This week, collaborations from American fiddler Alison Krauss & Union Station; American actor and singer Selena Gomez with producer Benny Blanco; Belgian-Egyptian singer and musician Tamino & singer/songwriter Mitski. Plus, off-kilter pop by singer, songwriter, and cellist Eliza Niemi.

Alison Krauss and Unon Station’s New Single Is An Old Story

Alison Krauss is probably best known these days for her collaborative records with Robert Plant, but her long-running band Union Station remains at the heart of what we think of when we say “Americana.” So it was great to hear that after 14 years, that group is preparing to release a new album called Arcadia. The new single, to remind us of what we’ve been missing, is the folk ballad, probably from the Civil War days, called “Richmond On The James.” It’s an old song, and an even older story: young men go off to war, with no idea what they’re getting themselves into, and it ends badly – for the soldier and for the woman waiting for him back home. The melody seems clearly derived from the British Isles, and the band is at the top of its game – the formidable Jerry Douglas on dobro (the metal-clad slide guitar) has a particularly notable role to play here.  

Selena Gomez And benny blanco: Together On And Off Stage

Most people are used to seeing Selena Gomez with Steve Martin and Martin Short in the TV series Only Murders In The Building, but she and her fiancée, benny blanco, are telling their own story – that of their romantic partnership. I Said I Love You First is a hit-or-miss affair, despite the presence of two multi-Platinum-selling stars, but it has some catchy tunes and a sense of carefree fun – the work of two artists who are telling each other jokes and don’t care if they land or not. “Sunset Blvd” is a good example – a tight pop song with a big chorus, where Gomez sings about blanco’s “big, big, hard… heart” with an almost audible eye-roll that nearly sells the tired joke. Better are the lines about “holding you naked” in the middle of the titular street, “making you famous,” and finally, “they’re calling the police.”  

Tamino’s New Album Includes A Duet With Mitski

The Belgian-Egyptian singer and songwriter Tamino has just released his new album, Every Dawn’s A Mountain, and “Sanctuary,” perhaps its most “pop” track, is also a bit of an outlier. For one thing, it features electric guitar rather than the Arab oud, the lute that features in many of his recent songs. And even more striking, it’s a duet, with the popular American singer Mitski. Turns out she and Tamino were fans of each other’s music from several years back, when Mitski was beginning her ascent and Tamino was living in Amsterdam. (He’s now a new New Yorker.) Tamino’s voice is a striking one, reminiscent of the gifted but ill-starred Jeff Buckley, and it’s unusual to hear him sharing the vocal duties like this, but it works – especially in a song like “Sanctuary,” which departs from the usual verse/chorus structure and just gives us a series of stanzas that accrue sonic and emotional power as the two voices join together. 

Off-Kilter Indie “Pop” From Eliza Niemi

Eliza Niemi is a singer, songwriter, and cellist from Toronto. Her new LP, out today, is called Progress Bakery, and that puzzling title is a great fit for an album of songs that skate merrily along on a winding path through left field pop, some kind of folky chamber music, and droll storytelling. Niemi’s easygoing, almost laconic vocals are often sharply at odds with the strange and striking imagery in her songs: Put on my Tampax-pearl-blue shirt (iridescent)” and “I see my love at the trees’ end (do I need an eye test?)” are just two head-scratchers from the song “DM BF,” which at least behaves like a pop song with a steady midtempo drumbeat and chiming keyboards.  There’s also a recurring field recording and an absolutely lovely flute solo, just to make sure you didn’t think this was an actual pop song.  

Second Generation Afrobeat From Femi Kuti

“Oga Doctor” is the new single from Femi Kuti, one of the sons of the Nigerian bandleader Fela Kuti. Along with another son, Seun Kuti, Femi keeps the groove-rich, horn-heavy, socially-conscious sounds of Afrobeat alive, at a time when this classic sound, developed mostly in the 70s, has been supplanted by the global pop phenomenon known as Afrobeats (that “s” makes a big difference). “Oga Doctor” is actually a remake of a song Femi has been doing since the 90s, but if the sound has been updated, the message – of frustration, anger, and determination – remains the same.