Plus: Griff on shyness, stardom and supporting Taylor Swift
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Picks of the week
Laura Marling on the ecstasy of motherhood – and why she might quit music
‘Will I just disappear?’  
Laura Marling on the ecstasy of motherhood – and why she might quit music
After six Top 10 hits, the singer-songwriter might ‘wind down’ her career at 34 – but not before a stunning new album that celebrates the psychedelic high of parenting
Pixar, Catholic shame, and urine-drinking podcast bros  
The mixed-up rock of MJ Lenderman
Stewart Copeland  
The Police’s recording sessions were very dark. We beat the crap out of each other
‘I hate the idea of playing music to people’  
Griff on shyness, stardom and supporting Taylor Swift
Reviews
Alexis Petridis's album of the week  
Cassandra Jenkins: My Light, My Destroyer – a beautiful, brooding delight
Cassandra Jenkins: My Light, My Destroyer – a beautiful, brooding delight
Global album of the month  
Bizhiki: Unbound – commanding Native American songcraft
Clairo  
Charm – deeply human songs of desire and distance
Remi Wolf  
Big Ideas – slight but enjoyable indie-pop free-for-all
Berwyn  
Who Am I – should be on the national curriculum
Film review  
Eno – stimulating and cerebral look at the high priest of art-tech experimentalism
 
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Spotlight
Festival wristbands are grubby badges of honour – so Balenciaga’s £3,000 version is cringeworthy
Music  
Festival wristbands are grubby badges of honour – so Balenciaga’s £3,000 version is cringeworthy
Emma Garland
Wearing a soggy, stinky bracelet shows you’re part of a something communal, which is the very opposite of haute couture
Classical
Album review  
Brahms: The Symphonies – less is more for Nézet-Séguin and the COE
Brahms: The Symphonies – less is more for Nézet-Séguin and the COE
Album review  
Beethoven: Complete String Quartets – up there with the best
Beethoven: Complete String Quartets – up there with the best
Opera  
Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno – imaginative staging transforms Handel’s oratorio
Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno – imaginative staging transforms Handel’s oratorio
Live review  
London Sinfonietta/Paterson – bespoke instruments and microtones in all-Mexican programme
London Sinfonietta/Paterson – bespoke instruments and microtones in all-Mexican programme
Live review  
Ernani – sterling singing triumphs over Verdi’s implausible plot
Ernani – sterling singing triumphs over Verdi’s implausible plot
Add to playlist
‘A folk music wolf in doom metal clothing’  
Readers’ favourite albums of 2024 so far
Readers’ favourite albums of 2024 so far
One to watch  
Berlioz
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You may have missed
Elaine Constantine on capturing 90s northern soul all-nighters
‘My flash kept blinding everyone on the dancefloor’  
Elaine Constantine on capturing 90s northern soul all-nighters
The UK photographer took these powerful shots of northern soul nights 30 years ago. Now collected in a new book and exhibition, they offer an intimate glimpse of a peculiarly British subculture
France  
Artists, DJs and musicians unite to fight threat of far-right government
Front Électronique acts as ‘world of the night’ to combat rise of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally
‘We knew a banjo house record would annoy the techno bores’  
How the Grid made Swamp Thing
‘It was a smash in loads of countries. When we played it at London’s Ministry of Sound club, there was a girl staring at Roger’s banjo like she’d never seen one before’
Countertenor Jakub Józef Orliński  
Breakdancing feeds into my performances – music dictates the way you move on stage
The singer on his high voice, his forthcoming Proms debut and his other lives – as a breakdancer, skateboard champion and Vogue model
‘If the world explodes, the only survivors will be cockroaches and Cubans!'  
The Guantánamo musicians defying the island’s crisis
For over 150 years this rural Cuban area has been home to changüí: hyperlocal music holding out against an embattled economy. We join an all-night festival to find out how
Live music this week
Kitty Empire's artist of the week  
Janelle Monáe: a masterclass in progressive showbiz spectacle
Janelle Monáe: a masterclass in progressive showbiz spectacle
Robbie Williams  
Slick and saucy end-of-the-pier pop
Skepta  
Grime royalty broadcasts London to the world
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