New Music Friday: Four albums to stream this week

FKA twigs recently took to Instagram to describe her new mixtape Caprisongs as the soundtrack for getting ready to go out: “It’s bronzer in the sink, alcopop on the side… a club pre-game… your bestie who is always late but brings the most to a party,” she wrote. Following on from 2019’s Magdalene, the 17-track mixtape is notably joyful compared to the artist’s previous, soul-baring projects. You only need to look at the album cover – a photo of twigs pulling her bottom lip down to reveal the acronym GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) bedazzled in gemstones – to clock the vibe shift.

From smoking on the highway in “Honda” to Carribean party track “papi bones” and cathartic R&B anthem “tears in the club” – where The Weekend urges twigs to “let it out like therapy” – the mood is celebratory. Intimate voice notes from friends are woven throughout, like a “narrative of healing”, while collaborators – including Jorja Smith, Daniel Caesar, Shygirl, Rema, Pa Salieu, and Koreless – amplify the buzz, like an extended crew on a night out. As twigs wrote on Twitter: “If you are lonely, or feel isolated or void of encouragement by your immediate circle, you can borrow my friends on the mixtape.”

Elsewhere, Earl Sweatshirt returns with a feverish new album, Fish Narc jumps between pop-punk and emo rap, and Shinichi Atobe drops a selection of dance floor classics.