20 New Releases To Get Excited For in 2021

It's the start of a new year again and that means that there's a lot of new music being released, announced, and hinted at. I thought I would share some of my most anticipated new albums of 2021 with you today. As always, this is nowhere near a full list of the releases coming this year, I'm sure there will be a few surprises along the way. The current pandemic is also affecting when some albums will be released and so some of the dates here might change. There will also probably be some releases that I don't mention on this list that I will end up listening to and loving as well, so please don't think that this is all there is, I just didn't want the list to be too long. Without further ado, here's 20 new releases to get excited for in 2021...

Frank Iero and The Future Violents - Heaven Is A Place, This Is A Place EP (15 January)

Frank Iero is back with some more new music right at the start of the year, the EP called Heaven Is A Place, This Is A Place was recorded at the same time as Barriers, the 2019 album with The Future Violents (Tucker Rule, Kayleigh Goldsworthy, Evan Nestor, Matt Armstrong). It includes the cover of REM's Losing My Religion that the band recorded in Maida Vale for the BBC a few years ago, as well as some new songs, one of which we've heard. Sewerwolf which was named by Iero's son is a heavier song from The Future Violents but it's full of depth and I love it. I can see why it didn't fit on Barriers though, and i think the decision to keep if for a future EP was the right decision and it's nice to see The Future Violents releasing new music in 2021.

You can read my Deep Dive post about Frank Iero here.

Arlo Parks - Collapsed In Sunbeams (29 January)

Arlo Parks was one of the best breakthrough artists of 2020 and to say I am excited for her debut album is an understatement. I got hooked on Parks' music with the song Eugene, the way it was written and the way the vocal sounds is incredible and it was on repeat for months. Collapsed In Sunbeams, out on the 29th of January, is said to be "a series of vignettes and intimate portraits surrounding my adolescence and the people that shaped it" and with the way Parks writes I am really looking forward to hearing what it sounds like.

Foo Fighters - Medicine At Midnight (5 February)

Foo Fighters are back with their tenth album Medicine At Midnight at the start of February. Recorded just over a year ago this album was supposed to be released last year, which was also Foo Fighters 25th Anniversary as a band, however due to the pandemic plans were put on hold. The first single Shame Shame was released at the end of last year and it's a bit different for the band, but it's still a song that makes an impact with repeated listens. This album is said to be slightly different for the band too with frontman Dave Grohl saying he wanted an album people could dance to. Foo Fighters rarely put out anything that disappoints, so I will be eagerly anticipating this release.

Pale Waves - Who Am I? (12 February)

Indie pop band Pale Waves are back this year with their sophomore album Who Am I? I really enjoyed listening to the band's debut My Mind Makes Noises and am hoping that this album will be one that I repeat as much. Singer and frontwoman Heather Baron Gracie has said that the lyrics on this album are much more personal and introspective, marking a difference to the first album. The band ended last year with the second single from the album She's My Religion which is my favourite of the two songs so far and it has me hooked. The vocals sound great here, along with the production and guitar solos. If there's more of this on the album then i think I will be happy.

Electric Century (26 February)

Electric Century is Mikey Way (My Chemical Romance) and David Debiak (Sleep Station, New London Fire) with their "nostalgic 80's new wave through a modern lens". They released their first album back in 2014 through Kerrang! but the timing of it meant that it wasn't a project that went much further than that. So when the announcement was made in May last year that the band had been working on not only a new album, but an accompanying graphic novel, I was beyond excited. This new album is produced by Ray Toro (My Chemical Romance) and is something that has been in the works for a few years now. The idea of the graphic novel came after the music was just about complete so Mikey Way has talked about how interesting it was to then create a world around the songs on the album. It's set in a nostalgic Atlantic City, New Jersey as that's where the band members are from and going there as children "It made me think about nostalgia, and how we think back over these memories fondly, but maybe if we were there it wouldn’t be as great as we remember. And then I thought, ​‘What if there’s a way that you could actually go back to those memories?’ And that’s where the genesis of the story came from.” We've not heard anything from the album yet other than a teaser in the trailer, so it will be really interesting to see what it sounds like, and after loving 2014's 'For The Night To Control' I'm expecting it to be great.

I would really recommend reading Mikey Way's more in depth interview about the new Electric Century album on Kerrang! here.

Architects - For Those Who Wish To Exist (February 26)

Architects are one of those bands I see a lot of people talking about but I haven't really gone into their discography much. I saw them perform at Leeds Festival in 2017 and they blew me away, the energy of the set was exceptional and they have been on my radar since. I gave their new song Black Lungs a listen a few weeks back and was blown away by it, I really enjoyed listening to it and then the single 'Animals' as well, that definitely made their new album 'For Those Who Wish To Exist' one to look out for this year. The other thing that has drawn me to it is that they are working with Zakk Cervini who has produced some of my favourite sounding music recently such as Yungblud's 'Weird!', Waterparks' 'Fandom', and All Time Low's 'Wake Up, Sunshine'. Architects were not a band I expected to be working with Zakk Cervini as they are usually on the heavier side of rock, but after hearing these new songs I have no doubt it will sound incredible.

Tigers Jaw - I Won't Care How You Remember Me (5 March)

Tigers Jaw are back this year with their new album 'I Won't Care How You Remember Me'. Last year we got the one off single 'Warn Me' which was so good and was added to everyone's playlists. Since then they have announced the new album as well as releasing 'Cat's Cradle' and 'Lemon Mouth', both of which have Brianna Collins on lead vocals which is really cool to see. I think it will be interesting to see how the rest of the album sounds, whether it's more like the singles we've heard or will we get more songs like 'Warn Me' thrown into the mix as well?

Kings Of Leon - When You See Yourself (5 March)

Just announced, Kings of Leon are back with their eighth studio album 'When You See Yourself'. It's the follow up to 2016's Walls which is a phenomenal album and from what I've heard of this, I'm excited. Two songs have been released so far, The Bandit and 100,000 People, after a series of cryptic teasers over the last few weeks. This album is being produced by Markus Dravs who has worked with bands such as Arcade Fire and Coldplay so I think he is a great match for the band and it will be interesting to see what the album as a whole sounds like.

London Grammar - Californian Soil (9 April)

It's been 4 years since London Grammar's sophomore album Truth Is A Beautiful Thing was released, a phenomenal sophomore album that I had playing on repeat for months. I hope the same will happen with Californian Soil, London Grammar's new album out April 9th. I have loved all three of the songs we have heard so far and it's getting me really excited for the release. The whole band sounds great on all of the songs and its classic London Grammar, perhaps with more of the subtlety of the first album.

Holding Absence - The Greatest Mistake Of My Life (16 April)

Holding Absence's The Greatest Mistake Of My Life is out on April 16th and it's a release that became one to be excited for when the first single Beyond Belief was released last year. I love the song, it's maybe not as heavy as some of Holding Absence's other music and probably not as heavy as some of the songs on the new album will be, but it reminds me of nostalgia and it has hints of Funeral For A Friend to me. I think all the band are playing incredibly and the songwriting here is great. It's a release I am patiently waiting for, though some of the vinyl pressings look amazing.

Bleachers

Last year Bleachers (Jack Antonoff) released two new songs 45 and Chinatown that features Bruce Springsteen and they are both amazing. Full of nostalgia and calm drive vibes this is exactly what Bleachers do best. No album has been announced yet but I'm assuming we can expect its release this year, though Jack Antonoff has been busy producing Taylor Swift and Lorde over the last year or so. While you wait you can listen to the podcast that goes along with the themes of chinatown where Antonoff has conversations with other musicians from New Jersey such as Gerard Way (My Chemical Romance) and Ezra Koenig (Vampire Weekend).

You can listen to the podcast 'god and new jersey' here.

Royal Blood

We got the first taste of Royal Blood's new album with Trouble's Coming last year which is exactly how you would expect Royal Blood to sound, its punchy, catchy and very rhythm driven. That's all I needed to get excited for the duo's new album and I think it's all you need as well. The last two albums by the band have been incredible and after I saw them perform at Leeds Festival in 2019 I have been waiting to hear something new. This is definitely an album to look out for this year.

CHVRCHES

CHVRCHES have said that there's new music coming in Spring 2021 and I am very excited. I love all of CHVRCHES past albums and can't get enough of them. Their infectious synth pop hooks matched with Lauren Mayberry's lyrics and vocal is just amazing and I am excited to see what the next album sounds like. Each album so far has a slightly different tone, musically and lyrically, and with most of this album being made during the pandemic with the band members on a zoom call it will be interesting to see how that has affected both of those things.

You can read an interview Lauren Mayberry did with The Guardian on the return of CHVRCHES here.

The Maine

The Maine are a band that I listened to a lot last year, especially the album 'American Candy' from 2015. They were a band I had been meaning to listen to for a long time, I finally did and I wondered why it had taken me so long. I think that they are a pretty underrated band within their circles but have a really strong fan base who carry their music to a bigger audience. Some of the things I love about their music is John O'Callaghan's lyrics and how the band create emotional indie music that captures those feelings so well. In 2019 they released their album You Are OK which is phenomenal, and at the end of last year they said that they had started making their 8th album, which I'm hoping is something we will see this year.

Lo Moon

Lo Moon have been hinting at new music for a while now and I can't wait. Their self titled debut album from 2018 was something that I fell completely in love with after coming across their song 'Loveless' by chance, and that song is something i can never get enough of. I will be intrigued to see what their sophomore album will sound like and whether it will be something more different from their first or not. I hope it's an album we see this year as I have been waiting to hear more for a while now.

Waterparks

Waterparks third album Fandom was only released at the end of 2019 but last year we got 'Lowkey As Hell' and just this last week Awsten Knight has confirmed that there's a new album on the way this year. I have loved all of Waterparks previous albums, as readers of the blog may already know, but I think it will be really interesting to see what the new album is like as I see the first three as a trilogy thematically. It will be cool to see where this one goes as I really like how Awsten Knight writes his lyrics and how open he is in his songs. Musically I am expecting it to be more like Fandom, not that it's a bad thing as there's so many layers musically in those songs that are really clever and interesting to listen to. They are evolving as a band and I am intrigued to see what comes next.

Read my review of Waterparks: Fandom Live In The UK here.

Lorde

I feel like half the world is waiting for the next release from Lorde, and it looks like perhaps we might be getting it this year. Lorde has spent the last year or so away from the spotlight back in her home of New Zealand after the huge success of her previous album Melodrama. Lorde has been known to take time on her albums and that's very much appreciated when you hear the albums themselves, you know they have been crafted carefully with every note and every word meaning something. In May of last year Lorde updated her email subscribers with the news that she had started going to the studio in December of 2019 before the world shut down in 2020 and is still working on music during the pandemic on zoom with producer Jack Antonoff. She said then that the album was taking shape and "has its own colours now" but it might take a bit longer to arrive due to the pandemic. Let's hoping that we get to hear it it in 2021.

You can read my Deep Dive post about Lorde here.

Bring Me The Horizon

Last year Bring Me The Horizon released their Post Human: Survival Horror EP and when it was announced the band talked about it only being the start of their next step. The band talked about releasing multiple EP's for the 'Post Human' era and if that's what's happening then I'm assuming we can expect another one this year. The Post Human: Survival Horror EP was incredible, all of the songs were great and probably some of my favourite Bring Me The Horizon songs, so if the next EP's are anything like that then I think we're all in for a treat.

St.Vincent

It's been 4 years since we had St. Vincent's last new album, Masseduction. Of course since then we had the reworked album and she has been working with other artists, but it has been rumored that we will hear some new music this year. Masseduction is album that took me a few listens to understand but it's an album that grew on me a lot and one that I love going back to now. I think the lyrical content is incredible and one of the things that stuck in my head after listening. Musically I love how St. Vincent is not scared to experiment, and it makes me wonder what could be coming next.

twenty one pilots

One of the most anticipated albums of the year that hasn't been announced yet has to be alternative duo twenty one pilots. 2018's Trench was a exceptional album which played more into the world that Tyler Joseph is building, continuing on from 2015's Blurryface. Having not put out a bad album or song twenty one pilots are definitely one of the best bands out there at the moment and fans can't wait for more. Tyler Joseph has said that we can expect something new soon as with the pandemic and the unexpected time at home has meant that they have started making new music quicker than planned. Last year we got two one off tracks, Level Of Concern and Christmas Saves The Year and though I don't believe that this is what the new album is going to sound like, I think Tyler Joseph's voice sounds incredible and I am excited to see what comes next within the world of twenty one pilots leading on from Trench.

The Killers

This was not something I was expecting to put on the list this year, but The Killers have teased that there might be more new music coming this year. After last year's incredible 'Imploding The Mirage' I was not expecting another album any time soon, however the band posted what looks like a new track-listing on their Instagram which could mean that during the last year the band kept busy after the release of the album. After thoroughly enjoying 'Imploding The Mirage' I hope that whatever comes next is in the same vein musically as it's really a next step for The Killers.

Those are my most anticipated releases of 2021 at the moment. They are definitely some albums to be getting excited for, especially as the release dates of the first half are getting closer. 2021 will be another great year for music and hopefully we will start to be able to see these releases live soon. Keep wearing your masks.

Thank you for reading, until next time...

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