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This week Michelle Branch, The New Pornographers and more drop new sounds.

Lots of great new music to fill your playlists with this week. Michelle Branch returns with her first solo record in over 10 years with Hopeless Romantic. The New Pornographers are back with their seventh album, Whiteout Conditions. San Fermin bring the beauty in sound with their new LP, Belong. Swedish export Vanbot releases her latest offering, Siberia. And finally The Full Moon bring us some great indie rock with their debut LP, Love in the 4th Dimension.

Read more about this week's picks below. 

 

'Hopeless Romantic' - Michelle Branch

It seems like ages since we have heard anything from Michelle Branch. Sure, she did go through her country stint with The Wreckers in the mid-2000s. However, after that it seemed like she put away her guitar and hid under the radar. But if you kept with her on social media, she's been hinting at new music since 2013. And finally, she's back with Hopeless Romantic — her first solo album in 14 years.


When you first press play on the first track, "Best You Ever," the opening sounds a bit more Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" than what we're used to hearing from Michelle. And if you still occasionally rock out to 2001's The Spirit Room and 2003's Hotel Paper, it kind of puts you off for a little bit. However, as you listen to the rest of the record, you realize that she can't sound exactly like her former 20-something self and that the new material is exactly who she is now.

MORE: Michelle Branch has Finally Returned, and She isn't Holding Anything Back

Working with producer and boyfriend, The Black Keys' Patrick Carney, the record carries a little pop, a little rock and lots of soul. And with her song, "Heartbreak Now," you get a little of that country guitar twang. They worked on it in Nashville after all. You also get some of that Black Keys influence on "Living a Lie." Despite the different influences Michelle may have had during the making of Hopeless Romantic, the body of work is mature while still having that youthful curiosity that anyone who's a hopeless romantic would have.

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