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Castle Park – Graham Coxon

Britpop

Graham Coxon is better known as Blur’s guitarist, but he has released a few albums on his own. Castle Park is a remnant of recordings he did back in 2011 but never released then. It doesn’t bother me that it is «old», I still find the album fresh and fun, with sunny melodies and quirky arrangements.

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Emily Brimlow Sugarshack Sessions – Emily Brimlow

Popsoul

Emily Brimlow is a California singer‑songwriter whose work sits in a rootsy pop with a blues twang to her music. I rarely add concert albums to my list; I prefer albums that have been worked at in the studio, but I like the versions of songs that Brimlow are doing here, recorded in the famous Sugarchack venue in Florida.

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EQUILIBRIVM – ANITTA

Latin Pop

On to a 15-track project released in April 2026 by Brazilian superstar ANITTA, an album that balances Brazilian-rooted sounds with her international pop ambitions. She wants to grow, and it is her mix of samba with funk and pop that turns EQUILIBRIVM into more than your average latin album.

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Lifetime – Harmony Trividad

Pop

Many female artists try to stand out in the field of pop and indie, Harmony Trividad is one of them, and she only succeeds to a degree. Lifetime is an album with sensitive indie-pop with acoustic guitars, strings and decent songwriting. The lyrics are intimate and a bit sad on most tracks, but it is still a bit of sunshine her, enough to add Lifetime to this month’s list.

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November Embers – Gentlemen of the Woods

Folk/Americana

Gentlemen of the Woods are an Ottawa group, and this album offers the best within the genre of Americana, down-to-earth and no-frills, melodic and true folk music. This is their third album, but I really get the sense that these musicians have been around for a while, and as their band name suggests, true musical gentlemen.

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Swedish Jazz Standards – Asa Orbison

Vocal Jazz

Asa Orbison is a Swedish-American jazz singer, married to Roy Orbison Jr., and has decided to release an album of mostly American classic jazz anthems, but with Swedish lyrics, produced by her husband. The non-English lyrics add a twist to the songs, possibly for non-Swedish speakers as well, and the musicans she involves, like Ulf Wakenius on guitar, do a great job. These are straight forward interpretations – Asa Orbison doesn’t add much new to these songs – but I do enjoy listening to great songs performed by musicians who know their standards.

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Then Agian – Rodney Crowell

Country Rock

Veteran country singer Rodney Crowell has also dug into his old archive and found songs he recorded in the mid-2000s. He felt the album was premature back then. I have to say it surprised me to learn that these songs were written and recorded over 20 years ago, because they sound fresh and coming from a man who have lived a long life. Still, I enjoy the reflective and poetic songs as if these were written today, innovative and enjoyable country rock.

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PICK OF THE MONTH

Visitor – SIENNA SPIRO

Pop Soul

If you are longing for new music by Adele and RAYE, dive into this lovely new album by Sienna Spiro, a torch-song London-artist and one of the new stars of cinematic and classy pop soul. The Visitor is such a confident album, filled with vintage piano ballads, lush arrangements , and Spiro’s voice that are both old-soul and contemporary at once.

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You seem pretty sad for a girl so in love – OliviaRodrigo

Singer-Songwriter

I wrote earlier that many female artists try to succeed in the indie singer-songwriter field, and Olivia Rodrigo has already established herself as one of the most successful ones. This new album adds to her success, blending vulnerability with bite, as one reviewer put it. Yes, these are both sarcastic and self-mocking songs, but equally vulnerable and emotional. There is too much dreamy bedroom pop on the album for me to love the full release, but as usual I have picked the best tracks for you.

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Breakfast in America – Supertramp

Rock

Supertramp were a British band that specialised in a distinctive blend of pop and rock, with Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson giving the group its dual personality. Breakfast in America was their true breakthrough and an album that introduced the band to me. And introduced the Wurlitzer keyboard as well! Rick Davies put it in the centre in so many of the monster hits from the album and created this concise Supertramp sound. The songwriting was smart and ironic, as was the recognizable cover. Rick Davies sadly died last year, but the Superstramp story had ended long before. The guys split up as early as 1983, but luckily they gave us a couple of albums of fantastic pop music first.

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The Beatles

The sixth artist to enter my – very subjective – Hall of Fame had to be The Beatles. How could you take me and my Hall seriously without the greatest band ever in there? I have already included a number of their albums in my Classic Albums section, so the songs I have given you in the month’s list are all from other albums and singles, and these all have in common that they still are all-time favourites of mine. How one band could produce so much incredible pop music is beyond belief, but with three songwriters like Harrison, Lennon and McCartney on the team, we might have the answer right there. In addition, all fab four were excellent musicians and singers. Luckily all four of them continued to play and create music after the split. In fact, some of the best music from the four came after 1969. But listening to the quartet together, even when they in the end only functioned as backing musicians for each other, is still an unbeatable experience. I have been so lucky as to have experienced 50% of them together live, at a sad occasion remembering George Harrison, and I have been to one of McCartney’s solo concerts, but I will never stop envying those who actually caught the full band live.