Sound Advice: 12.Sept.2025

The flood of great records continues! Today we're taking a quick look at the latest from Ivy, Dar Williams, Lail Arad, and more!

Longtime readers may recall that I reviewed 100 new (to me) records last year. Because I’m a glutton for punishment love music, I’m doing it again this year. This is the latest in the series.

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Good morning!

Today we’re taking a look at the latest from Ivy, Dar Williams, Maia Sharp, and more!

The boilerplate intro:

Every year, I celebrate all the great music we’ve been gifted while worrying that next year will see the other shoe drop. I first did that in December 2020 and have been proven wrong every month since. Not only are there a ton of releases steadily coming out, but it also transcends genre or any other artificial guardrail we try and put up—

In other words, a ton of good stuff is coming out, and there’s something for everyone. It’s almost overwhelming— but in all the best ways. Below is another batch that caught my attention recently.

A lot of recent releases landed on my radar all at once, and I want to shine a light on them before too much more time passes. Not quite an 88 lines about 44 records kind of deal, but close. More of a clearing the decks, if you will.

Let’s get into it!

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Ivy- Traces of You

Five years after losing creative engine Adam Schlesinger, Ivy is back with Traces of You.

The last time we heard new material from them was All Hours, a synth-forward pivot that left many fans blinking in confusion. Traces of You, by contrast, feels like Ivy returning to the house they built in the late '90s and early 2000s.

What's remarkable—at least to me—is that Schlesinger is everywhere. The band stitched his work back into the mix using fragments and demos tracked between 1995 and 2012. The result isn't eerie or gimmicky. I've always disliked things like hologram performances, and wondered if this might feel similar. It doesn't. What they've done here feels organic, not synthetic.

Dominique Durand still sounds like she's whispering secrets from the other side of the door, while Andy Chase and longtime collaborator Bruce Driscoll know exactly how to frame that haze and shimmer.

Traces of You fits seamlessly into Ivy's golden-era lineage. "The Midnight Hour" and "Say You Will" could easily sit on In the Clear, both are velvet melancholy and zero wasted motion. "Heartbreak" flirts with bossa nova. "Lose It All" luxuriates at its own pace. And "Hate That It's True" might be the most emotionally direct song they've ever recorded.

This record didn't have to exist. No one expected it, and maybe that's why it lands so powerfully. Traces of You feels like a gift and is easily among their finest work. It's a deliberate, impossibly cool farewell...or maybe just another pause. Either way, we're lucky to have it. (Bandcamp link)

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Dar Williams-Hummingbird Highway

Though known for folk music, Williams knows her way around other genres. On her 13th release, she wastes no time doing just that. Put Coins On His Eyes is classic bluegrass. Tu Sais Le Printemps is a fun bit of bossa nova¹ that will transport you to 1960s Paris, which makes for, as Williams puts it, “a light, flirty song amidst many gloomy news stories.” I’d submit that it’s just the sort of thing we can use right now.

The Way I Go is an uptempo track that will remind listeners of early Mary Chapin Carpenter work. I Want To See the Bright Lights Tonight is an excellent take on the Richard Thompson classic, kicking everything up just enough to get you moving. Maryland, Maryland is both a love letter to her home state and a call to action.

The styles are disparate, yet matched by Williams’ knack for crafting intricate narratives with rich storytelling that give you plenty to contemplate without weighing you down. Like any recipe, adding the wrong ingredient or the wrong amount can end in disaster. On Hummingbird Highway, all of these elements blend together to make a cohesive, compelling whole.

As Williams notes, “As I've gotten older, I feel more comfortable holding a lot of different threads in my hand to create more complicated patterns. Time has given me a better ability to hold a bunch of colors and temperaments and see what happens, where they become interesting new stories and also where I need to stop and untangle the themes and characters. It's daunting, and I've learned that, you know, daunting is fine, just keep going.” Amen. (Dar Williams’ website)

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Maia Sharp- Tomboy

Maia Sharp has written tracks for a long list of other singers. Her newest record, Tomboy, sharpens that instinct into something leaner, tougher, and oddly freer. Sharp shows her cards with the title: this album is about stance(s) and owning space you might have been told not to take up.

The production here is stripped down. The guitars cut nice, clean lines, and the drums are in the backseat. There are some horns, but they, too, are in a supporting role. Sharp's warm, husky voice carries the weight. There's a steadiness to it; a real old soul vibe.

She's not going it alone, though; plenty of people are along for the ride, including Terri Clark, who joins her on "Asking for a Friend," one of the highlights on the record.

What stands out to me is how unforced these songs feel. You don't get the sense of Sharp chasing relevance, clicks, or bending toward trends. Instead, Tomboy is fueled by simple melodies and clear emotions. Her writing is as tight as ever, less about clever turns and more about saying what matters to her.

It's the kind of album that sneaks up on you (or did for me, anyway). One listen sets the mood; give it a couple of listens, and little elements start popping out at you.

In the end, Tomboy is Sharp playing to her strengths. (Sharp’s website)

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Also awesome:

JF Robitaille & Lail Arad- Wild Moves:

One of the coolest things Substack used to do was host online workshops for writers. These meet & greets were not only informative—you always came away having learned something—but also genuinely fun. Part of the charm was the surprise; you never knew who you’d be paired with. At one of these sessions, I was lucky enough to be put in a small cohort with

Lail Arad

. She’s been making fantastic music for a long time, as has her partner Robitaille. Now, with Wild Moves, they’ve joined forces, and the result is a delight from start to finish. The record opens with Swim Toward Your Troubles, a track whose infectious refrain will have you singing along in no time. It only gets better from there. (Bandcamp Link)

Bleary Eyed- Easy:

You want some shoegaze? You got it! On their latest record, Philly’s Bleary Eyed bring it all: sludgy guitar, ethereal vocals, and just enough pop to keep you coming back for more. Somewhere, Kevin Shields is looking on and smiling. (Huge shoutout to

josh terry

for getting this on my radar!) (Bandcamp link)

Tullycraft-Shoot the Point:

Good news for twee pop fans! Tullycraft is back with Shoot the Point, their first release since 2019’s The Railway Prince Hotel. This is a newer band for me, and if I’m honest, my capacity for twee is negligible. But in this case, it’s easy to get swept away on a wave of infectious hooks, back-and-forth vocals between Sean Tollefson and Jenny Mears, and tambourines… so many tambourines. A seriously enjoyable record from a band that doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Also: I’m callin’ it now: “Jeanine’s Up Again and Blaring Faith by The Cure” is the wildest song title that’ll grace this page in 2025. (Bandcamp link)

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts on these records! Did I get it right, or am I way off the mark?

Thanks for being here,

Kevin—

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1. A recurrent theme this week!