New releases last two weeks: Indie/Alternative

Review: Inspired by her personal experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, which involved becoming obsessed by perfumes and fragrances, Jenny Hval's first solo album in three years is noticeably tactile, intimate and sensory. Effectively a hard-to-pigeonhole mood piece full of uniquely realised songs and immersive, deeply layered musical soundscapes, Iris Silver Mist (named in honour of a 'steely' French perfume) sees the Norwegian musician, producer and author variously join the dots between icy electronica, string-laden synth-pop, offbeat trip-hop, kaleidoscopic ambient pop and wonderfully enveloping electronic maximalism.

Review: The influential German band Xmal Deutschland are overhead rafters in the great mead hall of goth. Their propulsive successes throughout the 1980s meant the genre likely couldn't've done without them. A large band come music collective, made up of at least eight members at any given time, Xmal's formation in Hamburg and would presell audiences on a stalwart performance rep, thanks to an early tour and gig residency in support of dream pop preeminents Cocteau Twins. Rallied to fame by their goth classics 'Incubus Succubus' and 'Qual', this 2xCD review conjoins two of the earliest and most pivotal albums on which both of said singles were housed - Fetisch and Tocsin - along with tracks from other key releases, such as Incubus Succubus II. Helping blacken an otherwise dreamy time, these LPs highlight the gloomier soils of a superficially bright 1980s soundfield, which otherwise roseated by shoegaze. Photography by Kevin Cummins, Paul Slattery, Sheila Rock and more all capture the spirit.