Say goodbye to the summer bangers. Winter is fast approaching and this past month has seen a number of conceptually rich music releases to keep you gripped through the long nights ahead. Chief of all is Dave’s latest album, The Boy Who Played the Harp, a lyrically dense project which sees the superstar Streatham rapper grapple with the weight of his success alongside guest appearances from Jim Legxacy, Tems, Kano and James Blake.

Elsewhere, Spain’s first true pop star, Rosalía, has just kicked off her fourth album campaign with “Berghain feat. Bjork and Yves Tumor”, an operatic, London Symphony Orchestra-backed single that incorporates lyrics in German, English and Spanish. With the upcoming album, Lux, set to include Portuguese fado artist Carminho, Mexican Urban sierreño band Yahritza and Spanish flamenco artist Estrella Morente, all signs are pointing to a culturally rich project to match Rosalia’s previous efforts.

Deeper down the iceberg we have Ghanaian-British rapper-producer Kwes e’s landmark album, finger’s crossed, which collides the new UK jerk sound with more distant amapiano and highlife influences, as well as Irish hip-hop band Bricknasty’s latest mixtape, Black’s Law, which uses a combination of Irish trad and Jim Legxacy-style DIY pop to explore the perils of gentrification in Dublin’s Ballymun suburb. Rounding off this extensive list of storytelling LPs is Happiness From Agony, rising Cambridge rapper JayaHadADream’s bell hooks-informed unpacking of traumatic childhood experiences alongside an all-star lineup of UK rap and grime MCs, and, Daughters, underground treasure Jennifer Walton’s deeply personal account of ‘Northern England Americana’.

But this month isn’t all temple-tappers and beard-strokers. On the single front, make sure not to miss Oklou’s Choke Enough reprise with standalone single “viscus feat. fka twigs”, Welsh rapper Luke RV’s indie foray “Icarus”, and, of course, South African princess Tyla’s party-ready cut “Chanel” (which also inspired us to rank the best songs named after fashion brands – read here). 

Album of the month: Dave – The Boy Who Played the Harp

Song of the month: Oklou – “viscus feat. fka twigs”