STACK #258 April 2026

MUSIC FEATURE

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WHAT’S OUT

Whether it’s a voyage of musical discovery or a sonic reacquaintance with a favourite band or artist, check out these fresh releases heading to JB this month.

DERMOT KENNEDY The Weight of the Woods UNIVERSAL

Dermot Kennedy’s second album, Sonder , was a Top 20 hit on the Australian charts. The Irish folk artist has stayed close to home for his third album. “To me,

the album is a beautiful homegrown thing with Irish instruments and an Irish story,” he says. “There’s a forest behind my house, which is a haven for my sense of wonder. It’s a peaceful place where I can escape. I’ve entertained the idea of living somewhere else, but I don’t think I’d be happy anywhere else.”

EDITOR’S PICK

JAMES BLUNDELL Patience Wins MGM

ARLO PARKS Ambiguous Desire INERTIA English artist Anaïs

CHARLEY The Chronicles of a Serial Idealist UNIVERSAL

James Blundell, one of the greats of Australian country music, remains a fine storyteller. “After four decades in music, I still believe the best

This is the debut album for Sydney pop artist Charley, who recently took out the ‘Emerging Global Songwriter Award’ at the Vanda & Young Songwriting Competition for

Marinho, who records under the name of Arlo Parks, won the 2021

PEACH PRC Porcelain ISLAND AUSTRALIA Peach PRC is a pop star who’s not afraid to share her personal life with her fans. Her eagerly awaited debut album, which follows her chart-topping EP Manic Dream Pixie , takes its title from her stripper name “Miss Peach Porcelain”, and a couple of tracks, The Palace and Miss Erotica , revisit her stripping days in Adelaide. But other songs reveal how a connection with nature has kept her grounded. In Miss Erotica , Peach sings, “I wanna be a star.” Mission accomplished. Porcelain is a collection of pulsating pop. It’s released the day after the artist’s 29th birthday and it should deliver another chart-topping gift.

Mercury Prize for ‘Best Album’ for her debut, Collapsed in Sunbeams . Her club-inspired third album, Ambiguous Desire , was preceded by the single 2Sided , which she explained was “about yearning and tension. It’s about being struck by a bolt of desire and building up the courage to put language to that feeling, to make it real.”

stories come from real life,” he says. “ Patience Wins is about the endurance and courage people show every day.” The album features a very special guest – Little Feat’s Billy Payne on Hammond, piano, and keys.

the song Man on the Moon , which is featured here. “This record is about finding hope in the mess,” she says. “Being honest, reflective, and learning to let go. These songs circle the same patterns of romanticising and repetition, which is how I landed on the idea of a ‘serial idealist.’” CHARLEY CROCKETT Age of the Ram UNIVERSAL

A$AP ROCKY Don’t Be Dumb SONY

JESSIE WARE Superbloom UNIVERSAL

American rapper A$AP Rocky has delivered one of the titles of the year with his fourth album: Don’t Be Dumb . Featuring a stack of

Superbloom is the sixth studio album for English pop star Jessie Ware. She said the first single, I Could Get Used to This , was “the opening

Age of the Ram is the 16th studio album for American country star Charley Crockett, who isn’t afraid to speak his mind. Earlier this year, he called President Trump a

guests – including Gorillaz, Doechii, Jessica Pratt, and will.i.am - the record has already hit number one in the US, becoming the artist’s third chart-topper.

statement of a new era”. Citing Grace Jones, Whitney Houston, and Barbra Streisand as influences, she added: “While I love dance music, I wanted to dig deeper with this record, to connect with real relationships and appreciate the love I have, and the fear I have of losing it.”

“grifter” and said that Elon Musk should be deported. Following the fictional character of Billy McClane, this is the third and final part of his “Sagebrush Trilogy”, which started with last year’s Lonesome Drifter . It was co-produced by Shooter Jennings, the son of country legend Waylon Jennings. CORROSION OF CONFORMITY Good God/Baad Man INERTIA American metal band

BRUCE HORNSBY Indigo Park ROCKET

JOE JACKSON Hope and Fury ROCKET

Forty years after he broke big with The Way It Is , Bruce Hornsby has delivered a new album of jazzy pop. “It’s just an old bastard looking back,” he

Forty-seven years after his first album, Joe Jackson still looks – and sounds - sharp. “Hello cruel world,” he sings on Hope and Fury , his 22nd

Corrosion of Conformity have been rocking since 1982 but didn’t hit the Australian charts until their most recent album, 2018’s No Cross No Crown .

smiles. “To be honest, I’ve found a way, a path to grow old gracefully, with help from some newborn friends of mine.” Bruce and his band, The Noisemakers, collaborated with Bonnie Raitt, legendary bass player Pino Palladino, and two late-great members of the Grateful Dead, Bob Weir and Robert Hunter.

Their 11th studio album, a double, is the first since the passing of drummer Reed Mullin. His place has been filled by Stanton Moore, who played on C.O.C’s 2005 album In the Arms of God . Singer Pepper Keenan explains that “each album is its own tiny universe and has its own identity. Good God leans toward the heavier/pissed end of the spectrum. Baad Man is more on the throwdown rock scope.”

studio album, his first rock record in seven years. “I’m not going away, so I might as well have my say.” Recorded in New York and Berlin, Hope and Fury is trademark Joe Jackson, who’s had eight Top 40 albums in Australia. Biting and edgy.

38 APRIL 2026

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