The best new albums arriving in 2022 — from Wet Leg to Liam Gallagher

Gigs might be up in the air but we’re sure to get some fantastic recorded music coming out this year
ES
David Smyth6 January 2022

As we know too well by now, it’s unwise to try to predict what will happen in the year to come. You may still have tickets to a gig that has changed its date three times or more. Even so, the timetable for recorded music ought to remain reliable. There are inevitably plenty of blockbusters still to be announced, with the likes of U2 and Kendrick Lamar among those rumoured to be making their return next year. Here are some highlights we’re certain are on the way.

Years & Years - Night Call

The bleakness of January will be brightened up considerably by the presence of Olly Alexander, who has correctly realised that he was by far the brightest star of the dance-pop trio Years & Years and rebranded it as his solo project. This third album is the first that’s entirely his own. He’s been keeping good company, draping himself across Elton John’s piano for a duet at the 2021 Brit Awards, and recording two songs with Kylie Minogue – one for her Disco album, the other a version of the sparkly recent Years & Years single Starstruck. And if major hits aren’t forthcoming, there are always those “new Doctor Who” rumours to fall back on.

Jan 21

Young T & Bugsey - Truth Be Told

Among others over the past year or two, Ra’chard “Young T” Tucker and Doyin “Bugsey” Julius showed you don’t need to be from London to make a big success of this rap thing, when the Nottingham duo received three Brit Award nominations at the start of 2021. They were for the pair’s debut mixtape, Plead the 5th, which produced not one but two platinum-selling singles. It remains to be seen whether anything quite as big as Strike a Pose and Don’t Rush will emerge from the follow-up, but the singles so far show that they’re still big on catchy melodies and smooth rhythms.

Jan 21

Bastille - Give Me the Future

Always one of pop’s more thoughtful frontmen, it’s no surprise that Dan Smith of Bastille is fretting about what the past two years mean on his band’s fourth album. He has said that the new music “reflects on the strangeness of living through times that can feel like science fiction,” and while there’s a futuristic feel to the sound, with plenty of digital modification on his vocals, those big melodies are still prominent and there should be plenty to please arena crowds in the spring. A-list songwriter Ryan Tedder is credited as executive producer and actor Riz Ahmed makes a spoken word appearance too.

Feb 4

Mitski - Laurel Hell

The Japanese-American singer-songwriter Mitski Miyawaki took five albums to make a critical and commercial breakthrough with Be the Cowboy, which was named in numerous publications as one of the best albums of 2018 and also acquired all-important TikTok fame, thanks to the one-word chorus of her song Nobody. The follow-up is sure to earn plenty of attention, with the Eighties thunder of the first single, The Only Heartbreaker, getting the ball rolling nicely. Plus the album is named after the Appalachian experience of getting stuck in a large beautiful thicket and dying, which can’t help but intrigue.

Feb 4

Alt-J - The Dream

The two singles that have already been released from Mercury-winning indie band Alt-J’s fourth album could hardly be more different. On U&ME, they’re enjoying the sun at a festival with their friends, realising that “Happiness is between two buns” and building up to a bright, optimistic chorus. Meanwhile, Get Better is a detailed fictional account of a partner dying, a quiet acoustic ballad on which singer Joe Newman tries to “Raise a spoon to frontline workers.” It sounds as if the trio have benefited from a full year off from music in 2019, followed by the space to create during lockdown, and will be ready to continue being one of our strangest, and best, bands in 2022.

Feb 11

Big Thief - Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You

Given that New York indie folk quartet Big Thief released their third and fourth albums just five months apart in 2019, it should come as no surprise to learn that their fifth is a big beast containing 20 songs. Even so, they have been pruning. They say they completed 45 numbers across four different recording sessions in upstate New York, Topanga Canyon, the Rocky Mountains and Tucson, Arizona. Even that title sounds like multiple albums smooshed together, and though the songs released so far indicate the breadth of the sound, from the acoustic intimacy of Change to the shoegaze jangle of Little Things, Adrianne Lenker’s remarkable voice holds everything together.

Feb 11

Hurray for the Riff Raff - Life on Earth

This will be Alynda Segarra’s first album in five years, and her first for David Byrne’s label Nonesuch, so it’s unsurprising that the New Orleans-based singer-songwriter has moved on sonically too. Her last release as Hurray for the Riff Raff, The Navigator, was a strident concept album that explored the politics of her Puerto Rican heritage. This time she’s got even closer to her roots, after a fashion. She says the fast-strumming first single, Rhododendron, is about “finding rebellion in plant life. Being called by the natural world and seeing the life that surrounds you in a way you never have.”

Feb 18

Charli XCX - Crash

Signed to her major label record deal at just 16, Charli XCX is now 29 and has announced this fifth album as the last one of her contract. Perhaps that means she’ll journey further into the weirder end of her futurepop sound once she’s a free agent. It could also mean that this is her last chance for a big push to match the commercial success of early hits such as Boom Clap and Fancy with Iggy Azalea. The lead single, Good Ones, has a strong hint of Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) about it, and no doubt there are more big songs on the way.

March 18

Jack White - Fear of the Dawn/Entering Heaven Alive

Without all that pesky touring getting in the way, Jack White is another musician who’s been able to spend his recent time recording more songs than usual. Instead of a double, he’s releasing two standalone albums in 2022, 12 tracks on Fear of the Dawn in April followed by 11 more on Entering Heaven Alive in July. They are connected, however. The first begins with the incendiary electro-rock of Taking Me Back, while the latter closes with the same song, renamed Taking Me Back (Gently) and given a folky, fiddle-heavy makeover.

April 8/July 22

Wet Leg - Wet Leg

It’s a measure of the excitement surrounding indie rock duo Hester Chambers and Rhian Teasdale that their next tour sold out on the basis of just two songs and a grand total of five-and-a-half minutes of music. Chaise Longue in particular was a dazzlingly good introduction, full of hilarious deadpan lyrics and an immediately loveable chorus. Now there are four songs out there and a debut album featuring eight more on the way. Signed to the esteemed Domino Records, it’s too easy to make a comparison with the impeccable introductory flourishes of their new labelmates Franz Ferdinand and Arctic Monkeys, but they really are that good.

April 8

Liam Gallagher - C’mon You Know

Liam Gallagher
handout

It’s unusual to announce a specific release date for a new album seven months ahead of time, as Liam Gallagher did when he revealed the existence of his third solo long player at the start of October. He must have needed something to strengthen the idea that he’s still a contemporary artist because he’s simultaneously plotting a major journey back in time. His return to the site of the legendary Oasis gigs at Knebworth Park for two more giant shows of his own, 26 years on, will surely be the most talked about event of the summer.

May 27

Koffee - Gifted

There’s still no confirmed date for Mikayla Simpson’s debut album as Koffee, but the reggae star from Spanish Town, Jamaica, does have a sparkling single, West Indies, to confirm it will be worth the wait. Her story so far also suggests that hers will be the album to bring reggae back to global significance in 2022. She somehow won Best Reggae Album at the 2020 Grammys for an EP featuring only five songs, and has been a welcome presence on songs by J Hus and John Legend too. A full length showcase of her talents ought to elevate her still higher.

Date TBC

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