3 new songs and 3 new albums to check out this weekend

Gracie Abrams had performed “That’s So True” live several times before releasing the official studio version on the deluxe edition of her second album, The Secret Of Us. The track’s slick production almost masks the bitterness of the lyrics, about a bad breakup and the lingering obsessions when you’re unhappy about the way things ended. Abrams delivers the lyrics with a relatable anger that you can’t help but laugh along with—her writing, always refreshingly blunt, is even more honest than usual here.

Yeah, this might be a promotional cover for Marvel’s Agatha All Along TV show, but we’re never going to turn our noses up at new Japanese Breakfast, no matter what form it comes in. “The Ballad Of The Witches’ Road” can’t quite pass as a Japanese Breakfast original, but Michelle Zauner and her bandmates infuse the song with a unique ’70s-pop energy that makes the track feel of a piece with the rest of their discography. Plus, it’s interesting to hear them tackle something so different from their regular subject matter and still make it sound wholly their own.

Surf-rock duo Skegss just released their third full-length album, Pacific Highway Music. The album is named after the Australian highway that the band often travels to get to gigs, and “Stuck In Cheyenne” fits that road-weary vibe perfectly. The lyrics, perhaps unsurprisingly, are about getting stuck in Cheyenne, Wyoming, during a snowstorm, and the desolation of the environment comes through even over the laid-back vocals and instrumentals.

Japandroids’ final album isn’t a grand goodbye. It’s more like sneaking out the back door of a party without telling anyone you’re leaving. Better to leave everyone with good memories than draw attention to the finality of it all. The band broke up before Fate & Alcohol was released, which means there will be no final tour. Instead, Japandroids has left their music as the final word in their legacy. Good thing Fate & Alcohol is a fitting last record, both celebratory and bittersweet.

Phantogram’s fifth album, Memory Of A Day, comes four years after their previous record, Ceremony, dropped. They haven’t missed a step in that time, though, bringing their unique sound to their new record. Somehow, Memory Of A Day avoids sounding like a 2010s throwback, even though it doesn’t exactly sound like modern electronic music, either. Phantogram was always just a little out of step with the current musical trends, happy to do their own dreamy, ethereal thing without worrying about how that fit into the modern musical landscape. Memory Of A Day keeps that momentum going, and it feels familiar yet refreshing—just different enough to be surprising.

Porridge Radio somehow sound like they came straight out of the mid-’90s, yet they have a modern sensibility to their lyrics. Their latest record, Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me, is full of fuzzy guitars and subdued vocals, paired with contrastingly insistent lyrics that demand your attention. It’s pure indie joy with the requisite contemplative heartache, even when vocalist/guitarist Dana Margolin is singing about being tired of being sad. Unlike the constant dreariness that Margolin decries on “Sick Of The Blues,” Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me feels unflinchingly vital.