The 46 Most Anticipated Albums of Summer 2023

Aug 09, 2023

By Alphonse Pierre, Madison Bloom, Evan Minsker, Eric Torres, Allison Hussey, Nina Corcoran, Jazz Monroe, Marc Hogan, and Matthew Ismael Ruiz

As festival season approaches, the flies of summer are abuzz with anticipation. While headline pop records dominated last year's release cycle, 2023 is set to be a marquee year for a broad spectrum of rock. Foo Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age are back, and there are much-anticipated returns from PJ Harvey, Best Coast's Bethany Cosentino, King Krule, and even a new album from Radiohe— well, not exactly, but Jonny Greenwood's collaborative record with Dudu Tassa promises much, as does a new LP from club maestro Clark, executive produced by one Thom Yorke. Killer Mike, Noname, Julie Byrne, and Jenny Lewis are also back after long breaks, and you can never rule out the arrival of that endlessly speculated-upon Rihanna album. Here's a rundown of all that and more that we’re looking forward to this summer.

During the COVID-19 lockdown, 12 Rods frontman Ryan Olcott found some of the band's previously recorded demos and decided to finish them. That has developed into If We Stayed Alive, the Minneapolis band's first album since Lost Time came out 21 years ago. "These are songs that I forgot about," Olcott said frankly. –Alphonse Pierre

All products featured on Pitchfork are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. announced his latest album, Melodies on Hiatus, in April. So far, Hammond has shared the first nine songs of the LP, including collaborations with Washington, D.C., rapper GoldLink, Arctic Monkeys’ Matt Helders, and guitarist Steve Stevens. Hammond created the album long-distance with songwriter Simon Wilcox, who wrote the lyrics. "I think this is the best collection of music that I have made," Hammond said of the 19-track LP in a statement. "I wasn't trying to make a double album; I wanted to make a deconstruction of a band." –Eric Torres

Amaarae, the Ghanaian American pop star, will follow up her 2020 debut, The Angel You Don't Know, with Fountain Baby in June. She's already shared the slow-burning lead single "Reckless & Sweet," which promises to continue her spiky, experimental fusion of Afrobeats, hip-hop, and R&B. "Coming back after so long, I had a lot of time to think and reflect on what I wanted my message to be," Amaarae said in a statement, "Last time it was about confidence, this time it's about love and faith." –Eric Torres

British singer-songwriter Arlo Parks is back with her second album, My Soft Machine. It's the follow-up to 2021 Mercury Prize winner Collapsed in Sunbeams, which also earned Parks a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Music Album (not to mention Best New Artist). It's a record that includes a new collaboration with Phoebe Bridgers titled "Pegasus." –Evan Minsker

It's been almost 15 years since Bethany Cosentino and Bobb Bruno formed the indie-rock duo Best Coast, and, now, Cosentino is stepping out on her own. The guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist announced the news with her new track "It's Fine," the lead single from her solo debut, Natural Disaster. Cosentino also revealed that Best Coast would go on indefinite hiatus. "I have heavily identified as ‘Bethany from Best Coast’ for over a decade, and being anyone other than that has felt challenging for me," Cosentino said. "I decided to push myself through the discomfort and go explore being … just Bethany Cosentino. This record is a product of that experience." The 12-song Natural Disaster was produced by Butch Walker. –Madison Bloom

ANTI-

Detroit alt-country band Bonny Doon released their last album, Longwave, in 2018. Since then, the group performed as Waxahatchee's backing band on 2020's Saint Cloud, and Bonny Doon are now set to return with Let There Be Music, their first album since signing to Anti-. The new record also features Waxahatchee's Katie Crutchfield, and includes the singles "Let There Be Music," "San Francisco," "Crooked Creek," and "Naturally." "I moved to the Bay Area in 2018 and for the first time in a while, we had one foot somewhere other than Detroit," the band's singer and guitarist, Bobby Colombo, said in a statement. "We spent a lot of time on the West Coast, which found its way into the writing, and also provided some distance to reflect more deeply on our hometown." –Eric Torres

Fire

A year after 2020's Head Above the Water, Irish singer-songwriter Brigid Mae Power released 2021's Burning Your Light EP, a six-song set of covers. She makes her album-length return with Dream From the Deep Well, billed as "folk music, but not as we know it." The album features a cover of Tim Buckley's "I Must Have Been Blind" and an original tribute to a primary school teacher and traditional Irish musician who was killed while jogging. So far, Power has shared videos for the title track and the touring contemplation "Counting Down." –Marc Hogan

Grunge rock band Bully released their last album, Sugaregg, back in 2020. The group, led by Nashville-based musician Alicia Bognanno, will soon release Lucky for You, an album inspired by Bognanno's dog Mezzi, who died during a period of transition in Bognanno's life. Bully's fourth album is led by the feedback-loaded single "Days Move Slow," and features the previously released "Lose You," featuring Soccer Mommy. –Eric Torres

43B

Almighty So, released in 2013, is one of the most inventive and essential Chief Keef mixtapes. So, naturally, its sequel, nearly a decade later, comes with major expectations. But since the project was announced in October 2022, it has gone through endless pushbacks and failed promises of "coming soon." Originally it was scheduled for January, then April, and now, maybe, this summer. Who knows if it will ever actually see the light of day? There are a couple singles rumored to be on Almighty So 2, like "Racks Stuffed Inna Couch" and "Tony Montana Flow," which is decent proof that the project actually exists. –Alphonse Pierre

Christine and the Queens wrote his new album, Paranoïa, Angels, True Love, as the "second part of an operatic gesture" that also encompassed last year's Redcar les adorables étoiles (prologue). Both albums were inspired by Angels in America, Tony Kushner's award-winning play chronicling relationships ravaged by the AIDS crisis in 1980s New York. "Redcar felt colorful and absurd," Christin and the Queens said in press materials. "Paranoïa, Angels, True Love is a key toward heart-opening transformation, a prayer towards the self—the one that breathes through all the loves it is made of." –Madison Bloom

What's Sus Dog? Why, it's the latest album from British electronic music mainstay Clark. For the first time, Clark is singing on one of his records. The album features several contributions from executive producer Thom Yorke. "The first thing he sent me was him singing about being stuck between two floors and I was already sold," Yorke said in a statement. "To me the way he approached it all wasn't the usual singer songwriter guff thank god; it mirrored the way he approached all his composition and recording, but this time it had a human face. His face." Sus Dog includes the lead single "Town Crank." –Evan Minsker

After going on an indefinite hiatus, the Clientele resurfaced in 2017 for their first album in seven years, Music for the Age of Miracles. Fast forward another six years, and the UK indie-rock trio is back with a double album, I Am Not There Anymore. This time, singer and guitarist Alasdair MacLean has said, the Clientele branched out into post-bop jazz, contemporary classical, and electronic music. MacLean, bassist James Hornsey, and drummer Mark Keen don knights’ armor in the video for the album's first single, "Blue Over Blue," which billows out with horns, strings, and samples. –Marc Hogan

This year, Dave Matthews Band return for a massive tour here on planet Earth behind their new album, Walk Around the Moon. It's an album with lofty song titles like "Break Free," "Monsters," "The Ocean and the Butterfly," "The Only Thing," and "All You Wanted Was Tomorrow." If all you want is tomorrow, so you’re one day closer to hearing this whole album, here's some good news—lead single "Madman's Eyes" is out now. –Evan Minsker

Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood and Israeli musician Dudu Tassa are teaming up for Jarak Qaribak, a collaborative LP whose title translates to "Your Neighbor Is Your Friend." Greenwood, who previously collaborated with Israeli singer and composer Shye Ben Tzur on 2015's Junun, has described the process of creating the new album as similar in scope. "You have all these scales which don't conform to western major/minor scales," he explained in a statement. "It's very hard to impose a chord sequence on these melodies. It usually makes them collapse. It's like reducing the resolution on a colour photo until it's just squares." So far, the duo has shared lead singles "Ashufak Shay" and "Ya Mughir al-Ghazala" ahead of the release. –Eric Torres

Make it past the prickly layer of scuzzy noise-rock in Feeble Little Horse's music and you’re rewarded with a mellow dose of alt-pop sweetness courtesy of Lydia Slocum's vocals. The Pittsburgh quartet broke onto the scene in 2021 with its debut album, Hayday, and signed to Saddle Creek shortly afterward. On their upcoming sophomore LP, Girl With Fish, Feeble Little Horse further strengthen their take on noise pop. Get a taste for it with lead single "Tin Man" ahead of the album's release on June 9. Plus, read Pitchfork's new Rising feature "Meet Feeble Little Horse, the Young Noise-Pop Band Repping Pittsburgh DIY." –Nina Corcoran

It was a heartbreaking year for Foo Fighters. Following the death of their beloved drummer Taylor Hawkins, the band made a new album called But Here We Are that's coming this summer. Produced with their frequent collaborator Greg Kurstin, its album announcement referred to the work as a "brutally honest and emotionally raw response to everything Foo Fighters endured over the last year." It was announced with the new single "Rescued." –Evan Minsker

The Happiest Times I Ever Ignored is the latest record from Texas guitarist Hayden Pedigo, who last issued a set of acoustic compositions with 2021's Letting Go. Pedigo's playing style is light, warm, and open, drawing inspiration from a wide variety of fingerpickers and other eccentrics without succumbing to imitation. Occasionally anointed with pedal steel, Pedigo's songs unwind with pensive ease, maintaining a loose air of mystique. They’re effective one by one as five-minute escapes or in an album-length oasis, inviting contemplation and compassion. Pedigo announced The Happiest Times I Ever Ignored with the track "Elsewhere" in April. –Allison Hussey

Wax Bodega

After rolling out one of the best rock albums of 2021 with their debut full-length, I Became Birds, Home Is Where are back with another dose of heart-on-sleeve emo meets Elephant 6 indie rock. The Palm Coast, Florida, band is calling The Whaler, its sophomore effort, a concept album "about getting used to things getting worse." Although it was spurred by a nervous breakdown and the spiraling thoughts that culminated in its wake, The Whaler has moments of blissful harmonica, cyclical tape loops, and tender sentiments buried beneath lyrics of dystopian defeat. –Nina Corcoran

Since releasing her third LP, Dirty Computer, in 2018, the alien superstar Janelle Monáe has spent more of her time branching out into short fiction and screen acting, publishing The Memory Librarian in 2022 and picking up roles in a Knives Out sequel and a Josephine Baker biography series. Now, she's back with The Age of Pleasure. After sharing the new single "Float" with Seun Kuti and Egypt 80 in February, Monáe followed it with "Lipstick Lover" and the full album announcement in May. "I definitely have had an opportunity to evolve and grow and to tap into the things that bring me pleasure, the things that perhaps I should rethink and rework," she told Apple Music's Zane Lowe about developing the project. –Allison Hussey

Vancouver-raised, Compton-molded rapper Jay Worthy has been a steady hand in hip-hop for a while now. On Nothing Bigger Than the Program he teams up with another Mr. Reliable in Roc Marciano, who produced the entire album. This won't be the first time Marciano has given out the full-project production sauce, most recently he was behind the boards on Stove God Cooks’ Reasonable Drought and Flee Lord's Delgado. As for Jay Worthy and Marciano, they have collaborated before on Worthy and Larry June's joint album, 2 P’z in a Pod, and lately have been on tour together. –Alphonse Pierre

Jenny Lewis penned some of the songs on her new solo album, Joy’all, during a pre-pandemic tour. The rest emerged from a week-long virtual songwriting workshop hosted by Beck in 2021. "The challenge was to write one song every day for seven days, with guidelines from Beck," Lewis wrote in press materials. "The guidelines would be prompts like ‘write a song with 1-4-5 chord progression,’ ‘write a song with only cliches,’ or ‘write in free form style.’ The first song I submitted to the group was ‘Puppy and a Truck.’" Joy’all was produced by Dave Cobb and engineered and mixed by Greg Koller; it also features contributions from Jon Brion. –Madison Bloom

After collaborating with Waxahatchee's Katie Crutchfield for last year's I Walked with You A Ways, Texas-reared singer-songwriter Jess Williamson returns with another solo LP. Time Ain't Accidental arrives three years after her last album, 2020's Sorceress. Williamson draws up vivid, sensual imagery, painting with twangy tones and synthy beats. The record's title track is an ode to the long, winding paths toward falling in love, and she contemplates the heartache of chasing after free spirits on the album's first single, "Hunter." Williamson also shared "Chasing Spirits" as a preview of Time Ain't Accidental. –Allison Hussey

Love Hallucination is a collection of songs that Jessy Lanza first wrote for other artists; yet, after pushing her own limits, these experiments in style proved enticing enough to lead her to rewrite and record them herself. Building on her 2021 DJ-Kicks release, Lanza weaves propulsive dancefloor bangers with sultry downtempo jams. "I’ve never written explicitly about orgasms or played saxophone on one of my records before," Lanza said. "But these choices made sense on Love Hallucination." A trust fall in album form, Love Hallucination promises to show what happens when an artist finds faith in her own deconstruction. –Matthew Ismael Ruiz

There's something inherently pure about Joanna Sternberg's music that's reminiscent of the first time you heard a classic folk record. Their guitar chords are evocative yet simple, their words truthful and eager. On I’ve Got Me, Sternberg sophomore album and the follow-up to 2019's Then I Try Some More, Sternberg sits upright, takes a deep breath, and lets it all spill out: the tiny thrill of making a friend laugh, the specific exhaustion of hustling in New York, the thoughts that consume your mind before they help you make sense of it all. I’ve Got Me is a dare not to fall in love with all the traits that make Sternberg a captivating singer-songwriter. –Nina Corcoran

Six years ago, Julie Byrne unleashed the gentle-sounding Not Even Happiness, the album she worked on with collaborator Eric Littman. They began to work on her follow-up, The Greater Wings, until Littman's death in June 2021. Byrne then went to the Catskills and finished the album with producer Alex Somers. The lead single of her upcoming 10-track album is called "Summer Glass." –Alphonse Pierre

Drink Sum Wtr

The South will be the source of inspiration on Kari Faux's upcoming album, Real B*tches Don't Die!, an homage to her roots. Hailing from Little Rock, Arkansas, hip-hop, R&B, and gospel will co-exist on the project, which will be her first since 2021's Lowkey Superstar (Deluxe). Multiple singles have already been released, including "Make a Wish," "Me First," and "Turnin’ Heads." To hammer home the theme, Southern legends Big K.R.I.T., Devin the Dude, and the late Gangsta Boo feature on the new album. –Alphonse Pierre

It's been more than a decade since Killer Mike's last solo album, R.A.P. Music. In that time he's been anything but quiet: Releasing four albums with El-P as Run the Jewels, breaking out into television, and becoming one of the loudest political voices in all of hip-hop. His upcoming album, Michael, which will be his official return to solo material, is a self-described "origin story." The recent single "Don't Let the Devil" is a soulful joint with El-P and Thankugoodsir; he wrote a note about the song on Instagram: "I want to time travel and tell 12-year-old #MICHAEL that he dropped a 🔥 song with his rap potna El-P…Life is great kid." –Alphonse Pierre

Space Heavy is Archy Marshall's first King Krule LP in three years, following 2020's Man Alive! Marshall was inspired by the concept of "the space between" as he was writing the new album in London and Liverpool between 2020 and 2022. He recorded Space Heavy with producer Dilip Harris, guitarist Jack Towell, bassist James Wilson, saxophonist Ignacio Salvadores, and drummer George Bass. Upon announcing the new record, Marshall shared lead single "Seaforth" along with a music video directed by Jocelyn Anquetil. The clip stars Marshall, his band, and two happy dogs. –Madison Bloom

Americana icon Lucinda Williams will return this June with Stories From a Rock n Roll Heart—her first album since recovering from a stroke in 2020. The new record features guest spots from Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band's Patti Scialfa, who joined Williams on the lead single, "New York Comeback." The married couple also appears on the as-yet-unreleased song "Rock n Roll Heart." Williams enlisted the likes of Angel Olsen, Margo Price, and the Replacements’ Tommy Stinson as backup singers on select tracks of the album, too. Stories From a Rock n Roll Heart follows Williams’ 2020 LP, Good Souls Better Angels. The singer-songwriter recently published her memoir, Don't Tell Anybody The Secrets I Told You. –Madison Bloom

Mandy, Indiana catherine-wheeled out of Manchester in 2021 with a darkly alluring EP titled with only an ellipsis. On May 19, a new sentence begins: The British band's debut album promises a battery of industrial noise, warehouse-ready rave beats, and antic Franglais vocals from mantra-incanting singer Valentine Caulfield. Lead single "Injury Detail," produced by techno pugilists Giant Swan, set the tone with an incendiary display of simmering synths, menacing mantras, pounding drums, and guitars hammered horribly out of shape—a banger, in every sense. –Jazz Monroe

End of Everything is the Mexican Summer debut of Erin Elizabeth Birgy's Mega Bog. After breaking out with a series of idiosyncratic, folky pop records, Birgy modulates her sage observations to a synthpop frequency on the new LP. Making the album, she got sober, which evinced an impatience for the intellectualized "secret codes" of more austere songwriting. "I no longer wanted to hide behind difficult music," she said in press materials. "I was curious to give others the same with the music I create; to make music someone could use to explore drama, playfulness, and dancing, to shake the trauma loose." –Jazz Monroe

Bassist and vocalist Meshell Ndegeocello calls upon an impressive roster of friends for The Omnichord Real Book, a sweeping and dense work that knits together jazz, soul, funk, rock, hip-hop, gospel, and even bits of children's songs. With Jeff Parker, Brandee Younger, Joan as Police Woman, and others joining her across the LP, Ndegeocello processes pain, doubt, and personal growth. She transforms her struggles into moody, spiritual meditations and passionate bursts of triumph. "I really, really, really love my pain so much," Ndegeocello growls on "Clear Water," with a "Rrah!" to emphasize her point. With a 73-minute runtime, The Omnichord Real Book asks for ample attention, but its rewards are so numerous that every minute is worth the investment. –Allison Hussey

Last year, Los Angeles post-hardcore quintet Militarie Gun issued All Roads Lead to the Gun (Deluxe), a record compiling two previous EPs and four new songs. Now, the band is gearing up to drop its debut album, Life Under the Gun. The 12-track LP includes recent single "Very High," which was inspired by "the desire to escape the embarrassment of day to day life as much as possible," as lead singer Ian Shelton revealed in a press release. –Madison Bloom

After releasing her 2007 EP last year, Los Angeles-based pop artist Miya Folick announced her second LP, Roach, in January. She described it as "an album about trying to get to the core of what life really is." Folick released "Get Out of My House" as the first official single from the album. Roach includes all of the material from 2007 plus a few more new tracks, such as the recent single "Cockroach." –Allison Hussey

Strange Disciple is the third album from Brooklyn synthpop trio Nation of Language, and first that wasn't created and released outside of a pandemic lockdown. The title is drawn from the single "Sole Obsession," and means "one who finds themself an adherent to a subject that is probably not worth the devotion," according to a quote from the band. Nation of Language have also shared the single "Weak in Your Light" ahead of the release. –Eric Torres

Over the last few years, Noname's focus has been expanding her book club and racial justice outreach. But, in July, she's due to follow-up her 2018 album, Room 25, with Sundial, which she announced on Instagram with a message that provided little more information. She hasn't released much music in the nearly five years between records, but did get into a spat with J. Cole, resulting in one of the most impressive and dismissive diss records in recent memory in "Song 33," and she put out the single "Rainforest" in 2021. Sundial will be a welcomed return for one of hip-hop's strongest voices. –Alphonse Pierre

If you looked up into the night sky and gazed upon a full moon this year, its glow has heralded a new song from the great Peter Gabriel. It all appears to be leading up the release of I/O, his long-awaited new album. Thus far he's shared "Panopticom," "The Court," "Playing for Time," "I/O," and "Four Kinds of Horses." Gabriel has also announced some tour dates behind all this new lunar music. –Evan Minsker

Seven years since The Hope Six Demolition Project, PJ Harvey is set to return with her 10th studio album. Inspired by Harvey's booklength poem, Orlam, the improvisatory album was made with producers Flood and John Parish, longtime collaborators of hers. In the build-up, she released a video for the new single "A Child's Question, August," and has been reissuing past works like the recent B-Sides, Demos & Rarities. In a press release, Harvey described the new album as "a resting space, a solace, a comfort, a balm—which feels timely for the times we’re in." –Alphonse Pierre

With the lead single "Emotion Sickness" from their forthcoming new album, In Times New Roman…, Queens of the Stone Age showed that they’re sticking to the aesthetic formula as muscular hard rock guitars underpin Joshua Homme's glam-adjacent vocal melodies. It's the band's first album in six years, and, for Homme, Troy Van Leeuwen, Dean Fertita, Michael Shuman, and Jon Theodore's latest full-length for Matador, they recorded at Homme's Pink Duck Studios with help from mixer Mark Rankin. Their go-to collaborator Boneface is behind the grim artwork. There is a song called "Carnavoyeur." –Evan Minsker

In the days leading up to Rihanna's Super Bowl stand, fans were abuzz with hopeful speculation that the marquee event would be the launchpad for a new album announcement. Instead, she revealed another major life development: her second pregnancy with A$AP Rocky, following the birth of their first child last May. Since issuing Anti in 2016, Rihanna has said that her next LP will bend toward dancehall, claiming that she's worked on more than 500 demos for the project. As of right now, the latest major Rihanna material is "Lift Me Up," a one-off for the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack that's picked up a few major award nominations. "I want it to be this year," she said of a new record in February. So do we, Rihanna, so do we. –Allison Hussey

Nashville punk group Snõõper are gearing up to release their debut album, Super Snõõper. In the time since their 2020 formation, Snõõper have garnered attention for their wild live shows and EPs, ultimately getting signed by Third Man. On Super Snõõper, the band further evolves its sound by throwing everything at the wall over the course of 14 tracks, including the single "Pod." Snõõper are at their happiest while sprinting between riled-up punk, garage rock, and new wave, so prepare for your heart rate to spike when tagging along for the ride. –Nina Corcoran

After getting the documentary treatment and penning a star-studded musical, Sparks are returning with a new album, The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte. Brothers Ron and Russell Mael are perhaps the greatest comedy duo to emerge from the new wave scene, and they haven't lost their bizarro sense of humor in the past five decades. Sparks released the title track from the record along with a music video starring Cate Blanchett dancing wildly in a canary yellow suit. The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte also marks the band's first album for Island Records in 47 years, following 1976's Big Beat. –Madison Bloom

Squid electrified the UK festival circuit with an anthemic, yelpy spin on the acerbic post-punk that has prevailed since Sleaford Mods brought monologuing back into vogue. The band's tentacles have since reached further afield, into sonically nuanced (and sometimes proggier) realms. Recent single "Swing (In a Dream)," from second album, O Monolith, shares airspace with The Bends and ’90s Modest Mouse: with bigger riffs and deeper grooves, but more fraught and intimate, too. –Jazz Monroe

Republic

Leave it to Taylor Swift to make every album announcement a real surprise. During the first of her multi-night stint in Nashville for the Eras Tour, Swift revealed that Speak Now is the next album to get her re-record treatment. Speak Now (Taylor's Version) comes with six previously unreleased tracks and will arrive on July 7. "The songs that came from this time in my life were marked by their brutal honesty, unfiltered diaristic confessions and wild wistfulness," Swift said. "I love this album because it tells a tale of growing up, flailing, flying and crashing… and living to speak about it." Swift was much younger when she wrote the crux of the original album, which means this new version may carry some of the wisdom that comes with being a 33-year-old. –Nina Corcoran

Since issuing their fantastic LP Structure in 2021, Brooklyn experimental duo Water From Your Eyes have signed to Matador and are readying their debut for the label. Everyone's Crushed features the single "Barley," a warped slice of synth-pop skewed by vocalist Rachel Brown's deadpan delivery. Brown and musician Nate Amos are playing a New York residency this month, followed by an extensive North American tour. Revisit Pitchfork's Rising interview "Alt-Pop Duo Water From Your Eyes Commit to the Bit." –Madison Bloom

For seven years, while Trevor Powers continued recording under his exceptional given name, Youth Lagoon was gone—a moniker without a country. The years of hibernation are over, as the project returns in June with Heaven Is a Junkyard. Inspired by Powers’ hometown of Boise, Idaho, the first single is appropriately titled "Idaho Alien." –Evan Minsker