Recent Plaintive Releases

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  The Beach Boys
  Feel Flows: The Sunflower & Surf …
  AllMusic
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  Dozens of previously unreleased tracks join remasters of two original albums from a curious and creatively rich phase of one of rock's most important legacies.

  - Fred Thomas
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  Béla Fleck
  My Bluegrass Heart
  AllMusic
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  A dazzling assault of capital-T talent marks the banjo hero's double-disc return to progressive bluegrass.

  - Timothy Monger
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  The Killers
  Pressure Machine
  AllMusic
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  Pastoral, melancholy collection of intimate snapshots from frontman Brandon Flowers' hometown.

  - Neil Z. Yeung
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  Rufus Wainwright
  Unfollow the Rules: The Paramour Ses …
  AllMusic
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  A superb if abbreviated live set culled from a June 2020 album-release stream featuring minimal accompaniment and two previously unreleased songs.

  - Marcy Donelson
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  Imagine Dragons
  Mercury: Act 1
  AllMusic
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  The Vegas quartet recruits Rick Rubin and digs deep on their mature and emotionally intense fifth album.

  - Neil Z. Yeung
• 
  Devendra Banhart / Noah Georgeson
  Refuge
  AllMusic
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  The longtime indie folk collaborators switch gears to deliver a powerful ambient record informed by childhood memories of new age subculture.

  - Fred Thomas
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  Martha Wainwright
  Love Will Be Reborn
  AllMusic
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  The Canadian singer/songwriter shares with her audience the agony and hope that comes with divorce.

  - Mark Deming
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  James McMurtry
  The Horses and the Hounds
  AllMusic
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  The great Texas singer/songwriter makes an album where the music is as powerful and exciting as his outstanding songs.

  - Mark Deming
• 
  Low
  HEY WHAT
  AllMusic
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  The long-running slowcore act continues their deep dive into electronic noise on these ten songs of chaos and fleeting beauty.

  - Mark Deming
• 
  Aztec Camera
  Backwards and Forwards: The WEA Reco …
  AllMusic
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  Comprehensive collection of the band's post High Land, Hard Rain catalog that includes a raft of remixes, intimate live recordings, and stray tracks.

  - Tim Sendra