Genesis Owusu, Spanish Love Songs, Angie McMahon & More: This Week’s Best New Music

Angie McMahon – Letting Go

Angie McMahon is finally ready to share the follow-up to her spellbinding debut album, 2019’s Salt, with Light, Dark, Light Again scheduled to land on October 27 via AWAL. Shared alongside the announcement this week was its second single (following the release of Saturn Returning last month), a cinematic heart-melter called Letting Go. In a press release, McMahon called it “a place to keep the lessons that I’ll keep on needing [and] reminders to go easy and gentle, be imperfect, let things leave...”

She added: “I’m always in the process of remembering to release what my brain clings to - thoughts, people, comfort zones - and land in the present moment. It’s so hard for me to do, and then such a euphoric relief when it happens, so that’s what we tried to capture in the recording. I hope someone screams ‘Letting Go’ in the car on an open road somewhere.”

Billie Eilish – What Was I Made For?

Who else is counting down the literal seconds until they can see the Barbie movie in cinemas next Wednesday? The soundtrack is certainly shaping up to be the best thing about it (aside from every glimpse we’ve seen of Hari Nef’s Doctor Barbie as the biggest scene-stealer of all time), and the latest preview of it comes from none other than Billie Eilish.

What Was I Made For? is painfully beautiful, with the alt-pop megastar singing softly over haunting grand piano chords: “I used to float / Now I just fall down / I used to know / But I’m not sure now / What I was made for / What was I made for?” Gentle strings and vocal harmonies add weight as the song progresses, but through and through, this is Eilish at her heartrending best – a simple, yet soulful ballad we’re sure will have some moviegoers (see: us) bawling into their popcorn next week.

Genesis Owusu – Tied Up!

This should come as a shock to absolutely no-one: Tied Up! – the new single by Canberra-native trailblazer Genesis Owusu – is a bloody scorcher. It’s funky, confident and just a whole lot of fun, sure to get bodies moving with its roaring electric guitars and kick-clap percussion. “The Roach continues to run through an absurd world,” Owusu said in a statement about it, “trivially trying to make sense of it. Maybe looking internally, focusing inward instead of outward, will provide some guidance? Who knows.”

The artist’s own take on the track might not say a lot about it, but therein lies its beauty: who gives a shit what it means? It fucking rules, that’s all that matters. Tied Up! is our second preview of Owusu’s forthcoming second album, STRUGGLER, which is due out on August 18 via Ourness and AWAL (with a massive national tour set to follow in December). It builds on the May release of Leaving The Light – another track y’all know we had to show some love.

Spanish Love Songs – Pendulum

2023 seems to be the year where every up-and-coming emo band in the US makes their major leap into the global mainstream, and next up is LA quintet Spanish Love Songs. Their fourth album, No Joy (due out August 25 via Pure Noise, coinciding with their debut Australian tour) is shaping up to be their best, with this third single balancing emotional impact with a stunning instrumental strain-and-release.

“The song is a few different stories blended together that all dance around the fact that death is such a solitary act,” frontman Dylan Slocum said of Pendulum in a press release. “The details of the stories are meant to feel vaguely familiar — someone on the verge of dying alone in a hospital; someone with dementia; countless friends who’ve decided to end it on their own terms. We’ve all lost someone. I think people generally don’t want to be left alone, or to die alone, yet that’s often all we’re left with. It’s all very terrifying, so a lot of the time I’m just trying to be present and enjoy what I’ve managed to scrape together. I wait for the pendulum of my worry to swing the other way, into some form of manic love.”

Troye Sivan – Rush

Troye Sivan has taken a break from his fast-rising role as Hollywood megastar (having recently acted in Three Months and The Idol) and all-around queer icon to deliver a fresh new pop anthem titled Rush. It shimmers with club-primed drive and sexual energy – heightened a thousandfold in the NSFW music video – marking a bold first preview of his upcoming third studio album, Something To Give Each Other. Also announced earlier this week, the full LP is due out on October 13 via EMI and Capitol.

In a press release, Sivan said his hot new tune reflects “the feeling of kissing a sweaty stranger on a dancefloor, a two-hour date that turned into a weekend, a crush, a winter, a summer – party after party, after party after party.” He added that it chronicles “all of my experiences from a chapter where I feel confident, free and liberated – independent, yet somehow the most connected to the music and community around me”, while the album itself celebrates “sex, dance, sweat, community, queerness, love and friendship”.