Now Hear This: New music from Taylor Swift, Liz Phair, Architects and Shrink, plus spotlight artist Frankie Stew and Harvey Gunn

In her weekly column, our music correspondent goes through the best new releases

Brighton rap duo Frankie Stew and Harvey Gunn (Press image)

There was a police chase through my back garden this morning, but even that didn’t match the excitement of all the great new music out this week. I squealed a bit at Taylor Swift’s new version of “Love Story” then wondered where all the story-telling has gone from contemporary pop music. I mentioned this as a theory in my sea shanties feature the other week, but I do think fans still love an artist who knows how to tell a story. And Swift is one of the best of her generation at that. There’s also the fantastic Liz Phair, though, who returns with her first single in two years, “Hey Lou”. It’s a tribute to the late, great Lou Reed and his relationship with artist and director Laurie Anderson, and taps into that narrator-style of songwriting that I’ve been craving.

This week’s albums include Django Django’s Glowing in the Dark (review here) – I really love their collaboration with Charlotte Gainsbourg, “Waking Up”. Slowthai has dropped his new record, TYRON; read our album critic Helen Brown’s take here. Dua Lipa is back with the droll “We’re Good”, and Colombian singer KAROL G has the hazy summer stylings of “LOCATION” with Anuel AA and J Balvin, which is really making me pine for tequila on the beach. GIRLI is unforgiving on “What a Shame!”, and Architects are making an impact with “Meteor”, their thunderous but brilliantly melodic single from forthcoming album For Those That Wish to Exist (out 26 February). I’m a fan of Claud, the first signing to Phoebe Bridgers’ label Saddest Factory, especially the tracks “Soft Spot” and “Guard Down”.

One of my favourite new finds this week is German-British musician Shrink (22-year-old Sam Breathwick). His voice reminds me of Zayn Malik; it has that honeyed, mellifluous quality to it. I adore Syd’s silky “Missing Out”, delivered to a former partner who missed their chance. Nashville-based artist Madi Diaz has relaunched her career with the exquisite “Man in Me”, built over deep, reverberating thrums of guitar and stark piano tones. Fyfe Dangerfield, formerly of the band Guillemots, is embarking on a solo career with the cosmic “Woah! Life”.

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My spotlight artist this week is Brighton rap duo Frankie Stew and Harvey Gunn, who are launching their 2021 with the poignant single “Tears on My Window”. Read my Q&A with them and check out the track in this week’s Now Hear This playlist on Spotify.

Hey both, how's lockdown been treating you?

FS: For me personally I haven’t enjoyed the recent lockdowns so much, they feel so different to the previous ones when the sun was out.

HG: It’s had its ups and downs but yeah as Franks said it's been much tougher than the last for sure, I think that's almost universal. I’ve just tried to really focus my mind on what's ahead and try relish in life's simpler pleasures.

Have you learned anything about yourselves during this difficult time?

FS: I’ve learnt loads about myself to be honest yeah, mostly good things but some also bad. I’ve been really productive to be fair with all the spare time we’ve got so I can’t complain about that.

HG: I think it's hard not to self-reflect when we have so much time ourselves but for me growth and learning and very much positive things. You can learn great things about yourself or uncover unpleasant facets of your person - both have an eventual outcome of good i think. I’ve definitely had lots of both

Tell me how the new track came about

FS: Tears on my window was a product of the most recent lockdown actually, Me and Harv were still able to go into the studio and work together so I’m super grateful for that.

HG: The catalyst for this track was a sample taken from the amazing Eleni Drake’s song ‘Peaches’. I built around this and Frankie came with some of my favourite writing of his to date

What else do you have lined up for 2021?

FS: We’ve got loads more music in store for 2021 which I’m very excited about. I can’t wait for people to hear it and I think it’s going to be more relevant than ever

HG: Tears On My Window is just the start. We’ve been working through a very honest and poignant chapter in our music and I can't wait to share it with the world.