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New Mix: Brian Eno Sings, New Dirty Projectors, Leonard Cohen, More

Clockwise from upper left: David Longstreth of Dirty Projectors, The Gift, Leonard Cohen, Johnnyswim, Julia Jacklin
Courtesy of the artists
Clockwise from upper left: David Longstreth of Dirty Projectors, The Gift, Leonard Cohen, Johnnyswim, Julia Jacklin

While Bob was gallivanting about Nashville last week for AmericanaFest, I was hiding under a pile of covers fighting a case of Hand-Foot-And-Mouth disease (it's as Medieval as it sounds). But show business never sleeps, which means Bob made it back home, I recovered and we're back in the studio this week to geek out over our favorite new music.

Bob kicks things off with a big surprise: Brian Eno is singing! The ambient pioneer and producer hasn't released a vocal record in years. But he was lured back into the studio to record a new track by the Portuguese rock band The Gift. It's called "Love Without Violins" and Eno says it's one of the only times you'll ever hear him utter the word "love" in a song.

I follow with a cut all about those late-night hours when you're alone with your thoughts and fear the worst about yourself. Appropriately enough it's called "Savages" and it's from Savoir Adore, the Brooklyn-based musical project of Paul Hammer.

Also on the show: Bob is so overwhelmed by the insanely warped sounds of a new Dirty Projectors song that he scarcely notices its profoundly bleak lyrics; Australian singer Julia Jacklin has a searing, slow-building rock anthem to an old flame; Leonard Cohen turns 82 and celebrates with some of the darkest music of his incredible, 50-year career; And the folk-pop duo Johnnyswim covers what they call one of the sexiest songs of all time: Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game."

-- Robin Hilton

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Robin Hilton is a producer and co-host of the popular NPR Music show All Songs Considered.
In 1988, a determined Bob Boilen started showing up on NPR's doorstep every day, looking for a way to contribute his skills in music and broadcasting to the network. His persistence paid off, and within a few weeks he was hired, on a temporary basis, to work for All Things Considered. Less than a year later, Boilen was directing the show and continued to do so for the next 18 years.