Album of the Week – 05/12/22

Things are getting very slow in the music world, with very few major new releases this week, but fear not… there is one absolute gem for your listening pleasure. Yes, it’s the return of Micah P Hinson!

Otherwise, there are new releases from Sophie Jamieson (Choosing), Terrence Fixmer (Shifting Signals) and even our own Maverick Sable (Lonely Are The Brave), who was inspired by one T Swift (Taylor to her friends) has re-recorded his debut 2012 album due to ongoing battles with its rights.

But when all is said and done, we ask you to sit back and enjoy the sounds of Micah at his best… another impressive release from the oddly ignored singer…

Album of the Week – Micah P. Hinson – I Lie To You

Born into a strict fundamentalist Christian household in Memphis and raised in the evangelist Abilene, TX, Micah sings with a weathered, husky, prophet-like voice. His songs feel like a patchwork of life experience, from his unsettled early days through his more recent years as a devoted father navigating divorce. Infusing his raw, poetic folk lyrics with inspiration taken from the industrial and alternative music of his youth, Hinson has established a reputation as one of the more innovative and interesting singer/songwriters in the international alt-folk scene.

But in early 2020, after releasing ten critically acclaimed albums and building a loyal international fanbase from the ground up, Micah P. Hinson nearly walked away from his music career. He felt trapped, explaining “It hit me that all I was doing was writing about my previous relationships and situations, and that meant I had nowhere to go. How can you progress as a human being into the future if all you’re doing is writing about all the shit that chains you to the past?”

When he found himself hunkered down in Spain at the start of the pandemic, Hinson took advantage of the time and space to reflect and recalibrate. He vowed from then on to only write about things happening in the present, but first wanted to gain closure by reworking and recording all of the remaining songs he saved over the last 25 years. I Lie To You represents the final chapter of a career spent looking in the past, featuring tracks written from his teenaged years through his thirties. The only song on the album written since he turned 40 last year, “Ignore The Days,” is an appropriate debut single that acts as the bridge between Hinson’s past and the new forward-focused life he is just beginning.

Albums of Note:

SOPHIE JAMIESON – Choosing

TERENCE FIXMER – Shifting Signals

MAVERICK SABRE – Lonely Are The Brave

LOUIS CULTURE – When Life Presents Obstacle

December 2nd:

— Adult Leisure – The Weekend Ritual EP

— Årabrot – Heart EP

— Babyface Ray – MOB

— The Beach Boys – Sail On Sailor – 1972

— Black Ox Orkestar – Everything Returns

— Creed – My Own Prison (Vinyl Reissue)

— Deströyer 666 – Never Surrender

— Eliza McLamb – Salt Circle EP

— Elvis Presley – Elvis On Tour

— Esperanza Spalding – Radio Music Society (Reissue)

— Georgia Maq – Live at Sydney Opera House EP

— half•alive – Conditions Of A Punk

— Hammers of Misfortune – Overtaker

— Hot Hot Heat – Make Up The Brjeakdown: Deluxe Edition

— Kadhja Bonet – California Holiday EP

— Lightships – Electric Cables (Reissue)

— Maher Shalal Hash Baz – Blues du Jour (Reissue)

— Mynolia – All Things Heavy

— Nazz (feat. Todd Rundgren) – Lost Masters & Demos

— Neal Casal – Rain, Wind and Speed (Vinyl Reissue)

— Neil Young – Harvest (50th Anniversary Edition)

— NOFX – Double Album

— The Pastels – The Last Great Wilderness (Reissue)

— Paul McCartney – The 7″ Singles Box

— RINI – UltraViolet EP

— RM (of BTS) – Indigo

— Robbie Williams – Life Thru A Lens (Deluxe Edition)

— Sarchasm – Conditional Love

— Shira Elias – SERVICES the EP

— Snotty Nose Rez Kids – I’M GOOD, HBU?

— SoiSong (Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson of Coil) – qXn948s (Reissue)

— Sophie Jamieson – Choosing

— Various Artists – A Tribute to Ryuichi Sakamoto – To the Moon and Back

— Various Artists – Southeast of Saturn, Vol. 2

— The Vince Guaraldi Trio – A Charlie Brown Christmas (Super Deluxe Edition)

— Virgin Prunes …If I Die, I Die (40th Anniversary Edition)

— Wage War – The Stripped Sessions

— White Lung – Premonition

— Yes – Progeny: Seven Shows From Seventy-Two

— Yusuf / Cat Stevens – Catch Bull At Four (50th Anniversary Edition)