Even the most hardened of rockers soften, particularly when they get older. In this month’s blog list we’ll be exposed to some of them and listen to the beauty of softness.

Lots of recently released albums are on display for your ears’ content, some you may have heard of, some well-hidden in the inner vaults of the streamers.

This month my blog has been through a slight facelift, I do hope you enjoy the new look and the slightly altered way of presenting the music to you. The links to Spotify are now found in the text itself.

The Short List: New Tracks

The Long List: Previous Tracks

This month’s blog title refers specifically to Blur and The National, both bands out with mostly mellow albums, and both with close to career best. I enjoyed Blur when they were playing britpop and rock, they still do, but some of the best tracks on their new album are beautiful ballads. The National have always be dark and moody, they still are, but I have never enjoyed them more than now. The last track of the album, Send for me, is a particularly mesmerizing love song. Both albums are impeccably produced, lovely harmonies and exquisite orchestrations.

I have not yet seen the Barbie movie, but having listened to the album, I get the gist of the story. Most tracks are not worth spending listening time on, but I enjoyed the fun in among others Lizzo’s Pink and a slightly new side of Billie Eilish.

This month’s most bizarre album – in a good way of course – is Because, a collection of gospels and spirituals performed by a countertenor and a jazz pianist, a countertenor being a classical male singing voice with a range of a female mezzosoprano. Reginald Mobley recreates some of the classical spirituals in a way that you just have to listen. Sometimes it is too much, but on most tracks there is a beauty there that I have never before heard. Babtiste Trotignon does his bit to give these songs a completely new coating.

I do like quirkiness, and Joanna Sternberg’s I’ve Got Me offers me more than I bargained for on what feels like a homemade album – in a good way of course. Her voice is raw, edgy, close to the microphone and close to a lived life. Similarly (but still very different) Lola Young invites us into her not so average life on a brilliant new collection. I have been a fan of her since she started recording. It is still beyond comprehension that she does not get more attention than she gets.

Another favorite artist of mine is Ricky Lee Jones. It is a long time since Chuck E was in love, and many of the songs on her cover album go equally far back. Her peculiar, attention-grabbing voice does not fit all the classics on the album, but there are still many interesting gems here.  I have tried to mine the for you.

When I was a student, I was for a brief period lucky to work with Bill Cantos, who has gone on to be a brilliant interpreter of both his own and other artists’  jazz compositions. His work with Burt Bacharach is legendary, and now he has also been involved with another classic artist, Herb Alpert (watch this space), but this month I want you to lend your ears to his solo album, Sensibility, that really shows off both his piano skills, his warm and flexible voice and his perfectionist compositions.

Ben Folds has been in the business as long as Bill, starting out in the early 90s with his own group Ben Folds Five. It is great to have him back, with his first album in 15 years, What Matters Most. This is accessible pop music at its best, piano driven and lush arrangements around his pleasant voice.  And if you like this album, my guess is you will also enjoy the latest from The Lemon Twigs, sweet, melodic, and well-crafted pop music. If you like slightly more edgy and tougher, listen to Paper Sparrows, a trio from Edinburgh, or the highly energetic self-titled album from Cut Worms. I have added spicy songs from both great new albums.

Bruno Major offers a more rounded taste on his third album, pop music heavily soul inspired, with Bruno’s sad voice lamenting about lost love and lost time.

The last album on this month’s list is from Norwegian chanteuse Susanne Sundfør, who is also known for her melancholic music. This is not necessarily the case on her latest album Blòmi, her strongest release to date. Although there are new age elements, poetry readings and such, most of the album is a joy to listen to. She is a rare artist, one of the many Norwegian female artists that has made an impact internationally.

Lots of interesting new singles in the playlist! (I have also sneaked in Kris Kristofferson’s homage to Sinead O’Connor, “Sister Sinead”, as a tribute to her from me as well; I was devasted to hear she had left us – more about that later.)

I have added a preview of master pianist Yuja Want’s collection of Rachmaninoff’s greatest, plus new singles from favourites Cigarettes After Sex, Zaz, Daisy Dash, Nellie McKay and Ian Shaw. You can also listen to attention-grabbing and stimulating single tracks from Fountaines D.C., King Princess and Judith Hill.  Actress and singer Bridget Everett of “Somebody, Somewhere” fame (catch that wonderful TV series if you haven’t already!) has released her lovely “Home” and Susanna (of Susanna & The Magic Orchestra) sings with my employer NRK’s own symphony orchestra. Finally, relax and enjoy singer Ashnaa and the smooth Usuru Narambulay.

This month’s classic work can be no other than I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got by Irish superstar Sinéad O’Connor, who sadly left us this Summer. This LP marked in many ways the peak of her career, although she released many brilliant albums afterwards, including her latest album “I’m Not Bossy, I’m the Boss” from 2014.  But I Do Not Want… shows off all her strengths at once, her convictions, her inspiring resilience – she never gave in whatever they threw at her. It hurt, though, and there is a lot of pain visible and audible on the album, both in her lyrics and in her voice. Have we ever had a female singer with a more insistent and yet beautiful voice? I don’t think so. We will never forget her.

1973 was the year many of us brought home the hand of George Harrison, the iconic cover of “Living in the Material World” (perhaps inspiring Madonna’s Material Girl a few years later?). Harrison had made the final break with The Beatles and created his own sound with lots of self-esteem. His Eastern philosophy-inspired anti-materialism flowered, creating memorable songs like “The Light that Has Lighted the World”, “Give me Love” and “Bangla desh”, while “Sue Me, Sue You Blues” showed there were som remnants of old bitter conflicts.