/ Did you meet a nice man?” she wonders. “Now I’m crying, oh Mary/ where did you go?”
A 2023 Emerson College graduate, the artist posted TikToks about the track, admitting that it is purposefully passive-aggressive. In the bridge, she asks, “Are/ you/ in your hometown?/ Guess you like it fine now!/ But you swore you’d never go back there, baby.” Kelly harmoniously blends sarcasm with raw emotion like a queer Sabrina Carpenter in her “emails i can’t send” era. The single art for “Mary” depicts Kelly attempting to hitchhike on the side of the road. She wears a vintage nightgown and T-strap Mary Janes with a pile of clothes and an old suitcase. Kelly looks frustrated as she raises her thumb to signal that she needs a ride. The visual conveys the feeling of being dropped by a seemingly happy situationship without any warning. — Maddie Browning
Dot Dev, 'There Was a Wind, But No Chime'
This one’s for the artists with day jobs, for those who balance creativity with stability and whimsy with discipline. The Allston-based rapper Devin Bailey is quite familiar with that act. For almost a decade, they have recorded and published music as Pink Navel, cultivating a passionate following around self-produced raps filled with nerdy pop culture references over beats characterized by lo-fi and kinetic sampling.
Their latest record is out under a new name, Dot Dev. It’s the opening of a new chapter that finds Bailey in a meditative place looking back on a long creative career. You can hear it right away in the album’s production, which is characterized by minimalist and down-tempo piano samples.
The ambience gives space to the existential rhymes of a writer wrangling with their role in the universe. From avoiding burnout on “Caricatures on the Pier,” to reflecting on legacy on “The Hyperlink that Kills You,” Bailey welcomes us into their inner life. Their invitation is clear as day on the album’s second track: “I don’t need you to respect me because I respect me/ I don't need you to love me because I love me/ And I want you to know that you can know me if you changed your mind.” — Lukas Harnisch
The New Limits, 'These Are The Nights'
Boston has played a sizable role in the ska scene thanks to the likes of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and a plethora of currently active bands. But local female-centered ska bands have been elusive, even though women played a major role in the music’s origins in Jamaica and revivals in the U.K. and U.S.
That’s why the appealing lead vocals and piano of Julia Wolfe and soaring trumpet of Michaela Olson give The New Limits such a refreshing sound. And while the septet plays plenty of positive third-wave ska bounce, songwriters Wolfe, guitarist Jacob Wake Up! and saxophonist Miles B. Robinson are just as adept in other styles. There’s the Detroit-soul on “Under the Sun,” the dub reggae-inspired “If I Could,” and even a touch of ragtime jazz on “Mr. Blue.” “These Are The Nights,” released on the revered Jump Up label, shows that The New Limits is yet another ska band that Boston can be proud of. — Noah Schaffer
The New Limits perform as Dancehall Crashers for Skalloween at the Rockwell in Somerville on Nov. 1 and perform their own material at The Parlour in Providence on Dec. 3 with The Planet Smashers.
Hohnen Ford feat. Tiny Habits, 'Skylight'
Tiny Habits met in the spring of 2021 at Berklee College of Music. The folk-pop trio started its career by singing original arrangements of covers in a stairwell on campus and posting the recordings on social media. The group has grown steadily since, opening for Noah Kahan, Gracie Abrams and James Taylor. Tiny Habits released its debut album “All For Something” last year.
They recently teamed up with Hohnen Ford for the single “Skylight.” Ford is a British alt-indie artist known for her intimate songwriting. “Skylight” is about finding the ghost of someone everywhere. Soft chirping and the rustle of a microphone open before simple chords and Ford’s stunning vocals begin. "Shouldn't I be well by now?/ Rolling through the stages/ But I’m stuck on the first pages/ Of that book you left behind.”
Tiny Habits joins in, filling the sonic space with a warm glow. Listeners can feel their voices rise to the window panes above and fracture into the sky. Tiny Habits is known for its seamless blend and haunting harmonies. The musicians’ talents are well utilized on this track. It's a lovely collaboration with light production mixed with the sounds of nature. My favorite line: “The grief has settled into stone/ Made my heart its happy home/ I’ll slowly carve it into something beautiful.” — Maddie Browning
