The Lead Sheet ~ 6/3/2025

The Lead Sheet is your guide to this week’s new music - taking a look at newly released albums, who made them, and how listeners are responding. 

Pop superstar Miley Cyrus is back with a new album - Something Beautiful. The singer-songwriter's 9th LP has been well-received by fans, and medium-received by critics. Something Beautiful is a concept album- centered around the theme of healing old trauma and finding beautiful moments in the face of adversity. Cyrus’ new music is grandiose in scale featuring complex orchestration than one would typically find in a summer pop album, such as hypnotic sweeping synths, interludes with no vocals, and clever use of sound effects. Tracks like “Golden Burning Sun” feature the sounds of a motorcycle shifting gears, eventually blurring into musical pitches that drive the song forward. Some fans feel it may be her magnum opus, and is an authentic, artistic release than some of Cyrus’ more easily-digestible recent work. 

Swans, the uncompromising experimental rock band, released Birthing, their new 7-track album. Despite the lower than average number of songs, the album is nearly 2 hours long, with most tracks being close to 20 minutes. If you’re unfamiliar with their work, it resides in a more niche, ambient world, their music takes its sweet time to build, creating soundscapes and moods that draw the listener in and demand to be listened to without distraction. Birthing continues this trend, and frontman Michael Gira declares it Swans’ final “big sound” album- referring to the bands current phase of massive crescendo post-rock, this seems to hint at a return to their earlier work, pre-2010, which had a more stripped down, laid back folk flavor. Fans seemed to really enjoy Birthing, but are also optimistic about the band once again shifting gears, as it seems to have the habit of doing over the years. 

English folk rock band, caroline, (intentionally lowercased) released caroline 2, the sequel to their first album which debuted in 2022. Their first album was the result of experimentation and improvisation, and the new caroline 2 shares some of that flavor, but is also an easy listen. The 40 minute LP is nostalgic and emotionally cathartic, creating beautifully quiet reflective moments that grow and escalate into gorgeous anthemic, powerful choruses. caroline was founded with just 3 members, Jasper Llewellyn, Mike O’Malley and Casper Hughes, but has since expanded into an octet. A rocktet? Whatever they are, they’re effortlessly cool and fans of their earlier work are more than pleased with the new project. 

Speaking of cool, Singaporean singer Yeule released their fourth studio album, Evangelic Girl is a Gun this week. The person behind Yeule, Nat Cmiel, specializes in post-pop, glitch and shoegaze music, taking inspiration from influential 90’s bands like Smashing Pumpkins and Radiohead. Evangelic Girl, exhibits a distinct retrofuturism - like a 90’s vision of a cyberpunk future. Yeule’s new music is incredibly catchy, each track is beautifully balanced with snappy beats and interesting melodies, never relying too heavily on a rigid song structure. Despite it being a pop album, there’s plenty of edge and grit here, and it might just be my favorite of the week. 

Our next featured album is a re-release, Sufjan Stevens’ 2015 masterpiece, Carrie and Lowell, has been reproduced and expanded in a 10th anniversary edition. This new version features demo versions of the popular songs from 10 years ago. The reiteration is every bit as impactful now, with the alternative versions of the songs feeling raw, authentic and beautifully un-polished. Carrie and Lowell was written in the aftermath of the passing of Steven’s mother, and explores feelings of loss and grief with understated, folk instrumentation and densely poignant lyrics. Those who purchased the vinyl version of the album also received a 40 page book featuring family photos, hand drawn art and an essay from Stevens. 

Hot albums to check out this week:

Miley Cyrus - Something Beautiful 

Released May 30th 2025

Columbia Records

Swans - Birthing

Released May 30th, 2025

Young God 

caroline - caroline 2

Released May 30, 2025

Rough Trade Records

Yeule - Evangelic Girl is a Gun

Released May 30, 2025

Ninja Tune

Sufjan Stevens - Carrie and Lowell 10th Anniversary Edition

Released May 30th 2025

Asthmatic Kitty Records