Catalan composer Marina Herlop stretches, softens and pulls apart the human voice across an infinitude of dimensions. It’s a hypnotising creative process, which she pairs with atmospheric electronics that float freeform, before taking shape across endless digital planes. For her fourth album Nekkuja, Herlop advances this tried-and-tested formula, with a majority of the lyrics delivered in an imagined language that spans repeated primitive-sounding mantras and swooning harmonies.

Whereas last year’s Pripyat combined ancient traditions with apocalyptic projections of a post-human future, her most recent album takes inspiration from the leafy terrain of her garden. “Some days I used to sit on the balcony of my flat to catch some sun,” she explains in an accompanying statement. “I would close my eyes and start visualising myself as a gardener, pulling out purple weeds from the soil, every bad memory or emotion I wanted to expulse being one of the plants.” Sonically, this translates into warm and hypnotising compositions that rise to the surface like a sprout cracking through the soil. Herlop’s voice grows from tangles of acoustic instrumentation, its vitality spilling across harp plucks and sweet textures. This is a long way from Pripyat’s barren lands; its sun-kissed sonics bring forward a utopian paradise, where dormant sounds spring to life.

Elsewhere, Poppy presents a provocative new album, Sundara Karma returns with a punchy release, and Wargasm share a visceral debut.

MARINA HERLOP, NEKKUJA

POPPY, ZIG

SUNDARA KARMA, BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME

TAYLOR SWIFT, 1989 (TAYLOR’S VERSION)

WARGASM, VENOM