4 New Albums You Need: Indigo De Souza, zayALLCAPS, Giant Claw, and more

In the period since she released her last album, 2023’s All Of This Will End, Indigo De Souza has endured a trying stretch of life that included a breakdown that led to a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder and the loss of her home to Hurricane Helene last year. Now living in Los Angeles, she has returned with her most pop-forward album to date. The pivot feels both natural; De Souza’s work has always been defined by her excellent knack for a melody alongside her nakedly diaristic lyrics, and ultimately rewarding. There are echoes of Chappell Roan in the excellent “Crying Over Nothing,” a song that drapes emotional turmoil in theatrical garb. On “Hearthrob,” a song that balances her indie rock past with her new pop persona, De Souza plunders her past romantic disasters (“Didn’t know the difference between loving and haunting”) while clinging onto optimism as a way through. That song, which centers on determination and grit as a guiding light, typifies All Of This Will End, an unexpected pop gem from an unexpected source, and even more unlikely circumstances.

Hear it: Spotify | Apple Music | Bandcamp

From the moment zayALLCAPS’ debut album begins, it’s clear there are bangers to follow. Slow, soulful vocals — “Hey yeaaaaah, yeah” — accompanied by rattling 404 kicks and crisp hi-hats usher in an earworm hook: “Pimp my ride, baby,” crooned seductively by the Los Angeles-via-Sacramento singer-rapper-producer extraordinaire. The song, called “MTV’s Pimp My Ride,” is an introduction (and perhaps the best example) of the bold, cheeky energy that ripples through the record. Some bars are thinly veiled sex puns: “I heard love is what you like so I put it in your trunk / You know I seen your old ride, that’s a hunk o’ junk.” Others cut straight to the point: “I was tryna get rich, but she just tryna fuck.” Despite the fact that four of art Pop * pop Art’s nine tracks were produced or co-produced by outside hands, the beats slide into each other like steel beams cut to fit—from Zay and Keem’s time-bending throwback instrumentals for “MTV’s Pimp My Ride” to the GarageBand plugin-type harpsichord from yourfriendkobe that underscores Zay’s pitched-up cooing on “Ode 2 Ivory.” The album closes with “Tasty (Bad Girl),” in which Zay raps a heartfelt dedication to his friend Malik and then sings like an early-aughts R&B star over synth keys that bounce like hollow rubber balls. — Raphael Helfand

Hear it: Spotify | Apple Music | Bandcamp

Under his solo alias Giant Claw and as part of death’s dynamic shroud, Keith Rankin has flirted with pop consistently as he established himself as one of electronic music’s most consistent oddballs. His second full-length of the year is Decadent Stress Chamber, an album of self-described “free-pop” that fulfills on the potential of the concertedly approachable sounds of the DDS releases Darkwave and Faith In Persona. Rankin presents a smeared, shattered mirror at decades of chart history, creating his own fragmented version of sophisti-pop that’s a joy to witness. From the grand mutated burbling of opening track “Pulled Me in The Dark” to the avant-cinematic conclusion “Life Worth Going Through {redo},” Decadent Stress Chamber has a deeper well of emotion and hooks than most of what you’ll find on the Hot 100 on any given week. — Jordan Darville

Hear it: Spotify | Apple Music | Bandcamp

A couple of years ago the London-based singer Mabel would perhaps better categorized as a Scandi-pop singer. The daughter of Neneh Cherry and music producer Cameron McVey comes from a long lineage of musicmakers including jazz musician Don Cherry and Afrobeats musician Ahmadu Jah. On her most recent release, a mixtape called Mabel, it feels like she’s found her homecoming. Mabel is ostensibly a reintroduction, a pivot to making the music that’s “been in me waiting for the right time and the time is now,” as she puts it. And it seems that’s stripped-down R&B heartbreak anthems that draws from the Afrobeats pulse in her DNA and the U.K. grime that surrounds her daily life. There’s a distinct grittiness to these songs that were recorded “in my living room,” per Mabel, but they also feel like her most fit-to-form releases to date. “Run Me Down” is a timeless-sounding R&B cut that will heat up any cold car or cold sheets. While her sleek vocals shine on standout “Benz,” which pairs a taunting melody with a verse from rapper Clavish. —Steffanee Wang

Hear it: Spotify | Apple Music