Can you believe we’re more than half way through the year? Before long it’ll be the end of summer, then Bonfire Night, then Christmas, then another year finished as time marches mercilessly on. What is this quintessence of dust, as Hamlet so perceptively mused?
Sadly for the fictitious Danish Prince, he didn’t have a hi-fi setup to take his mind off of his gnawing existential dread. We can’t offer spiritual counsel, but if you happen to be one of the fortunate souls who take refuge under a pair of speakers and an integrated amplifier, then might we suggest the following tunes to keep the existential wolf from the door?
Lost Boys by Phoebe Bridgers
The six-year wait for a new Phoebe Bridgers album has felt nothing short of excruciating.
Aside from Boygenius's (which Bridgers makes up a third of) self-titled album back in 2022, I’ve held my nerve since the sensational Punisher album was released in 2020, and subsequently became my lockdown soundtrack. Thankfully, my patience has paid off, as Bridgers’ new album, Lost Weekend, is confirmed to release on the 14th of August.
The new record's first single, Lost Boys, has quickly become my favourite song of 2026. I presume that will change once I hear the full album later this year.
Despite the considerable gap between solo projects, this song clearly follows Phoebe Bridgers’ style while evolving certain aspects to ensure it's not just re-treading her discography.
The plucking strings of Halloween and the chorus of trumpets from Kyoto return here, but there is more energy and fullness to the production that makes me think that the new album will be bigger in scale than Punisher.
The star of the show is Bridgers’ folky and earnest lyricism, which treads a fine line between haunting and toe-tappingly groovy. There’s subtext aplenty to dig your teeth into, as Bridgers rarely shies away from heavy themes within her music; this time she spins a metaphor linking modern masculinity, the glorification of violence, and the refusal to accept reality.
Despite the dense subject matter, Bridgers’ euphoric, wistful, and almost nursery-rhyme-like lyrics and vocals create an inviting and harmonious sound that is impossible not to get sucked into.
With a lead single this strong, I am counting down the days until I can listen to her upcoming 16-track album in full.
Words by Lewis Empson
Love Me Or Leave Me by Nina Simone
Over the years, there have been many versions of this tune – from such luminaries as Sammy Davis Jr, Bing Crosby and Doris Day – but they all sound positively leaden next to Nina Simone’s take on it.
It absolutely kicks, from that sprightly intro that doesn’t hang about to her soulful vocals and the extended piano solo that builds like an Ira Levin thriller before erupting in a shower of anger and frustration, reflecting the subject matter and aided Simone’s on-point vocal delivery.
In fact, the whole song is basically that solo bookended by the same verse repeated – first as request, then as demand. In between, the piano starts off playfully dancing around the drumbeat, almost enjoying the situation, before going all Bach on us in the style of his Inventions, but it seems to go on and on – much like it must feel being left in limbo romantically – gradually ratcheting up the intensity until the thundering climax.
This is a true master at work, a classically trained pianist and singer letting rip with her new-jazz styles on an old classic, tearing up the rules only once she’s mastered them. Where Sammy Davis Jr, Bing Crosby and Doris Day’s versions sound a bit mopey, Simone is angry, and is letting us know the only way she knows how.
And this was from Simone’s debut album. What an introduction to one of the 20th century’s most accomplished artists.
Words by Joe Svetlik
Wanted Man by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Wanted Man is featured on Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds' second album, The Firstborn Is Dead. Their sophomore album was the band’s attempt at creating a straight blues record, diving deep into the gothic-southern world that Cave’s writing so often inhabits.
The track was inspired by a song written by Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash, from whom Cave had to seek permission to change the lyrics.
Recorded in Berlin’s Hansa Studios, Wanted Man features roomy, machine-gun-cracking drums beneath Cave’s snarling recitation of the many people and state police pursuing him. Whipping up the song’s ever more urgent disorder, wild organs and Blixa Bargeld’s industrial-cum-country slide-guitar churn this track into a howling blues-infused dust-devil.
The final lyric: “If the devil comes collecting he better hold a six gun in his hand,” neatly summarises the general sentiment of Wanted Man. It is a phenomenal test track for its rhythmic power and textural intricacy, but it makes an even better driving song, played loud.
Words by Ioan Hazell
How Soon Is Now? by The Smiths
Has there ever been a rock outfit more divisive than The Smiths?
You’re either a complete obsessive who, starting at the age of about 14, devoured the Manchester outfit’s back catalogue while crying adolescent tears of cathartic joy, or else you’re one of those people for whom Morrissey’s distinctive mewling is akin to having a particularly large wasp embedded inside your ear canal.
How Soon Is Now? is the track for finding that slim piece of common ground in the Venn diagram of devotees and deniers, a near-seven minute epic that sounds unlike anything you’ve ever heard or are likely to hear.
It’s got all of Morrissey’s usual self-flagellatory mutterings on the isolating misery brought about by excessive shyness, but the star of the show is the siren-like pulse of Johnny Marr’s distorted tremolo guitar, giving the tune a powerful, brooding edge when fired out above thumping drums and an underlaid chugging bassline.
The quiet, introspective Smiths DNA is all in there, but covered in the most deliciously thrilling wrapper. Play it through a capable hi-fi set-up and you’ll have an experience unlike any other.
Words by Harry McKerrell
Light Of The Seven by Ramin Djawadi
One thing that has always remained consistent, despite the arguable fluctuations in quality of Game Of Thrones and its various spin-offs, is the brilliance of its soundtrack. Ramin Djawadi is the mastermind composer behind it, and with House Of The Dragon returning for a fiery third season, now is the perfect time to revisit some of his best work for the franchise.
Light Of The Seven is one of the most famous pieces from the original show, partly for the iconic scene in the season six finale it accompanies. No spoilers here, but it’s a ten minute scene largely without dialogue, with the track and visuals working in tandem to slowly build up tension to a rather explosive climax (if you know, you know).
But the track holds up on its own, and conveys the emotion of the scene without any need for a screen. In a departure for the show, the track starts with a sparse, delicate piano melody.
Slowly but surely, more layers are added – haunting vocals, minimalist violins, and then, suddenly, a massive rumbling pipe organ – until eventually we have a much larger arrangement that is in stark contrast to the intimate opening.
It’s this final part that is the real stress test, with the sudden wall of sound a real assessment of your audio gear’s dynamic range and the ability to keep every instrument identifiable.
Words by Daniel Furn
The Curse by Agnes Obel
We were lucky enough to take a trip down to Bowers & Wilkins’ facility in Surrey to have a listen to the company’s updated Diamond series of loudspeakers, with one of the test tracks used being the opening of Agnes Obel’s The Curse. It’s hard to resist the urge to roll out that old cliché: great minds really do think alike.
The Curse is a masterwork, as is Aventine, the album from which it is taken. In fact, we use the record so often that a hi-res edition has a permanent home on our reference Astell & Kern portable music player, ready and waiting to put a potential pair of wired headphones through its paces.
B&W’s use of those opening few bars to show off its latest speaker roster was no accident. In the space of mere seconds, the track’s taut, almost menacing strings will reveal more about a product’s capabilities than some entire albums, from the breadth of the soundstage to the richness of the textures unearthed.
It’s worth listening to the whole track, though. Just to be sure…
Words by Harry McKerrell
Fallin' by Alicia Keys
It’s been 25 years, but Alicia Keys’ Fallin’, the lead single from her debut album Songs In A Minor (2001), still manages to invoke goosebumps every time I hear it.
It’s been a staple of our test track playlist for years, with her powerful vocals still stirring our souls and grabbing our attention as it did the first time we heard it. When using it for testing speakers, for instance, we always listen out for how well they relay the raw, rough textures of her voice when she belts out the soulful lyrics.
The song is also a fantastic test of your system’s dynamic handling, tracking how well it handles the sudden swell in intensity when the backing vocals kick in, and how quickly it goes back to being quiet and intimate when it’s just Keys and her piano.
The track's sudden shifts in dynamic intensity, coupled with the terrific melody, mean it remains not just a great pop song, but also a great test for any product that comes through our test rooms.
Words by Kashfia Kabir
As a collective, our review team listens to a lot of music. Sometimes we rely on old favourites with which we're familiar, but we are always discovering new tracks – be they fresh releases or just songs we haven't encountered before – that give us key insights into new products we are trying out.
We also know that plenty of our readers are on the lookout for new tunes, either to assess the capabilities of a new system or simply to show off the full talents of their established hi-fi set-up.
That's why we have come up with our monthly 'Now Playing' playlist, a rundown of everything we've been listening to and loving recently, whether at home with a set of headphones or at work in our fabulous test rooms.
Each instalment will bring you a handful of tracks chosen by our reviews team, detailing why we love them and what they bring out of certain products. So even if you're not looking for new tunes to play on your system, we hope you find something you'll love no matter how you choose to listen to it.
We're always on the lookout for new music, so drop a comment below to share what you have been listening to!
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