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Stephen Thompson Stephen Thompson is an editor and reviewer for NPR Music, where he writes the advice column The Good Listener and fusses over comma placement. He is also a frequent panelist on All Songs Considered, and appears every week on Pop Culture Happy Hour.
Washington, DC - May 03, 2016: Stephen Thompson CREDIT: Matt Roth
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Stephen Thompson

The Swell Season: Dwarfed By The Sky
courtesy of the artist

Review

Song Of The Day

The Swell Season: Dwarfed By The Sky

If there's one constant in Glen Hansard's career, it's his ability to express the way intense emotions can make us feel both bigger and smaller than we are. He understands insecurity and regret, jealousy and disappointment, hope and pride. And he knows exactly how to wrap those feelings in songs that swoon, soar and seethe. Case in point: The Swell Season's "Feeling the Pull."

Feeling the Pull

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Exclusive First Listen: Rosanne Cash Sings Her Father's 'List'
courtesy of the artist

First Listen

Exclusive First Listen: Rosanne Cash Sings Her Father's 'List'

Back in 1973, Cash told her father that she wanted to play country music for a living. Johnny Cash was, to put it mildly, an authority on the subject, so he made her a list of 100 essential songs she needed to hear as she embarked on her career. The List, heard here in its entirety for the week leading up to its Oct. 6 release, finds the younger Cash performing 12 of those songs.

Exclusive First Listen: The Avett Brothers
courtesy of the artist

First Listen

Exclusive First Listen: The Avett Brothers

With their roots in punk and bluegrass, Seth and Scott Avett know how and when to careen wildly, almost recklessly. But in their albums as The Avett Brothers, they're just as likely to ruminate softly on devotion, desire and regret, in austere, sweet-natured songs that exude a sort of hard-won decency. Hear the band's much-anticipated major-label debut, I and Love and You, in its entirety here for the week leading up to its release on Sept. 29.

Exclusive First Listen: Volcano Choir
Cameron Wittig

First Listen

Exclusive First Listen: Volcano Choir

In Volcano Choir, Bon Iver's Vernon sets his layered, often chopped-up vocals atop the experimental instrumental musings of the Milwaukee-based band Collections of Colonies of Bees. Hear the indie supergroup's debut album, Unmap, in its entirety for the week leading up to its release on Sept. 22.

Exclusive First Listen: Volcano Choir

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The Avett Brothers: Stomping And Hollering
courtesy of the artist

Review

Song Of The Day

The Avett Brothers: Stomping And Hollering

It's a tribute to The Avett Brothers' considerable charms that "Slight Figure of Speech" never loses track of the group's warmth or generosity of spirit: Speedy, sunny and all too brief at just a shade over two minutes, it finds the band maintaining a perfect balance of studio slickness and garage-band glory.

Slight Figure of Speech

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Brendan Benson: A Futile Plea For Silence
courtesy of the artist

Review

Song Of The Day

Brendan Benson: A Futile Plea For Silence

Benson remains best known for his work in The Raconteurs, but he's still saving his best songs for solo albums like the zippy and fantastic My Old, Familiar Friend, which seems to emerge from about four eras of pop-rock at once. Crisp and relentlessly catchy, the album practically oozes hooks, mixing cockeyed love songs with sublime kiss-off anthems like the irresistible "Don't Wanna Talk."

Don't Want to Talk

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Yim Yames: Gorgeous George Harrison
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Review

Song Of The Day

Yim Yames: Gorgeous George Harrison

In his extraordinary cover of Harrison's "Long Long Long," the My Morning Jacket frontman's gorgeous, ringing voice seems to stretch out for days. Accompanying himself with an acoustic guitar and some choice vocal harmonies, he sounds reverent in every sense of the word.

Long, Long, Long

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A.A. Bondy: Darkness With A Sugary Sparkle
Jean Alcide

Review

Song Of The Day

A.A. Bondy: Darkness With A Sugary Sparkle

Bondy's album When the Devil's Loose is ragged all over, most notably in its intimate garage-band production, but there's a sugary sparkle to songs like "Mightiest of Guns." For all its fatalistic, even apocalyptic imagery, Bondy can't help but infuse the song with acoustic-guitar-fueled gentility.

'Mightiest of Guns' by A.A. Bondy

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Review

Song Of The Day

Volcano Choir: Angels And Experiments

More choral than volcanic, Volcano Choir finds the Milwaukee-based experimental band Collections of Colonies of Bees collaborating with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver. Of all the lovely strangeness on its debut album, Unmap, its songs are never sweeter than the album-closing "Youlogy."

'Youlogy' by Volcano Choir

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Rose Melberg: A Grand Chorus Of Whispers

In "Old Days," Rose Melberg conveys hope and want in just four words: "Oh, love, take hold." Sarah Cass hide caption

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Sarah Cass

Song Of The Day

Rose Melberg: A Grand Chorus Of Whispers

Rose Melberg's music seems to get softer with each passing year — and that's saying something, given that she used to be in a band called The Softies. On Melberg's fine new album, Homemade Ship, her arrangements are stripped down further than ever.

Old Days

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Review

Song Of The Day

David Mead: Warm And Bittersweet

In "Last Train Home," Mead paints a simple but ambivalent portrait of a late-night train ride in which fleeting companionship is unmistakably intertwined with loneliness. The bright, piano-infused arrangement nicely balances out his melancholy words, as he basks in fresh memories while remaining aware that they've already receded into the past.

'Last Train Home' by David Mead

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The Swell Season: Tiny Desk Concert
Coburn Dukehart/NPR

Tiny Desk

The Swell Season: Tiny Desk Concert

For those who can't wait to hear songs from Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova's follow-up to Once (titled Strict Joy, out Oct. 27), the pair played six new songs before performing the first-ever Tiny Desk Concert encore: a white-knuckle journey through "When Your Mind's Made Up."

The Swell Season: Tiny Desk Concert (Audio Only)

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