Summer is almost over but not yet! With a few weeks left, the final release day of August brings with it some goodies for your ears. The TND writers have culled together seven new releases to draw your attention to, and there are many more on this busy day. Check them all out below.

Ba bam!

The Beths – Straight Line Was A Lie [Anti]

New Zealand power pop quartet The Beths have returned with their fourth album, Straight Line Is A Lie – a cementing of their status as one of the most consistent bands in indie rock. The record sees frontwoman Liz Stokes looking inward at her mortality and the cyclical nature of the world around her atop the grand riffs the band made a name for themselves with. The Beths refuse to slow down despite how easy it may look to do so. – Leah Weinstein

Blood Orange - Essex Honey [RCA Records]

Seven years after his last studio album, Dev Hynes returns as Blood Orange with Essex Honey, a new record he announced on Instagram as being "about grief, England, youth, and music." As expected, Hynes finds himself seamlessly blending genres once again, this time leaning more into the electronic and the orchestral (there's a lot of woodwinds on this thing). The result is a sound that’s more subdued and melodic, with Hynes's introspective lyrics layered over spacious chords and electronic grooves that capture the album's late-summer melancholy. Featuring a wide range of contributors, including Caroline Polachek, Mustafa, Lorde, Brendan Yates, and Zadie Smith, Essex Honey feels like Hynes's most cohesive work to date, a moving album that transforms grief and memory into something both haunted and beautiful. – Drew P. Simmons

CMAT – EURO-COUNTRY [AWAL/CMATBaby]

Irish singer-songwriter and country-tinged pop star CMAT returns with EURO-COUNTRY, her third and most pop-forward album to date. Here, she wrestles with the pressures of newfound fame, the struggles of small-town economics, and the process of re-examining her roots, all while keeping the sharp satire that defined her earlier work. Early single “Take a Sexy Photo of Me” highlights her knack for pairing infectious hooks with twangy guitars and lyrics that balance earnest vulnerability with almost-too-much honesty... but it's the TMI that keeps you coming back for more. EURO-COUNTRY expands on CMAT’s already impressive catalog and pushes her further along the road toward global stardom. – Ricky Adams

Heir of the Cursed – Heir of the Cursed [Self-released]

When Beldina Odenyo died in 2021, at just 31 years old, she left a giant hole in the hearts of everyone who knew her in the Scottish arts community she belonged to. Performing as Heir of the Cursed since 2016, the Kenyan-born, Dumfriesshire-raised artist had released just a handful of songs before she passed, but left behind a full album’s worth of home studio recordings – a first and tragically final statement of her magnetizing artistry. That album drops tomorrow (August 30), on what would have been Odenyo’s 35th birthday, and does right by her fearlessly vulnerable, haunting, and strikingly elegant songs. Tapping into her love of classic vocalists like Nina Simone and Ella Fitzgerald, Heir of the Cursed swoops and soars with shivering intensity, sung with Odenyo’s whole chest. A powerful echo of a terrible loss. – Alan Pedder

Jehnny Beth – You Heartbreaker, You [Fiction]

This second solo album from French musician and actor Jehnny Beth returns her to the pummeling urgency and fire of her time with Savages, and this time it’s personal. Working once again with Johnny Hostile, her main collaborator and partner of 20+ years, the album’s central tenets are don’t be boring, and never, ever give up. The fight goes on and on – not in pursuit of some imagined happy ending, just because it simply must. Inspired by hard-edged bands like Quicksand and Tool, You Heartbreaker, You is tough and abrasive, rarely letting up from the opening scream of “Broken Rib” to the final ringing chord of “I See Your Pain”, confronting the brutality of life and the certainty of upheaval with self-analysis and a touch of dark humor. – Alan Pedder

The Losing Score – Space to Grow [self-released]

A brief yet powerful spoken-word opener that signals the start of any great emo pop-punk record, kicks off The Losing Score’s new EP Space to Grow. With lyrics like “I feel like I’m always upsetting all my friends” layered over math-rocky guitar riffs, the EP slots neatly alongside acts like Prince Daddy & the Hyena or Michael Cera Palin in the ever-thriving fifth-wave emo scene, or is it now considered post-emo? Who fucking knows anymore. Still, it carries the high-octane energy fit for a Warped Tour stage. Clocking in at just thirteen minutes across five tracks, Space to Grow is punchy, fun, and a little self-loathing, delivering a bucket full of good tunes and good times. – Ricky Adams

Sabrina Carpenter – Man's Best Friend [Island]

Sometimes the pop machine can still work its wonders. Since ex-Disney star Sabrina Carpenter hit the pop A-list last year with Short n Sweet, it seems as though she's become a "drop everything" artist for her collaborators. Man's Best Friend comes just a year and six days after its predecessor, but manages to feel like her most focused record to date. Co-produced by Jack Antonoff and John Ryan, the album sees Carpenter and co. pull from several pop movements of the past. Be it disco, 2000's R&B, or the gleeful alcoholism of pop-country, everything is sealed by the humor and sexual frustration that launched Sabrina to the top ranks of pop in the first place. – Leah Weinstein