Joan Armatrading and Mykki Blanco serve up new albums this week

MYKKI BLANCO — BROKEN HEARTS & BEAUTY SLEEP

Mykki Blanco began as a character — a stage persona created by the talented Michael David Quattlebaum Jr. But a decade later, the frontier between creator and creation is virtually non-existent. The California-born non-binary rapper-artist has converged and mini-album Broken Hearts & Beauty Sleep encapsulates every inch of this.

This nine-track effort is their first official release in five years and their debut on London’s Transgressive Records. It marks a shift from performance artist to artist full-stop, full of personal tales of heartbreak and joy, accompanied by electronic producer FaltyDL’s bubbling pop and R&B beats.

Speaking about their past releases, Blanco says: “I couldn’t continue on that same trajectory. “I can’t call myself a serious musician if you can’t go on a journey bumping a Mykki Blanco record from start to finish.”

Broken Hearts & Beauty Sleep certainly achieves that, doing away with traditional notions of pop and rap and replacing them with woozy beats and clever, reflective lyrics. 7/10 (Review by Alex Green)

MARINA — ANCIENT DREAMS IN A MODERN LAND

Marina Diamandis has by this point surely earned her place among the modern pop greats. The Welsh-Greek singer, formerly known as Marina and the Diamonds, has tackled all manner of subjects in her music, from mental health to love, war and feminism.

Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land is another home run: a rousing, humorous message in a bottle featuring uplifting lyrics, her quasi-operatic voice and the kind of radio-friendly electropop experiencing a renaissance thanks to the likes of Robyn and Jessie Ware.

Diamandis’ political views have always augmented her music and here they give it a toothy bite as she lashes out at the world’s misogynists. “They’ll shame you, blame you / Pretend to even hate you / Take away your rights / Pacify you with their lies,” she sings on Venus Fly Trap.

I challenge you to find a song that namechecks the pandemic, capitalism, Britney Spears and Harvey Weinstein with such easy grace and humour as Purge The Poison. Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land is another step forward and among Diamandis’ best. 8/10 (Review by Alex Green)

BENJAMIN FRANCIS LEFTWICH — TO CARRY A WHALE

Singer-songwriter Benjamin Francis Leftwich takes an unflinchingly frank look at the life of a recovering alcoholic in To Carry A Whale. The album, his first for two years, is “an observation on what it’s like to be a sober alcoholic addict a couple of years in”, Leftwich has said.

His tender new 10-track release features musings on drug use, addiction, love and loss. It has two clear high points in Cherry

In Tacoma and Full Full Colour, two singles off the album which are richly textured and compelling.

However, much of the rest of the album feels more middle-of-the-road and pedestrian, perhaps most notable with Sydney 2013 and Oh My God. While there are a few gems here for Leftwich’s fans, To Carry A Whale fails to maintain the high standards of its best songs and just misses out on jumping from mediocrity to greatness. 6/10 (Review by Tom Horton)

JOAN ARMATRADING

— CONSEQUENCES

It may be Joan Armatrading’s 22nd studio album but the British singer-songwriter has lost none of her creativity. Consequences is released nearly 50 years after her 1972 debut Whatever’s For Us and three years since her most recent album Not Too Far Away.

It’s an album about all types of love but not necessarily her own experiences, as Armatrading likes to keep her personal life private and her songs are said to be influenced by observations of others. Yet the lyrics of the 10 tracks reveal a real understanding about the different manifestations of love — from the dizzy excitement of Glorious Madness to the easy companionship of the jazz-influenced Natural Rhythm.

The catchy Already There is about someone finally arriving at the same emotional place as you while title track Consequences, an unpredictable mix of musical styles, looks at the more challenging side of love.

The track that leaves you humming days later, though, is the two-tone Better Life — a positive singalong tune about loving yourself. 7/10 (Review by Beverley Rouse)

KINGS OF CONVENIENCE

— PEACE OR LOVE

Two decades on, is quiet still the new loud? Straight out of Bergen, Kings Of Convenience emerged into a musical landscape of noisy guitar bands like The Strokes and The Libertines, and did the opposite. By turning down the volume, the 2001 debut album by Eirik Glambek Boe and Erlend Oye, Quiet Is The New Loud spawned an acoustic movement, along with the likes of Turin Brakes.

But this is the just the fourth album the Norwegians have released, and their first in 12 years, amid time spent on other projects such as Oye’s electronic The Whitest Boy Alive. Now, together again, seconds into first track Rumours it’s clear they’ve not given into any temptation to turn the amps up to 11.

They’ve not been overcomplicating things either — the formula of gentle acoustic guitar, understated harmonies and subtle strings still in place, and while Fever has programmed drums they are virtually subliminal.

But sometimes the simplest music can be the most difficult to do, and these 11 songs, mostly two voices and two acoustic guitars, have a pure and timeless quality, with Oye saying they’re “trying to be inventive without reinventing ourselves”. 7/10 (Review by Matthew George).