MJ Lenderman's new LP. Nala Sinephro. Sarah Davachi. A new music playlist.

Also: A fresh Waxahatchee jam. The Softies. Ellen Reid. David Berman RIP.

Nala Sinephro: a composer and her harp. Photo by Kris Tofjan

It’s been a crazy-busy week for new music, so let’s get to it. But first: a special, extra-large thank you to my paid subscribers — you make this project sustainable, and I’m truly grateful. Let me know in comments what you’ve enjoyed in these first two months of newsletters, and what you’d like to see more of.

Three new albums in particular have fascinated, soothed and delighted me for weeks now: Nala Sinephro’s Endlessness, Sarah Davachi’s The Head as Form'd in the Crier's Choir, and Ellen Reid’s Big Majestic. Shapeshifting, largely instrumental (there’s wordless vocalizing here and there), I’m not quite sure how to categorize them — always a good sign, by my math — so I won’t. The albums do, however, feel related in approach; also in their beauty, thoughtfulness, provocative elusiveness, and openness to possibility.

Sinephro’s music has been called “ambient jazz,” a tag she may or may not appreciate. But it gets at some aspects of what she’s up to, and nods to fans (I’m certainly one) of her label, Warp, the British outfit known for paradigm-shifting electronic music (Aphex Twin, Boards of Canada, Flying Lotus, Oneohtrix Point Never).