This week brings a much-anticipated new single from Arcade Fire, and a beautiful new tune from Minneapolis artist Miloe. We also get a long-awaited release from Mavis Staples and her late friend Levon Helm. Velvet-voiced soul singer Ural Thomas is on the rise again with a new single, and California acts Girlpool and MUNA round out this week’s awesome offerings.

Arcade Fire, “The Lightning I, II”

With a teasing postcard saying "We Missed You," Arcade Fire announced their first new song since they began teasing a new album in 2020. "The Lightning I,II" is an epic — it's a journey of a song that keeps growing and changing. It's one part Bruce Springsteen, one part The Killers, and its lyrics crawl into your ear and find a home so easily you'll be singing along before the song is over.

Girlpool, “Dragging My Life Into A Dream”

Girlpool's new album Forgiveness will be out at the end of April. Full of Cali bubblegum pop harmonies skillfully produced by Yves Rothman, all that sunshine is undercutting lyrics about imposter syndrome and the loss of innocence.

MUNA, “Anything But Me”

The Los Angeles trio of MUNA (signed to Phoebe Bridges’s Saddest Factory Records) are gearing up to release their self-titled album in June. It's a shimmery summertime jam that reminds me of the trio HAIM, full of catchy hooks and honestly direct lyrics.

Miloe, “where u are”

Songs about missing people and wanting to be where they are just feel different in 2022 after such a long time between seeing people. When Minnesota artist Miloe laments "I just want to be in the moment," it feels so honest, and a gentle high hat makes it the sweetest request.

Ural Thomas and The Pain, “Dancing Dimensions”

There are some voices that are too sweet to be lost to history. Ural Thomas is one of them. The velvet-voiced singer had some quasi-hits in the '60s and '70s (including “Can You Dig It,” which featured backing vocals from soul luminaries Merry Clayton, Mary Wells and Brenda Holloway), and he worked with and opened for artists like Etta James, Stevie Wonder, and Otis Redding, but after hitting one too many roadblocks, Thomas called it quits. In 2014, he met his future bandmate Scott McGee and they starting making and releasing music together. Their latest offering is “Dancing Dimensions.”

Mavis Staples and Levon Helm, “You Got To Move”

Prior to his death in 2012, Levon Helm and his dear friend Mavis Staples went into his Woodstock studio to record one last session together. Those songs are finally seeing the light of day in an album out May 20. Mavis shared of that last session, "It never crossed my mind that it might be the last time we’d see each other. He was so full of life and so happy that week. He was the same old Levon I’d always known, just a beautiful spirit inside and out… We hugged and hugged and hugged. I just held on to him. I didn’t know it’d be the last time, but in my heart and in my mind, Levon will always be with me because I take him everywhere I go. Yes, indeed. I can see him right now. And some sweet day, we’ll be together again."

Playlist