12 New April Albums To Soothe Your Mood

By JC Villamere. 1 Apr 2020 2:13 PM

April showers will bring May flowers, no matter what. But one of the wee side effects of the very difficult global pandemic is that April may not bring new music.
Lady Gaga’s new record Chromatica is not coming out on April 10, as originally scheduled. “While I believe art is one of the strongest things we have to provide joy and healing to each other during times like this, it just doesn’t feel right to me to release this album with all that is going on during this global pandemic,” she wrote on Twitter. A new release date has not yet been set.
Willie Nelson’s First Rose Of Spring, originally set for an April 24 release, has been pushed back until July 3.
UPDATE: Rufus Wainwright has also decided to delay his new release. He shared this update on Facebook: “I am sorry to inform you all that the release date for my upcoming album Unfollow the Rules is being postponed to July 10 … The CD’s and Vinyl LP’s … are stuck in the warehouse as they had to shut down to make way for all essential businesses being able to operate at full speed to support our fight against COVID-19.”
All release dates are subject to change without notice, but we’ll do our best to keep you updated. In the meantime, here are all the albums that you are meant to hear this month, so get on it.

Paper Bag Records

Joseph Prezioso / AFP via Getty Images

Warner records

Scott Slusher

Chris Pizzello

Canadian Press

Hive Mind

Mackenzie Sweetnam/Getty Images

Shelby Fenlon

Killbeat

Shervin Lainez

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Born Ruffians
Paper Bag Records
The Strokes
Joseph Prezioso / AFP via Getty Images
Can you believe their last record, ‘Comedown Machine’, came out seven years ago? Can you believe their debut record, 'Is This It', came out (whisper it) 19 years ago? Can you believe how prescient the title of their new album is? It’s called ‘The New Abnormal’. Can you believe we’ve written this whole thing mostly as questions? You can? You can believe it? What’s that? You hate it? You want us to stop? Okay. The first single is “At the Door” and its video is both animated and creepy so check it out. ‘The New Abnormal’ will come out on April 10.
dvsn
Warner records
If you’ve only ever read their name and never said it, have no fear: it’s pronounced "division". This Canadian R&B duo will release ‘A Muse In Her Feelings’ on April 17. The lead single is “Between Us” [feat. Snoh Aalegra]. "We’ve never been afraid to take risks in our songwriting, and this time is no different,” the pair said in a statement about the track. “With Snoh’s help, we were able to casually blur the lines of communication and temptation.”
Corb Lund
Scott Slusher
This country 'n' western star from Taber, Alberta, is a national treasure and you can enhance your very Canadianness by watching him play live (someday). “I worked really hard on this album—harder than I’ve ever worked before,” Lund said in a statement. “This time around I took my time and wrote more songs, rehearsed more with the band, and explored sounds much more deeply. It took some time but I’m really proud of this one and I’m excited to finally be able to share it.” The Juno winner’s tenth album, 'Agricultural Tragic', will be available April 24.
Lucinda Williams
Chris Pizzello
“The devil comes into play quite a bit on this album,” the Americana singer-songwriter says in a press release. “I’ve always loved the imagery in Robert Johnson songs and those really dark Delta blues that are sort of biblical. I was inspired by Leonard Cohen – he dealt with that in his songs – and Bob Dylan and Nick Cave.” Williams' new album, ‘Good Souls Better Angels’, comes out April 24.
Ron Sexsmith
Canadian Press
He’s been at this for 25 years and this is his 16th record and aren't we lucky? Often described as Canada's foremost well-heeled troubadour, this Juno-winning songwriter from St. Catharines now calls Stratford home. His sweet 16th is ‘Hermitage’, out on April 17. Also out on the 17th is ‘44’ from Haligonian singer-songwriter Joel Plaskett. A big, conceptual followup to his Juno Award-winning triple record, ‘Three’, Plaskett's new one was recorded in Dartmouth, Memphis, Nashville, and Toronto with 33 different musicians. Get on board.
Nobro
Hive Mind
A new EP from Montreal’s Nobro is on the way April 3. The lead single from ‘Sick Hustle’ is "Marianna" and get excited because it has a bongo solo. "It’s a song about a girl named Marianna,” vocalist/bassist Kathryn McCaughey said in a statement “She is my best friend and the OG guitar player in Nobro. We thought we were going to take over the world with our “onslaught of shred and grit” but before we were about to play our biggest show to date, Marianna told me she was moving away to live on a goat farm in northern B.C. I was heartbroken—absolutely devastated. But as they say, 'The show must go on,' and it did and still does. I wrote her a song so at least when we play shows she can still be there with me, always."
The 1975
Mackenzie Sweetnam/Getty Images
‘Notes On A Conditional Form’, the fourth record from English rockers the 1975, drops on April 24. It follows last year’s ‘A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships’, which also seems relevant right now.
Scott Hardware
Shelby Fenlon
Toronto’s electropop star drops his sophomore album, ‘Engel’, on April 3. He’s been working on this record for three years and now it’s finally time to release the lead single, “Joy”. Hardware said in a statement that it’s “a song not about experiencing joy but a promise to myself to keep looking for it."
Tops
Killbeat
These Montreal indie rockers just launched their own label, Musique Tops, last year. And now they’re releasing ‘I Feel Alive’, their fourth album. We feel tired just thinking of how much work all that would be. ‘I Feel Alive’ is the follow-up to 2017’s ‘Sugar at the Gate’ and it drops April 3.
Fellow Montreal indie rock band Braids will launch their new record, ‘Shadow Offering’, on April 24.
Thin Lear
Shervin Lainez
Update: this baby has been delayed until July 24. Can you imagine a wooden cave? So cool. So cosy. It sounds like it would be a great spot in which to hunker. Thin Lear called his debut album ‘Wooden Cave’, so naturally, we want to spelunk all over it. "Disillusioned people getting lost in self-destructive or just generally dangerous thinking is a major theme of this album," Matt Longo, also known as Thin Lear, said in a statement. "The narrator in 'Maniacs' is pitching a cult-like community to an alienated, uncherished internet dweller. And you just know it's going to be a rapid descent for this person, that they'll soon be indoctrinated." Thin Lear is Queens-based. When you hear about a Queens-based artist, do you wonder if they’re from the university in Kingston, Ontario, or the New York City borough? We do. In Thin Lear’s case, it’s the New York City one. 'Wooden Cave' drops April 24 except now it's July 24, folks!

12 New April Albums To Soothe Your Mood

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