Now Hear This: New music from Big Thief, Harry Styles, SebastiAn and Angele, plus spotlight artist Julien Chang

There was likely a collective reshuffling on critics’ end of year lists upon the release of Big Thief’s new album – their second of 2019 – Two Hands, this week. It really is extraordinary – you can read my review of it here.

Also causing a stir, albeit a more hysterical one, was Harry Styles with his single “Lights Up” (review here). It’s his first new music in two years, and shows how, as an artist, he continues to intrigue and surprise. The new track is a pychedelic-tinged pop number about stepping “into the light”, which many have interpreted as being about accepting your own identity given it was released on National Coming Out Day in the US.

I love the new single “Perdus” by Belgian/French pop phenomenon Angele – essentially their answer to Billie Eilish. Like the “Bad Guy” singer, she’s the daughter of two relatively high-profile cultural figures: singer Marka and comedian Laurence Bibot. She’s collaborated with her brother – rapper Romeo Elvis – on occasions, and has been hailed as the “artist of the year” in France.

Then there’s French producer SebastiAn, who’s teamed up with one of London’s best new artists, Bakar, for the compelling “Sober”, ahead of his performance at Pitchfork Festival in Paris. Cigarettes After Sex have a mesmeric, tender new single “Falling in Love”, which is a moving rumination on frontman Greg Gonzalez’s long-distance relationship with his girlfriend.

Two big comebacks happened this week: Caribou, with his new soul-sampling track “Home”, and Louis Berry, the brilliant Liverpool-born artist, with the single “Molly Malone”. I’ve been listening a lot to the new EP from Latin boyband CNCO, who explore trap, salsa, reggaetón and pop in a distinctly modern way.

There’s a great reworking of a new, stripped-back version of Yann Tiersen’s “Monochrome” with Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys joining Tiersen’s wife, Emilie, on vocals. Tiersen felt the original version, which featured in 1998’s The Lighthouse, obscured some of the meaning in the lyrics. “There are lots of overdubs with the violin and the harpischord in the original, and I always felt that it masked the lyrics and the song,” he explains.

“That, of course, doesn’t mean that I don’t like the original version, but I always wanted to strip it down to something more straightforward and allow someone to sing it with more weight and clarity on the lyrics.” “Monochrome” is taken from Tiersen’s forthcoming album Portrait, which is out via Mute records on 8 December.

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I went to two really great gigs this week: Kano at the Royal Albert Hall (I thought he was literally going to bring the place down), and Sea Girls, who sold out the Kentish Town Forum and really blew me away with their live renditions of hook-loaded pop-rock. They were tipped as one of The Independent's Ones to Watch for 2019 and I'm expecting even bigger things from them next year – hopefully that'll include their debut album.

My spotlight artist this week is Julien Chang, who just released his debut album Jules via Transgressive. The Baltimore-based newcomer is only 19 but already has a mature pop sound that draws in funk and jazz influences for something that feels energetic and fresh. I caught up with him about the record and what he has lined up for 2020 – you can also check out his new video for "Memory Loss", below:

– Hey Julien! How's your 2019 so far?

2019 has been really exciting so far. I first began really working creatively with the label and my manager in March. I finished my first year of college in okay shape in May. And I left America for the first time in June. A lot of firsts! I got to travel and write a lot this summer. I just recently got back to school, and since I've been back I've been rehearsing with my live band to prepare for my very first tour. Really exciting times. Looking forward to what's next.

– Talk me through your album, big themes, when and where you recorded it, etc...

I recorded the album largely in the summer of 2017 in a grimy little 10x10 foot basement studio that I had built with my dad. Our basement had been previously used as a storage space for a lot of my parents' old art junk. I knew I wanted my own space to record music where nobody could hear me, but it was an expensive project. So I got a job at the grocery store in our neighbourhood and saved up five thousand dollars in six months or so to spend on putting this studio together. It's not the ideal space to record music. It gets cold and damp and crickets had decided to take up permanent residence pretty early on. I had to leave the dehumidifier running at all times unless I was recording something. In between takes, I'd have to turn the dehumidifier back on.

I guess it was a space that was conducive to writing music that dealt largely with certain kinds of discomfort. I wrote a lot about my friends and little question games I was having with myself, but most of the themes of the album found a central latch point in the general uncertainty that goes along with being seventeen and getting ready for your senior year of high school. A lot of life experimentation is required. The studio gave me the chance to opt for musical experimentation to fulfil that necessity. My hermit cave of experimental sound concoctions.

– What's been some of your favourite music released this year?

I haven't been keeping up with a lot of the music released this year. The new records by Flying Lotus and Tyler, the Creator are really very special pieces. Incredible works. I've mainly been digging backward this year though. Recent inspiration for me has come from Thomas Mapfumo and even further back, Alban Berg.

– And what do you have lined up for 2020?

I'm going on tour for the very first time starting next week. I'm equally excited and nervous about that. Feeling grateful and optimistic though. I'm always recording and trying to find inspiration in new things. I've recently been reading two plays each week. There's so much in there that I can let shape my mind and future ideas.

Julien Chang plays the following dates in London: Bermondsey Social Club on 28 October and Servant Jazz Quarters on 29 October.