Yes, it's true: Harry Styles of the British boy band One Direction has taken a huge left turn on his debut solo album, turning in an infectious, sometimes gritty batch of rock songs inspired by The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and other classic bands he grew up listening to. Robin kick's this week's show off with one of these surprising new songs, the playful earworm "Carolina."
Bob follows with the complete opposite, a song from Kalmia Traver he's currently obsessed with. Traver, a singer and saxophonist from the band Rubblebucket, has a new solo album under the name Kalbells, filled with a kaleidoscope of colorful sounds, including coyote howls and whistling.
Also on the show: World Cafe host Talia Schlanger joins us with a gorgeous, stripped-down tear-jerker from Anthony LaMarca , singer of folk-pop duo The Building, recorded at her request; Fleet Foxes does some soul-searching with another track from its first new album in nearly six years; Dr. Danny of the psych-rock band The Lemon Twigs goes solo with a trippy new EP; and The National reflects on the age of alternative facts with a cut from its upcoming album Sleep Well Beast.
Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
