New releases last two weeks: Pop

Review: Inspired by her personal experience of the COVID-19 pandemic, which involved becoming obsessed by perfumes and fragrances, Jenny Hval's first solo album in three years is noticeably tactile, intimate and sensory. Effectively a hard-to-pigeonhole mood piece full of uniquely realised songs and immersive, deeply layered musical soundscapes, Iris Silver Mist (named in honour of a 'steely' French perfume) sees the Norwegian musician, producer and author variously join the dots between icy electronica, string-laden synth-pop, offbeat trip-hop, kaleidoscopic ambient pop and wonderfully enveloping electronic maximalism.

Review: Rebecca Taylor arrives at third album A Complicated Woman in a very different place to where she was before the release of her previous full-length, the Mercury Prize-nominated Prioritise Pleasure. Now a bona-fide pop star, the South Yorkshire chanteuse now has to deal with heightened expectations and her own experience of fame. By the sound of A Complicated Woman, she's handling both with aplomb. That's not to say that the lyrics avoid difficult subjects - her own worries remain front and centre - but the delightfully grandiose production, extensive use of choirs and orchestras, and Taylor's own penchant for penning stadium-sized sing-alongs deliver a maximal pop gem fitting her genuine star status. Rotherham's finest has never sounded so good (or, it should be added, explicit - there are some genuinely adult themes on display).