NPR Music - Big Thief’s Buck Meek, Joji and more of the week's best songs

Episode Date: January 13, 2026

NPR’s classical critic Tom Huizenga joins host Robin Hilton for our first spin of the best songs we’re hearing in 2026, including new ones from Big Thief’s Buck Meek, the genre-hopping artist Joji, “fragile hope” from composer Daníel Bjarnason and more. Featured artists and songs:1. Buck Meek: “Gasoline,” from ‘The Mirror’2. Pekka Kuusisto & Sam Amidon: "Way Go, Lily" (Arr. by Nico Muhly / Adapted for orchestra by Bernard Rofe), from ‘Willows’3. Joji: “Love You Less,” from ‘P*** In The Wind’4. Joyce DiDonato & Time for Three: “Because I could not stop for Death," from ‘Emily - No Prisoner Be’5. Jana Horn: “Don’t think,” from ‘Jana Horn’6. Daniel Bjarnason & The Iceland Symphony Orchestra: “Fragile Hope,” from ‘The Grotesque and the Sublime’ Support the show by leaving a review on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. And tell a friend!Questions, comments, suggestions or feedback of any kind always welcome: [e-mail] pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

If you want to record a show, pro tip. Microphone on. Turn on the microphone. Microphone on. Tom, I feel like I've been trying to get some time to hang out with you and play and talk about new music for a while now. It's been a minute. Well, you know, the holidays kind of got in the way. The holidays, do you know when the last time was that you were on the show?

Several months. August. Oh, wow. August. Haven't had you in the hot seat. since August. That is proof of how time flies. It really does. Get away from you.

Yeah. Well, sorry about that, but you just got to keep calling through. You know, the lines are always busy. Well, we start off every year with a blank sheet. Yeah. Clean slate. And we start adding songs to this virtual list. It's a list, a running list of all the new tracks that we're loving. As the year marches on, we'll

updated and add to it. It's all songs considered. I'm Robin Hilton. In Pure Music's Tom Hisinga here. It's obviously very early in the year. But we already have some stuff that we're kind of obsessing over and loving and have on repeat plays. Very, very interesting stuff already. Let's start with the new Buck Meek. Let's.

Buck Meek from Big Thief. He's the guitarist and Big Thief, also a singer. He's also, though, released a handful of his own solo albums. He's got a new one that he just announced. It's his third solo album. It's called The Mirror. And the first song that we're getting from it is called Gasoline. Mm-do-hoo de fai could,

wu-do-fi-le-seed if I do, ooh, california, making words of what we made love. Just a lot, and she's in my blood. Whoie, I love, Lucy me, go. Will it be me, be heard? To say I love. Built a fire with oak and juniper and cypress. Gasoline.

Making way I love to see me. Just such a great rolling, rollicking playfulness in this song that I love. It's almost like a playground kind of melody or chant or something in a way. And it even almost sounds like some kids' voices are in the mix there in the chorus or something. Well, especially because, you know, the opening kind of takes you by surprise. It's like, whoa, wait, wait, what are those words? And it turns out that, you know, there are these lovey-dovey words that he and his partner make up while they're making out.

Kind of nonsensical. Right. Yeah. It's, I don't know. Does it remind you of something? It reminds me of something, but I can't quite place it. It's something in those nonsensical lyrics, something in the playfulness. It also feels a little out of time.

Like it's maybe almost some sort of early 60s folk song or something from that period, you know. Yeah, I think maybe you're thinking of that kind of nonstop strumming of the guitar, that that kind of propels the piece. But for me, you know, there's just a lot of warmth to this song. There's gentle vocals. There's the whole, this whole idea we talked about, I'm making upwards with your brand new lover, humming lullabies, and, you know, the whole idea of who's going to say, I love you first.

Right. And then later in the song, there's this really nice image. The line is, in one million years, maybe I'll be a light beam, a lonely laser in the vacuum. And maybe she's a photon, too. pass through each other. And, you know, that's a really cool image. And it sets up this really cool disjointed guitar solo that comes kind of out of the blue that I just love.

Yeah, it almost feels out of place. But it works really, really well. Very cool. I mean, the line that you quote is something that really struck me as well, which is the song is kind of vast and cosmic in some ways, but also just kind of goofy. And intimate. And intimate and very grounded. here on earth. I reached out to Buckmeek and asked them about the song. And, you know, it's really not

more complicated than what we're already getting from our multiple listens, which is just that it's about those early days of love when you're falling for someone. And, you know, maybe they're falling for you, but nobody wants to, you know, you don't want to come in too hot. So you're kind of dancing around it trying to figure out who's going to kind of say the first thing or make the first move. Exactly. And yeah. Anyway, I was so happy. when I saw this one. I kind of think of Buck Meek as the secret weapon

of Big Thief in some ways. You know, that project is very much sort of filtered through the lens of and voice of Adrian Linker, who we love. And you can hear her in the background vocals here.

She appears on this album as well. But I think he's every bit as important to that band. Very much a band band band. So this album from Buck Meek, again, it's called The Mirror, and it is out February 27th. You know, you mentioned a few minutes ago that you felt there was kind of a childlike vibe to some parts of the song.

So I think we should go to this very interesting collaboration between the Finnish violinist Pecaccusisto and the folk singer Sam Amadon. And they're doing this track I'd like to play called Way Go Lily. And it's really a children's song from the Georgia Sea Islands. And the record is by Pecocustisto. It comes out on February 20th. And he's a really interesting violinist, Robin. He's been known to swallow miniature microphones in performance. What?

And he will actually... Wait a minute. You mean like actually down, like... Yes. Are they wireless and it's sending a wireless signal out? No, the wires attached? The wires attached. And if you're around in July, when I bring him to the tiny desk, you can witness it because he says he's going to do it.

And he's doing things. very differently on this album. And one of them is he invited Sam Amadon to come on the record and sing a set of American folk tunes in brand new arrangements for string orchestra, which Pekakusisto is conducting. It's the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra. And again, this song is called Way Go Lily.

It's really lovely. I've heard the original version of this song that Sam Amadon did. I think it was on his 2010 album. That's right. Yeah, I see the sign. And on the one hand, this version and that original version, they're not that different, but this one does feel just a little fuller and richer. It's very lush and sort of pastoral. But this isn't necessarily representative of the whole range of this record because it's kind of all over the place. And I'm wondering what the thread is, like what ties all these different things together.

Well, you mentioned the word pastoral, and that's a really good one to describe kind of the main piece on the album, which is a standard piece for violin and orchestra by Ray Fon Williams called The Lark Ascending. It's been recorded a bazillion times by almost every violinist. Also on the record, some music by Pulitzer Winner, Caroline Shaw, and she's arranged some of her string quartet music. Also, one other really interesting thing on the record is a piece for solo violin, written form by another Pulitzer winner, Ellen Reed, And there's kind of a sad backstory behind all of this because when Peca Cusisto was first working on the album in 2022,

in quick succession, he lost both his brother and his mother. And when he was finishing the record in early 2025, his father died. So a lot of loss here. I can't even imagine. No. And then the solo violin piece, which is called Desiderium, which has to do with the feeling. of loss. That is by Ellen Reed and she dedicated it to

Peca's brother. So the album Willows that that song is from Wego Lily sung by Sam Amadon on the album by Peca Cusisto Willows. That is out on February 20th. Let's go to this song by Joji that I'm really loving right now. J-O-J-I. He is an artist whose music I think Chris crosses a handful of different genres.

If I had to pick one thing, I don't know. Maybe it's no more complicated than pop rock. It's just pop rock. But he always has these interesting little sonic touchstones and sounds and things that he weaves throughout his songs. I find myself consistently surprised while I'm listening. I think it's going to go in one direction and it'll go in another direction. He's got a new album coming out. It's not out until February. But he shared a few singles from it that I've really been loving, including this one. It's called Love You Less. So I have to ask you, does that opening guitar bit, that little intro at the top of this song, does it remind you of anything? Well, it is kind of a, you know, psych anthem guitar intro a la Flaming Lips maybe?

Oh, Flaming Lips is a good little name check, but I was actually thinking of my bloody Valentine of all bands. Listen to, here's the Jogie. And here's my bloody Valentine, the song, Only Shallow. Which is, I mean, there's very little about the... this Jogi song that I would call Shugays. Right, but you nailed that. You nailed it.

Yeah, but the, but there's, there's something in the guitars that remind me a little bit of, you know, maybe the haziness, the fuzziness, the dreaminess of My Bloody Valentine. But that's kind of the full extent of the similarities.

But, I mean, if you told me that My Bloody Valentine had decided to maybe work with a different singer and lean really more into a more pop direction and they, you played this for me, I'd believe it. Well, on speaking of pop, and at least to me in Joji's other work, even in a song like Past Won't Leave My Bed from the singles that he's been releasing,

the voice, to me, is slightly reminiscent of these wonderfully smooth pop 80s crooners like Christopher Cross or Glenn Sharaq. Chris Cross, Christopher Cross. Or Glenn Sharrack of Little River Band. I mean, but here in this song, you know, let me less, there's a patina over it. Wow, I think when I think of it, when I think of a, little river band and Christopher Cross, I think, quintessential yacht rock, soft, soft yacht rock. And I'm not hearing that in this, but.

But listen to Pass won't leave my bed. And I think you'll know a little bit more on what I'm talking about. But I guess the point I'm also trying to make is that there's a versatility here. And the single, the music that he's released from the new record so far, I mean, everything sounds different. Well, I love everything that I've heard from this album so far. And the song, love you less, from this upcoming album that, astoundingly, it has a name that we are not allowed to say on radio. That's right. I'll just say it has something to do with what you should not do while maybe facing a very strong wind.

Yes. You're staring into the wind. And the album from Joji, you can look it up, is out on February 6th. Well, earlier we had this interesting collaboration between a classical violinist and Sam Amadon, the folk singer. Something kind of similar happening with this next song, astonishing collaboration between the opera star Joyce D. Donato and the super agile string trio called Time for Three.

They're a band that kind of embraces everything from bluegrass and jazz to classical. The composer is Kevin Putz, is his name. He's a Pulitzer winner, probably best known for his adaptation of the novel. And then the movie The Hours that premiered at the Metro. Alton Opera a few years ago. And that production at the Met starred Joyce D. Donato, the Metsosurano, for whom Kevin puts, has written this cycle of poems by Emily Dickinson. He set them to music. And the best known of Emily Dickinson's poems is arguably because I could not stop for death.

And that's what we're going to hear now. And really, just a fascinating version. Listen for the pulsating strumming of the stringed instruments, just two violins and a double bass. And I like how they've divvied up the singing here with time for three. They're also very good singers, trading lines. And the first couple verses with Joyce Deidonado and the words are kind of chanted, like an incantation. You know, a lot of composers have set Emily Dickinson's poems to music, but this is really one of my favorites. It's really arresting.

Well, right off the bat, I mean, first of all, love it. Second of all, I would say that, to me, it makes the poetry of Emily Dickinson sound a lot more sinister than I ever think of it. I mean, for people who don't know the poem, because I could not stop for death by Emily Dickinson. Death personified pulls up in a carriage and takes her away, driving off. into eternity and along the way they pass buildings she recognizes and a school yard where kids are playing and the sun

is setting in a field that she notices and to me the poem was always kind of bittersweet and sad but really really beautiful and with a very deep understanding of the cycle of life and you know appreciation for that

in this context it just sounds kind of creepy it's very cool but it sounds just kind of, yeah, sinister. I don't know. What do you think? Well, I think it's actually a pretty dark poem to begin with because the last line is what really kind of creeps me out,

and that is since then, tis centuries, and yet feel shorter than the day I first surmised, the horse's heads were toward eternity. So the speaker, this is centuries later, she's looking back on the day that death seduce, induced her. So she's been a ghost this entire time. Yeah. Yeah. And you're actually listening to a ghost narrated to. Yeah, that, that is creepy. And the scoring here really works for me. Just pairing an opera singer with this unorthodox string trio that has a pension for Americana anyway.

You know, very simple but dramatically effective, I think, and an intimate feel to it that that sticks with you. So the name of the album is called Emily No Prisoner B, which is another Emily Dickinson, poem, no prisoner B. Emily, no prisoner B. And that is out on January 30th. I want to go to Jane O'Horn. Jane O'Horn, a singer who I think is maybe originally from Texas, but is in New York now, based out of New York now, just makes the most beautiful music, very calming music, usually very spare, often just her voice and a nylon string guitar. I think you're a fan of, oh, yeah, definitely. Gorgeous, gorgeous music. She has a new album coming out. It's a self-titled album. And we actually have a song that is not out yet.

Another exclusive. Whoa, ding, ding, ding, ding for all songs considered. Could have gone with really any number of tracks on this, but I wanted to play this one. It's called Don't Think. Her words to me are like Rumi poems. I bet you like the poetry of Rumi. You strike me as a Rumi kind of guy.

Rumi Huffez, yes. Ancient Sufi poet, look them up. You'll love them if you don't know Rumi. Are you, am I? Just very spare meditations full of wisdom about how to be and live in the world, almost always very calming. There's something that is very centering in her work, like Rumi's work. I don't know. No skips for me on this album. I went with Don't Think because Don't Think is my go-to mantra. I was wondering about Don't Think and what she really meant by it. She says, don't think, just be. and I'm wondering if she's thinking like, well, don't overthink things, just be here in the moment.

There's a line that says, I don't take it lightly that a thing set in stone can begin to roll when the ground that you're on is different. So to me, the lyrics are a little enigmatic. I feel like they're almost like we're listening in on a late-night conversation between friends or possibly lovers. I'm not sure exactly. what it means? Yeah, I actually don't know if the phrase don't think in this song is a complete thought either. Right. I don't know if it's don't think about something specific or it's just don't think in general.

And it's just about letting go completely. But, you know, for me, it's a mantra that, honestly, I think I got from reading some article years ago about how the Marines use it for a sort of a way to center their mind and calm their mind when they're trying to fall asleep in extreme circumstances they just keep repeating the phrase in their head don't think, don't think, don't think, don't think. And I started doing that a number of years ago. It works. It really works.

Like if you wake up in the middle of the night, just keep repeating the phrase, don't think. But Jane O'Horn, her self-titled album, is out January 16th. But Tom, you've got one more than I know you want to play. I do, and it's some fabulously darkly textured music by Daniel Bjarnison. He's an Icelandic composer and conductor who kind of, you know, little by little he's making a name for himself over here. He's currently posted at the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, the orchestra that he conducts on this new album of his own work. And I'd like us to hear some excerpts from a piece that's too long to play in its entirety.

It's like 15 minutes. It's called Fradual Hope. It's a symphonic work that he wrote in memory of his colleague and friend, the Icelandic composer Johann Johansson, who passed away tragically in 2018 at the age of 48. I know you're a fan. Yeah, no, that just absolutely gutted me. And when you told me you had a piece that was written in his memory, immediately had to hear it. So let's start with the opening couple of minutes.

I love how this opens, like as if it just suddenly emerges from far beneath the earth's, surface. It's all really low pitches. Double basses, bass drum, Tam-Tam, that's like a big gong. And then the horns and trombones are instructed to just blow air through the mouth pieces. There are mallets that are used inside the piano. And the bass drummer uses like this giant brush on the skin of the bass drum. And it all makes for just really evocative opening few measures. And it really stays sonically arresting through the entire piece. Tom, you know me well. This is basically everything I love.

It's so deep and dark and mysterious. And it's kind of unnerving, kind of unsettling, but I don't want to leave it. I want to stay in this world that it has created. And it's only fitting that later in the work about 10 minutes in to this piece, Fragile Hope, Bjarnison pays homage to Johann Johansson, whom he dedicated the piece to. He's quoting one of Johansson's melodies that Johansson wrote. for the Icelandic play, Engleburn. And for me, at least, it serves as a kind of comforting oasis, or maybe a, well, or a vista,

maybe a view of the Great Beyond, but it's a beautiful little melody. I mean, there's such a beautiful arc to this whole piece. It really is worth, people need to just listen to the whole song. Again, it's like 15 minutes long. It's true. It's true. Is there another section that we should hear, then maybe go out on? Yeah, yeah, we could.

And you're right about the, about the, it's dark, but it's, Its dark beauty in Bjornison himself described the music as, quote, a reflection on the beauty Johann Johansson brought to the world through both light and shadow. And again, this is a piece in memory of Johann Johansen, the Icelandic composer. And I love how this piece ends Robin with this kind of subtle, ticking clock beat, very subtle, that eventually just evaporates. I'll just scoge ahead here to that part, and then we can let this play out. Great.

A really gorgeous piece from, say the name again, Daniel Bjarnison? The composer is Daniel Bjarnison, and he's also the conductor of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, and this new recording which is called The Grotesque and the Sublime. It's out on the 27th of February. All right, Tom Heisinga, thanks as always for the great hang. Let's not wait so long until the next time. Excellent. Always happy to be here with you, Robin.

For NPR music, I'm Robin Hilton. It's all songs considered. You know,