Albums of the week: the Rolling Stones, Jack White, Kelela, Bruno Berle

Foreign Tongues

The Rolling Stones 

(Capitol)

Can we agree that the Stones were never an album act? They’re a band for singles, moments, vibes. So much of their early work is patchy, interspersed with songs of world-shaking genius, while their stadium-era albums were always overlong. But the 18-year album-writing hiatus following 2005’s A Bigger Bang has worked well; their return with 2023’s enjoyable Hackney Diamonds would not have been so feted without the break. 

Foreign Tongues is similarly fun. Its trump card is Mick Jagger’s staggeringly effervescent performance, as blessedly bratty and bluesy as ever, while sexy vampire grandads Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards issue loose licks beside him. Lyrics juggle familiar tropes perfectly: danger, risk, escape, intoxicants (chemical and female), incipient pain, America, apocalypse. Atrophy is for buildings and places, not rock stars. 

Rough and Twisted is the keeper, a vitally thuggish and thrilling strut. But the Stones are also built for beauty, in the delicate trills of Jealous Lover or lovely ballads Ringing Hollow and Back In Your Life. It’s like listening to sunshine. You know what it is and what it does – and you’re just glad it’s still there. Damien Morris

Frozen Charlotte

Jack White

(Third Man)

A frozen Charlotte is a porcelain doll based on a folk story in which a girl freezes to death. The cover of Jack White’s seventh solo album features a similar figurine whose head has been discarded and replaced with a skull. But it is far from a meditation on mortality.

Frozen Charlotte continues the frenetic blues rock of 2024’s No Name, an album released with little fanfare: white-label records were quietly included with other purchases from shops run by White’s Third Man Records. Frozen Charlotte lacks the surprise factor and comes with the weight of expectation after No Name’s Grammy nomination and White’s show-stopping, last-minute set at Coachella this year.

His touring band brings an effortless intensity to tracks such as Derecho Demonico and She’s In A Frenzy. But for all its gumption, this album is not as strong as its predecessor. Other than the slide-guitar-led Dollar Bill, the songs seem to blend into one, with plenty of thrilling guitar work but few memorable melodies. 

Still, White is in his element. On the muscular stomp of You’ll Never Fix Me, he yelps: “You’ll never fix me / Take a shot and you’ll miss me.” He may want us to think he’s staring death in the face, but the music has rarely been more alive. Lewis Huxley

New Avatar

Kelela 

(Warp)

Since her emergence in 2013, Kelela Mizanekristos has been ahead of her time. The American singer, songwriter and producer’s name is synonymous with avant-garde R&B and electronic experimentalism, channelling everything from grime to jazz, ambient to sultry Janet Jackson-esque cooing.

On her third album, it’s telling that PinkPantheress features, Kelela being a lodestar for a younger generation thinking unrestrainedly about genre. New Avatar reflects on her earlier days, before she was Kelela the mononym, and when she was part of the Washington DC indie and punk scene. For this project she has worked with producer of the moment Oscar Scheller, and guitar sounds drench the record: shoegazey scuzz on lead single Idea 1, smudged grunge on Goin Down, or meditative undulations on Retaliation Lullaby. These tracks are all still topped with Kelela’s familiar siren-like voice and celestial harmonies.

With sparkly club-facing pop moments and dark synth hues – notably on Outta Time, a standout collaboration with AK Paul – New Avatar is not so much a total overhaul as a beautiful expansion of this singular artist’s vision. Tara Joshi

Sem Fronteiras

Bruno Berle

(Far Out Recordings)

The sound of Brazilian MPB (Música Popular Brasileira) is having a revival. The genre, which emerged in the late 1960s and mixes bossa nova with jazz and pop influences, has new champions in the form of British-Brazilian singer Liana Flores and vocalist Nina Maia, while Brazilian singer-songwriter Bruno Berle has been developing his own sweetly melodic take on it since his 2022 debut No Reino Dos Afetos. On Sem Fronteiras, he presents the fullest realisation of his MPB music, producing 10 tracks of nylon string guitar melody, wistful vocals and shuffling grooves.

On tracks including Vim Dizer and Manhã, Berle captivates with only finger-picked guitar and voice as he swings through a lilting bossa rhythm. Meanwhile the addition of soulful Rhodes piano on Nao Posso Viver Sem Voce, dark organ melody on A Noite De Estrelas and ebullient, West African-influenced percussion on Amor Inteiro introduce new blends into Berle’s folk foundation. Throughout, each combination is anchored in the quiet intimacy of Berle’s voice, reaching a high point on the layered harmonies of Você Já Sabe Que Eu Te Amo. Soaring over a minimal drum groove, Berle proves that MPB is in rude health. Ammar Kalia

One to Watch: Daisy*

Daisy Warne has never been solely interested in making music. Under her former moniker BABii, the Yorkshire-born producer built alternate reality games, handmade dragons and elaborate visuals, turning records into full-blown fantasy realms. Leaving that era behind, her new project, Daisy*, strips away the mythology in favour of something more tangible.

Arriving after two life-altering events – the death of her father and the birth of her son – Daisy*’s debut single Punch buries the past with a lean, 150 BPM club track, pairing crystalline vocals with ghostly electronics. The vocals are still recognisably hers, but now they sit inside a sharper, more condensed sonic space. It’s quite the statement from an artist now liberated from “creative differences with myself”, as Warne put it on Instagram.

Warne has also reflected on how motherhood reshaped her process, as she was forced to write in fleeting moments rather than continuous flow states. That sense of economy runs through Punch. The result is music that feels emotionally exposed and propulsive, retaining Warne’s adventurous nature while embracing a more instinctive identity. If this first release is any indication, Daisy*’s next chapter could be her most exciting yet. Georgia Evans

Daisy*’s debut EP is released on 29 July. She plays Vespers, London, on 18 July