Fontaines D.C., the Avalanches Lead This Week's 11 Essential New Albums

Heavens to Betsy release their first album in 31 years. Fontaines D.C. chase an arena-sized follow-up to Romance. The Avalanches return with a 31-song LP. Pitchfork's weekly rundown of 11 new albums, published as part of its New Music Friday series, spans comebacks, label debuts, and one record made with light from the stars. Elena Vasquez breaks down the list by the numbers.

What leads the list?

Fontaines D.C. top the batch with Dopamine Chamber, out on XL. The Irish band continues its shift from underground rock to what Pitchfork calls "arena-baiting anthem merchants." Lead single "Marianne" pairs sleazy synth-pop with, in the reviewer's words, "the air of a haunted lullaby."

The album's oddest pairing works: Fontaines D.C. join Spanish crossover star Rosalía on "Where Is Gone?" Singer Grian Chatten described the album's titular concept in press materials: "You step inside and we test these different mind- or mood-altering pieces of music on you."

Who is coming back after decades?

Heavens to Betsy — the pre-Sleater-Kinney duo of Corin Tucker and Tracy Sawyer — release Baby's Gone on Kill Rock Stars. The duo have not released an album since 1994. The new record compiles 16 tracks from multiple releases:

• a long-lost demo recorded in 1992
• 1993's These Monsters Are Real
• 1994's Direction 7" recordings

Pitchfork's verdict: the duo remain "as full of conviction as they were all those decades ago." That is the longest gap on the list by a wide margin.

What are the Avalanches doing with lost jingles?

The Avalanches release No Bad Memories on Modular, their first proper LP since the pandemic. The duo draw inspiration from remembered corporate jingles and obsolete technology. The project spans 31 songs.

The feature list mixes eras. Yellow Magic Orchestra co-founder Haruomi Hosono appears alongside experimentalists Portraits of Tracy. Pitchfork calls the result hauntology that is, unexpectedly, fun.

Which artists are leveling up?

Rachel Chinouriri follows her 2024 debut What a Devastating Turn of Events with I Think I Spoke Too Soon on Parlophone. She previewed it with "One Song Away From Crying" and "Make Believe." The latter, she wrote in a statement, is about "allowing someone who clearly hates me to have access to me at any moment." Recent tour slots with Gracie Abrams and Florence + The Machine signal her trajectory.

Sophia Stel releases The Greatest Album of All Time, the first album on A24's nascent label. The Canadian singer-songwriter-producer kept the DIY home-studio setup from her 2025 EP How to Win at Solitaire. Pitchfork calls these dance-pop cuts "a big level up."

@ — the duo of Filipczak and Victoria Rose — make their 4AD debut with Autosmile. The folk-pop pranksters have grown into what the reviewer terms a "brain-rotted Rawlings and Welch," and Rose now sings lines as direct as "I don't know how I belong to you, but I do somehow."

What about the electronic and experimental entries?

Montreal producer Jacques Greene returns with JG on LuckyMe, his first solo LP in seven years. Pitchfork notes a clear shift: crystalline melodies and poppy vocals meet 2-step, dubstep, and heavy basslines.

The strangest origin story belongs to The Sirens by Geologist and Kyle Simon, out on Outside Time. Animal Collective's Geologist conceived the album at Simon's Joshua Tree observatory, harnessing moonlight to make music. Simon aimed a telescope at the night sky; photodiodes detected light from planets and stars; an analog amplifier converted it to electrical signal; Geologist ran it through his modular synth rig as control voltage, shifting pitch, filter, and rhythm in real time.

Who rounds out the 11?

• They Are Gutting a Body of Water — Kool Faith / Loosies II (ATO/Julia's War). The Philly band's mixtape compiles cuts with Spirit of the Beehive, Greg Mendez, Hotline TNT, DJ Manny, Lucy, and RXKNephew. Doug Dulgarian explained in press materials: "For me who was born later, it meant mashups of all my favorite artists by local DJs. And so that's what I did with this one."
• Dummy — Do You Love the Color of the Sky? (Polyvinyl). The Los Angeles quintet adds breakbeats to ambient shoegaze, tackling surveillance and government overreach under vocalist Emma Maatman's guidance.
• Worldpeace DMT — Stick Around for Tea (WPDMT). The British duo of Leo Fincham and Rowan Miles follow Belle & Sebastian and K Records with lusher production.

What's the takeaway?

The list rewards patience: a 31-year comeback, a seven-year gap closed, a pandemic-delayed LP finally delivered. Pitchfork's editors independently selected all 11 releases; the site earns affiliate commissions on purchases made through its links. Readers can subscribe to the New Music Friday newsletter for weekly recommendations — with the comeback of Heavens to Betsy setting the longest arc this batch has to offer.