Jason Isbel's Bareben split song, and seven more new songs

Every Friday, New York Times pop critics place emphasis on the most notable new tracks of the week. Listen to our Spotify playlist here (or profile: NYTIMES) and on Apple Music and sign up for Amplifier, a two-time guide to new and old songs.

Jason Isbell, “Irene”

Jason Isbel's new album, “Foxes in the Snow,” is unadorned. Isbel sings on his acoustic guitar. It arrives after her divorce from Amanda Shire, who had her own songwriting career and was a member of his band. On the barebone finger-picking in “Irene,” Isbell sings with separation, regret, self-deception, “It's always finished/someone crying on the phone.” He insists, “Irene, you should have come sooner,” but adds, “You thought the truth was just a rumour, but that was your way.” It's not about responsibility – it's about going through.

I, along with her, “Ancient Light”

Virtuoso String-Band Supergroup I'm with her – Sarah Jaros, Ioff O'Donovan, Sarah Watkins – reunited with the intimately ambitious “ancient light.” The poem is gentle and confused for 7/4. The instrument mixes acoustics and electricity, juxtaposes fiddle tunes and mathematical rock. The lyrics are leaning towards metaphysics. When the song begins, Jarosz sings.

Car seat headrest, “Gessemane”

Wiltredo's band car seat headrest has released its first album since 2020, “The Scholars,” and is a full-fledged rock opera. The first single, “Gessemane,” is an 11-minute suite that contemplates faith, morality, creativity, free will and love, as the music spreads with stretches of Crotolock's keyboard minimalism and the resonating power chords of “Tommy.” Toledo sings, “A series of simple patterns slowly incorporate themselves into another song / I don't know how it happened,” but the structure is covered in iron.

Illuminati Hotties, “777”

Sarah Tuzin – the songwriter and producer behind Illuminati Hotti – harnesses the distortion guitar and harnesses the quiet grunge dynamics with “777.” “I want to understand you,” she declares, but she is sure she has already won the gamble: “You're my spade/lucky 777.” All the noise doesn't hide the pop songs inside.

Ophelius, “Salome”

“I want to bet your head / I want to be a platter,” sings Cincinnati indie rock band Ophelias, turning “I” into a vocal harmony skin. “Salome” adapts the Bible incident to a merciless crescendo with guitars, drums and voices screaming, calmly reciting “The knife swings heavily in my hand.”

Yaeji, “Pondeggi” featuring E. Wata

Yaeji, a New York City musician with Korean roots and her co-producer E. Wata transforms the hand-crapping game into a mutated electronic beat in “Pondegi”. She inexplicably recites truth and misinformation. There is a warning under the casual surface.

Nathy Peluso, “Erotika”

“You make me erotic like 1990s salsa,” shouts Argentine songwriter Nathy Peluso on “Erotika,” and she revives the style to prove her point. Piano, percussion, and swag haughty horn sessions help her seduce her partner.

Lailapuramuk, “Vega”

Electronic composer Lyra Pramuk sets up what swirls in “Vega.” This is a collection of electronic and vocal loops, making them so majestic. The pulses gather in the right beat. A speechless sound appears in the stereo. Glitch and bleep slice. And finally, Pramuk installs, “Please tell me your name” and “Please tell me your story.” Is this an acquaintance or an interrogation?