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Shifting Paradigm RecordsReleased: Feb. 23, 2024

 (also of Tina & the B-Sides and various side-projects) offers a collection that is purely jazz: a selection of eight standards given a lush musical treatment. 

Schlieske is a genuinely fine, confident jazz singer. Her voice alternates between smoky and growly, especially on the title track, originally a French song by Sacha Distel but popularized in America by Tony Bennett. 

Here it is given a languid, gorgeous torch song treatment, against brushed drums by Pete Hennig and tinkling, lyrical piano from Bryan Nichols. 

Other songs include “Don’t Explain,” in which Schlieske demonstrates an occasional Billy Holiday-style legato, and the more uptempo “Them There Eyes,” which finds Schlieske channeling the energy of a Vegas lounge singer. 

Recorded, mixed and mastered by Abe Anderson in Cannon FallsReleased: Jan. 31, 2024

Recorded, mixed and mastered by Abe Anderson in Cannon Falls

Fronted by singer-songwriter Emma Fisher, 

 offers a wall of alt-country sound, with Fisher’s gentle, aching voice sometimes sounding draped in twangy Americana guitar licks and soaring pedal steel. 

It’s an impressive debut. Fisher has a talent for memorable melodies and well-crafted lyrics, as in the title song: “Packed up all my things in an old quilt, tied with strings,” she sings. 

The song is about marriage, which Fisher presents as equal parts anticipatory and melancholy. The arrangements are sometimes thrilling, with wailing fiddles and Spaghetti western guitars.

Gnostic Recordings for PANReleased: March 1, 2024

An album of folk instrumentals by brothers 

. These are moody pieces, as suggested by their evocative titles. “Hojas Santas” is a gentle guitar piece that seems to constantly roll in on itself, backed by intermittent bird calls and sounds of running water, as though the track was recorded in situ at the base of a waterfall. 

“Crows in the Corn” likewise has birds, but they are the titular corvids, squawking behind a Celtic number that features a galloping guitar, boinging jaw harp and a marching drums. 

The impressively titled “Bring Me The Bones of Nipper Barraud (To Cast a Dark Spell)” has darkly strummed guitars and droning guitars, sounding like the theme song to a forgotten — and notably bleak — acid western. 

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Max Sparber

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Three new Minnesota music releases: “The Good Life” by Tina Schlieske, “Lone Rock Bride” by Lone Rock Bride and “Arcana” by Verdin Brothers.

New Minnesota music round-up: Jazz from Tina Schlieske, plus Lone Rock Bride and Verdin Brothers

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