The Hold Steady add splashes of brass to their new album, “Open Door Policy” (Positive Jams), which is a blend of blue-collar/barroom rock with a healthy dose of beer-and-shot special rally cries thrown in for brave measure. Born out of Brooklyn, the Hold Steady has always sounded like they were making music for the everyman. On “Policy,” they sound like they got a promotion with their newly acquired horn section, compliments of Stuart Bogie and Jordan McLean, alumni of U.S. Afrobeat collective Antibalas. The recent single, “Family Farm,” makes for some jangly pop and even includes a reference to a Van Halen ringtone. It’s air-punching fun. “Heavy Covenant” has an infectious hook, while the record’s opener, “The Feelers,” features the sweeping narrative of band front man Craig Finn, who speaks of ascending a mountain to visit the glitter-dusted son of a dead plutocrat. The Hold Steady as a whole have provided a soundtrack to many a foggy night, but their rock and stroll approach to writing songs creeps into your subconscious memory like a grocery list. There is fresh chemistry with the return of pianist Franz Nicolay and the record by these underdogs may take a couple of listens before it gets in your brain. And so what if the Hold Steady often has gone from bar band to lounge act? If it works, run with it.

•••

There’s something visceral about some folk music, how it weaves stories and themes into a luscious landscape through its thoughts and words. On “Echo” (Sacred Bone Records), Sidney, Australia, songstress Indigo Sparke shimmers with this, her debut album. Co-produced by Adrianne Lenker and Andrew Solo, the bulk of “Echo” was written pre-COVID, which proves interesting as the album tightly strings each track like the songs were written as an ensemble. Recurring themes of the universe and the cosmos pepper the tracks along with multiple mentions of heaven and hell. “Indigo’s writing and voice are ethereal and angelic and guide me through internal canyons and caves,” Lenker said in a statement. The album is stark, the atmosphere rapt. Sparke has a whisper of a voice, a soft glow, breathy enough that you can hear it but only if you metaphorically lean in. “Colourblind” shines with nods to singers like Maria McKee and even early Joni Mitchell. On “Golden Age,” Sparke gently offers, “Can I love you in the night?/ Can I watch you with my curious green eyes?/ I need a place to stay.” There is a surrender to time with Sparke on her journey over nine tracks. This album is about the human condition and the inevitability of life’s impermanence. “We are subconsciously processing all these things anyway,” Sparke has said. “It’s just that they’re quite confronting.”

•••

Don’t let the oddball name Smerz bother you. The Norwegian duo of Henriette Motzfeldt and Catharina Stoltenberg arrive with their first full-length LP, “Believer” (XL Recordings), and the result is a mix of throbbing tracks (the title cut), murky breakbeats and ruptured synthesizers.

The CD itself was recorded over three years in Copenhagen, drawing on the singers’ youth in choirs as well as current academic pursuits in music composition and mathematics. The songs are dimly lit at some points, room-rattling at others. The expansive landscape becomes fertile ground for the vocalists’ affectations. Rest assured, although hailing from Norway, they are no Cocteau Twins, but some listeners may draw comparisons: the lilting, fluttering voices, a lullaby of tip-toeing piano. The singer Enya may hit closer to home in the who-do-they-sound-like race. Draw your own conclusions and see if the title lives up to the question.

•••

On “As the Love Continues” (Rock Action Records), Scottish band Mogwai plays its cards close to the vest as they build mountainous songs about sadness and darkness. Mogwai’s melodies often sound like a brilliant eulogy for someone you don’t even know, but their songs are better than that. The first single, “Dry Fantasy,” is a gentle track, along the lines of a space-rock inclination. While much of the album features tracks of textile landscapes, “Richie Sacramento,” a track with David Berman’s vocals, finds the band reflective, almost lamenting, which is a contradiction of sorts when you compare the rest of this experiment’s bombastic sound. To best appreciate “As the Love Continues,” it’s good to remember that you’re listening to Glasgow rock – some of it is perky, other passages, solemn. The final effect is captivating.

Connecting all the dots is the tricky part.

Newsletter