Stream: New releases from Melpo Mene, the Dumes, Kid Lightning and Sir Sly

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From left: The Dumes (by Emma Cole); Melpo Mene; Kid Lightning (by Brenda Carsey); Sir Sly (by Nick Walker)

A four-platter sampler of new releases: Hear the latest from Melpo Mene, the Dumes, Kid Lightning and Sir Sly …

MELPO MENE, “Vernalagnia”

In an era pop is increasingly driven by branding, identity and/or production whackery, singer-songwriter Erik Mattiasson’s new album as Melpo Mene succeeds on simple grace and beauty. The L.A.-based Swede has been working writing for film and TV, so “Vernalagnia,” his fourth full-length, is his first in eight years. “All of This Is True,” which features Russian Red, “Wrong at Last” and “Once Had It All” are representative of Melpo Mene’s atmospheric meditations, which he sums up by saying: “‘Vernalagnia’ is the unscripted result of a well-meaning introvert’s musical intuition and thoughts.” Or, in a lyric (from “All of This”): “I wish I was a Jedi before the merchandise.”

THE DUMES, “Everything Is Horrible”

The Dumes come out swinging on their debut EP, made with producer Joe Chiccarelli right before the pandemic ground everything to a halt. Another of alt-rock’s next big hopes? The band — frontwoman Elodie Tomlinson, joined by drummer Chris Dunn, bassist Liam McCormack, guitarist Peter Recine and guitarist/keyboardist Kyle Biane — sure sounds like it.

KID LIGHTNING, “Kid Lightning”

Well-crafted protest music is never out of style, and folk singer Will Munroe’s debut as Kid Lightning aims his bolts at the political climate (“End of the Empire”), American exceptionalism (“Special”) and the legacy of war (“Blood and Money”), among other topics. Co-producer Brenda Carsey’s background vocals sweeten “Kid Lighting’s” messages, but there’s no denying their clear-eyed power. “God holds our hand,” Kid Lightning sings, “but who covers our eyes?”

SIR SLY, “The Rise & Fall of Loverboy”

Frontman Landon Jacobs works through a lot of heaviness on pop trio Sir Sly’s third full-length, a hit-and-miss effort as an album, but full of blood and guts on many of the seven singles. The songs on “Loverboy” represent signposts on Jacobs’ difficult road to self-discovery — getting sober, confronting dark thoughts, questioning spirituality, dispensing with pretense, grasping for a sense of purpose. The album’s calculated pastiche of styles and Sir Sly’s childlike choruses make so much of it sound cheery, so if you’ve followed Sir Sly the past eight years, the veneer will be familiar.