NPR Music - Lizzy McAlpine, Víkingur Ólafsson plays Bach, and more of the week's best songs

Episode Date: September 22, 2026

Our latest mix of the week’s best new songs swings from the shoegaze rock of rising LA band untitled (halo) to Bach’s “Air on the G String” performed by pianist Víkingur Ólafsson. We’ve also got singer Lizzy McAlpine’s breathtaking ode to her late father, the laid-back grooves of polymath Sen Morimoto, the extraordinary voice of Scottish singer Beth Taylor and more.NPR Music’s Tom Huizenga joins host Robin Hilton.Tell us what you think with a review on Apple or Spotify wherever you listen to podcasts. Questions, comments, suggestions or feedback of any kind always welcome: [e-mail] artists and songs:(00:00) Intro(02:05) Sen Morimoto: “Chewing Gum”(09:27) Víkingur Ólafsson: “Air on the G String” (Johann Sebastian Bach)(16:56) Lizzy McAlpine: “The crowd”(25:51) Beth Taylor: “My Lagan Love”(33:49) untitled (halo): “easy rider”(41:58) inti figgis-vizueta: “Samara (maple seed) mvmt. III - find roots”Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See 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

This episode of All Songs Considered comes to you from NPR Music, your weekly escape from everything else that's happening in the world. NPR music also where you will find the world's most dangerous music curator. Tom Heisinga. Dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, yes. I have never been introduced as the most dangerous. You know, I'm just making the world safe for classical music one day at a time. But I think that your whole vibe with music is just a little different from everyone else. Because, yes, you are the classical music editor for MPR music, but your tastes run really, really broad.

You and Lars, I think you and Lars have, I think. Well, I just think that you should be open to all kinds of music. I've always felt that way, and I'm not going to change now. Well, we get into all kinds of stuff on all songs considered. That's right. But this week, we are going to play some of our favorite new cuts that are out now. I want to start with an artist who's been putting out music for nearly a decade now, but admittedly I've only just started paying attention to. Sen Morimoto. Do you know Sin Morimoto? No, I don't. So this is going to be a discovery for me.

So they're based out of Chicago. Their music is, it's a little bit of everything, you know, a little hip-hop, a little rap, a little R&B, jazz, pop, electronica. I mean, kind of all over the place. But I'm, I always will go for an artist who keeps you guessing. You know, you just, you never know quite where they're going to go with their music. I think a lot of San Morimoto's stuff up until now has been a lot bigger, more expansive sound, just more like busier, ornamented sound. They've got a new album coming that is much more restrained, quieter. In fact, Sin Morimoto has said that they want it to be an antidote to the accelerated pace of life in this world of doom scrolling. I'm done with that. Yeah. So much like all songs considered. We are a tonic for all of that, I think.

or I hope. The album from Sin Morimoto is called Time is on Your Side. Oh. And the song that I want to play from it, it just came out. It's called Chewing Gum. All of this, all of this is new now. So, the sunset. Kiss you from.

Now coming off the blue clouds Babies in a new style One in one makes two smiles Dangerously fearsome Can't sleep, stayed up like two thumbs I could taste you chewing gone Baby's feeling gruesome I stuck

Find it a crash and a slow dance I just want to hold hands Baby I love how the sun from down the point First one on the moon's grind One day's a baby's all my true love I love I love it

It's like they recorded all the tracks And then shifted everything Just a little to the left or the right You know the beats just a little off The guitars are just a little off Yeah, the guitar that kind of propels it Has got this syncopated rhythm going on But I do like the

The subtle arrangement of it all They're like the little punctuation from the synth horns and then the kind of the slithery guitar line that comes in there that adds like a little cotton floaty cloud sound. But a really nice chill little love song. Yeah, I think it's just about enjoying the simple pleasure of the company of somebody else. But maybe more than that, allowing yourself to enjoy that and not get too swept up in just the mess. of life. You know, somebody once said that the real tragedy of life is not that it's so short, but that we are so easily distracted from actually living it. Right. And something that seems like you and I often talk about on the show is like living in the moment and trying to live more

in the moment and not trying to look backward or look forward too much. But this song really epitomizes that, I think. Yeah. So Sin Morimoto has said that they've always been obsessed with time, as I am. And that this album, which again, is called Time is on Your Side. It's part of, it's just their ongoing exploration of what time even is and how we move through it and how we feel time. But more than anything, they say that they just hope people are inspired to slow down. Yeah. So again, the album, Time is on Your Side from Sin Morimoto, and it is out October 23rd. Where do you want to go from there, Tom?

I think we should listen to a track from the upcoming album. of one of my very favorite pianists, Vickinger Oliveson from Iceland. I think you're a fan also. I'm a massive fan, yes. This guy, he's only in his early 40s, and he just has not made a misstep in his career, as far as I can tell.

I mean, everything he does, concerts, albums, his writing about music is just golden. Well, let's talk about his playing. I mean, I think his playing is this winning combination of, like, warmth, precision, imagination. He's got this supple mind that is curious. He can see like a big picture. He's really kind of like an old soul, I think.

And I've heard him a lot in concert, had him here at the tiny desk, which is really cool. I mean, at the tiny desk, this is how sweet he is. Afterwards, I said, oh, let's sit down at the piano and play some piano forehands. And he said, oh, what do you want to play? And I said, let's play the Schubert fantasy, which is a famous forehand piano piece.

And little did he know that I don't know how to play the piano. I was going to say, I didn't realize you were... But we sat down there and he started playing, and then he was waiting for me to come in and make my entrance, and I didn't really know what to do. So then I told, I really don't know how to play the piano. And he said, here, I'm going to teach you. And he took my...

His hands, he took my fingers and played the chords for me. That's awesome. That's awesome. Terrific. So he's got a new record that he can. kind of thinks of as his personal J.S. Bach journal. It's called Continuum 2, and it's the first

album that he's made in this home studio that he built for himself. And we're going to hear an arrangement of one of Bach's biggest hits, the air and the G string, which is from his orchestral sweetened D. And there are two versions of this on the upcoming album. One for traditional grand piano,

and then this version that we'll hear, which is just played on his upright piano. You know, a lot of people, when they listen to the piano, they think, wow, the faster and the bigger and everything you go. Like, oh, you must be really, really good. A lot of people don't realize how talented, how much talent that requires to play at that level. That restraint. So simple. It sounds so simple.

But it's so elegant. He's always so artful. And that's his own arrangement. That's Vickinger Oliveson, the Icelandic pianist, playing his own arrangement of box. Aaron a G-string from his upcoming record continuum to out on November 13th. I just love how he so artfully rolls those chords. So elegant, but it's not fussy. No, yeah.

He took a few liberties here and there, but just so tastefully done. And I like it how he just really slows that down. Another thing I always say about Vickinger Olsson is that I love his playing, but I also love his mind and his perspective on music. He says he played a little bit of Bach every day for the past 30 years. or so. And in the liner notes, he writes, it is the one constant factor in my life, no matter what else is going on. Playing his music as a way of putting

your particular experience into context with the universal. When I play Bach, he says, I'm reminded that historical eras and music are notions we superimpose on what is essentially a continuum, an unbroken thread linking us all, a running stream flowing through us.

And so true of that music, too. I mean, I think sometimes, times, again, people who don't listen to a lot of classical music, they'll think, do we really need another recording of this Bach piece? I mean, how many recordings of this piece are there? Do someone, and then I hear his interpretation of it. Yeah, and it's his own arrangement. I mean, he's not trying to, you know, play the original note for note because it's, of course, it's an arrangement of an orchestral piece, but I just love how he just strips it down and really lets the beautiful melody.

Just do all the work. So remind me what this is from again? And is it out yet? This is from his upcoming record out November 13th called Continuum 2. The pianist is Vickinger-Oloffson. Tom, have you ever had a moment where you're listening to something new and you're kind of half paying attention? You're multitasking or doing whatever.

And then there's a moment, a song that comes up that is so good. Maybe there's like a line or a sound or something that is. that's so arresting that it yanks you out. Oh, yeah. Yeah, just instantly pulls you out and completely like steals and holds your gaze. Yeah, and then you usually have to repeat the song right after. Yeah, you hit back and you're like, wait a minute, what? And you hit the back button and you listen all over again.

I mean, I love those moments and they don't happen terribly often. Right. But when they do, they hit me really hard. And that's what happened with me while listening to this new album from the singer Lizzie McAlpine. the album is called Angel. It is a gorgeous, gorgeous record. So many cuts that I could go with. But the song that grabbed me in the way that I'm talking about is one called The Crowd.

And what you need to know going into this song is that Lizzie McAlpine's father died in 2020. He died on March 13th of 2020. And since then, she has dedicated the 13th, track of each album she's put out to him. Hmm. So this song, the crowd, it's the 13th track on the album, and it is dedicated to her late father. You told me more about your life.

I don't know what I get. And pictures of when you were still together and remember. I wish I had. I hear it all from memory. I don't wish I. I told you more I try to. Suffice to say that when I first heard this song, I just bawled my eyes out. Yeah, and we both don't have our dads anymore.

And, yeah, that is a lovely commemoration, and it's not just neatly wrapped up in a bow family ballad. I mean, there's that line where it all went sideways, you know, so it wasn't like this perfect thing. And you can tell she perhaps feels a little. guilty and she's dedicating these songs to maybe in some way assuage that guilt or it's and it's not just set up necessarily as like a too hanky tear jigger although it's it's emotional i mean the way she sings i wish you told me more about your life or later when she says i wish i'd had more childhood memories those are those are such simple ideas so plainly spoken but so potent.

Oh, you know, just like such a gut punch that I think everyone can relate to. Oh, I mean, I have a very vivid memory of my brother and I taking my dad to our favorite place to drink beer. And he was about 90. And my dad was pretty buttoned up emotionally. And we thought, well, we're going to try to get him to unbutton a little bit. And we're going to try to ask him some questions and ask him, like, did you have regrets about this? And what about that? And, um, you just got wasted and nobody's said anything. Uh, he just, he, he, he really didn't unbutton very much. Yeah. But that, that's,

that line reminded me of that. Like, yes, there's stuff about my dad that I really wish, uh, I could have known. Yeah. After my dad had passed away, we were cleaning out the house and we found this book. And it was titled, he had written on the first. of it, my life. Whoa. And my brother's sister and I look, we were like, oh my God, it's all, it's all going to be in there. And we opened it up.

It was completely blank. Completely blank, which was totally his style. He was always messing with us like that, you know, like setting us up for something like. So that was a joke. We think that that was like he would have thought ahead. I'm going to plant this and just be totally empty. And just real quickly back on the Lizzie song, just the idea that everything she's doing is to get the crowd going loud enough so that he can hear it.

Right. This whole album, as I said, is gorgeous. She can get really big and loud sometimes. Her songs will just erupt with guitar noise and electronics and all kinds of, and I love that contrast in her music. But this song, it's the one that really, really hit me. Again, it's called The Crowd, and it's from an album called Angel that just came out from Lizzie McAlpine.

Well, do you want to meet my new love? I don't know that I do, the way you put it, but. Yeah, you do. Okay. You really do. Her name is Beth Taylor. Okay. She's from Scotland.

And I am completely 110% smitten with her. She is one extraordinary singer. You're really selling this. Okay. The bar of my expectations are just getting higher and higher. She's going to exceed it. She's low on the radar right now, especially in the U.S., But perhaps not for very long because her debut solo album is coming out October 2.

It's called The Deeps Have Music. And anyone who cherishes the beauty of the human voice is going to go Gaga when they hear her. She calls herself a Metso soprano. A Metsos soprano is a voice that's in the register just below a soprano. I think she's really fooling us. She is no run-of-the-mill Metso. She is at least an alto, which is lower yet, and really possibly a contralto. Her lower register is so deep and voluptuous and rich and dark purple colored.

And then what she does with that voice is just astounding. The phrasing is so artfully sculpted. And the fine tuning of dynamics, the loud and the soft and the coloring are just of the highest order. She's best at like kind of unspooling long lines of text. And so let's hear her now sing the opening track from the album, which is an arrangement of an old Irish air called My Lagan Love. The pianist here, a very sympathetic partner, is Hamish Brown. This is Beth Taylor singing My Lagan Love from her new record coming out on October 2. That's a voice that will stop you in your tracks, I think.

It's ancient. It's kind of folkloric. It's the sound of a deep, dark woods on a moonlit night. It is really gorgeous. And another exercise in tremendous restraint, because you get the sense, this is someone who could go to 11 pretty quickly. Right.

But to hold back like that, especially and the control in that lower end, the breath control, the dynamics, really remarkable. Yeah, she's something else. Her name is Beth Taylor. She's a rising Metsu Soprano from Scotland. Her new record coming out October 2nd is called The Deeps have music and the pianist there. I love how he ends it just really, really tastefully and very quiet. His name is Hamish Brown. The title of the album refers to this song cycle called Sea Pictures by Edward Elgar, which anchors this album, which is the album is really smartly curated, all songs about water and the sea. And I have to say that her rendition of sea pictures, which is originally for orchestra and mezzo-soprano, here just with the piano, it's one of the finest recordings that exists. and I'm not see pictures junkie. Beth is a rising star. She just made her royal opera house Covent Garden debut earlier this month.

And so she's on her way up. And I think she's quickly going to be one of the most acclaim singers that everyone's talking about. So does she, is this sort of the wheelhouse that she stays in? Or is she kind of stretched out and done some, like, wildly different? Because I got the sense also listening to this, that this is somebody who could probably tackle anything you threw. at her. She is a really great Rossini singer, so she has a lot of coloratura

properties to her voice. In other words, she can sing these rapid roulaids as figuratura really fast like Marilyn horn could do. So up and down all around. The rest of this album really is more straight ahead classical

type songs and music with some out-of-the-way composers that we don't really know about that much, so hats off to her. for that. But she is someone who is building her repertoire right now. She's singing in a lot of opera houses, but again, only in Europe.

And she's going to be a sensation. Well, Tom, I got one more for you. And this will be the noisiest thing that we've heard on this entire episode. It's been pretty chill so far. Yeah. I bet you like wet leg. Well, I know you like wet leg,

the band Wet Leg. And I bet you love My Bloody Valentine. Sure do. The Shugays Legends, my Bloody Valentine. I've got a cut that I think sounds like what you would get if Wet Leg and My Bloody Valentine made a song together.

It's from a band called Untitled and then in parentheses, Halo. So Untitled Halo. That's the name of the band. Never heard of them. Totally new. Well, they haven't been putting out music very long so you could be forgiven for not having heard of them.

But they've got a self-titled debut album coming out that might help put them on the map, I think. The song that I want to play from it is called Easy Rider. You hear it? Oh, I love that. Yeah, I mean, it's got a little bit of the swagger of wet leg, particularly in the opening, like the palm muted chugging guitar that it opens with, a little bit of the deadpan kind of lyricism.

But then that shoegaze sound starts to come in, and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Yeah, it opens up really nicely with those squelchy guitars. But I'm just a sucker for that, really, just a, Chon, chun, chum, chit that we've, you know, that dates all the way back to, like, stooges and velvet underdard and stuff like that. It's just nice guitar work through the whole song, actually. And then the kind of the little a cappella chorus that comes in is kind of a surprise.

Well, yeah, there's interesting things happening in this song. So many little... I want to hear it again. That was the moment when I was listening to it. There's always a turn for me. I mean, some songs get you, like, immediately out the gate. But there's usually a moment in a song where, like, okay, I am all in.

That's the turn in the song. When those sort of speak singing, spoken in the chant or whatever. And I know you like that, too. Yeah, the group vocals came in. And then also a little like the deeper spoken word, the part that, you know, the compliments that. Also, just so much catharsis in this song, I'm not entirely sure what it's about, but it's, I think in general, just kind of letting go of anxiety and unsurely. certainty, you know, and there's not really, I wouldn't say there are any answers or resolution

in this song, but I mean, like all great shoegazy kind of music, it's just more of a, of just this purging. Yeah, right. So, again, totally new band to me, untitled Halo, only been putting out music for a couple years. Where are they from? They're from Los Angeles, and they've got a, like, a couple EPs and some singles. This, again, is their self-titled full-length debut album, and it is coming out on November 6th. That song again was called Easy Rider. But Tom, you've got one more than I know you want to play.

I have one more. Her name is Inti Figues Visueza composer. She's still in her early 30s, originally from here in Washington, D.C., now based in New York. And this is the first album devoted solely to her music. It's out on November 6. On New Amsterdam

Records, it's called Music for Transitions. And it features largely her music for a string quartet performed here by the German ensemble called the Rothko quartet. She writes music that she herself describes as an invitation to

and a practice of community music making. She composes very much in collaboration with the musicians. She's envisioning playing the music. They often can have a lot of say in where the composition ends up and she writes often in a way that leaves a lot up to the performers. So we're going to hear a short section of a four-movement work called Samara,

which is another word for the maple seed, you know, those little helicopter things that twirl and fall off the trees. That's what she's after here. The sections of the piece are falling, slow spins, find roots, and to fly again. and we're going to hear find roots, and I warn you, the music starts out very softly and delicately, as if, like, tendrils of a seed are breaking out, reaching out, searching for nourishment, developing roots,

and it gradually builds to, like, this bustling place of strength, and then it settles back down. And on this track, we hear the Rothco Quartet Plus cellist Andrew Yee, from the Ataka Quartet, who's a long-time friend of the composer of this music, Intifigis Vizueta. It's Find Roots from a piece called Samara. And the album is out on November 6, and I just want to make one quick shout out to the author of the album's thoughtful liner notes,

Jennifer Girsten, a former NPR music intern and terrific writer. So here it is, Find Roots from Intifigis Visweta. It's a perfect note to go out on as we begin fall. This is my favorite time of year. Tom Hisinga, always a great hang. Thanks so much. Thank you, Robin. Always fun to spin tunes with you.

And you're listening to All Songs Considered from NPR Music.