New Music Reviews: Cass McCombs, Alex G, and Erika de Casier

Cass McCombs might be the best singer-songwriter operating at the moment. Alex G’s ‘Afterlife’ might be my favourite song of the year. And Erika de Casier is back quickly with another classy album of smooth pop – enjoy!

Cass McCombs

Interior Live Oak

2025, 9/10
Cass McCombs has been making classy singer-songwriter records for years. His work is austere, and he’s easier to admire than adore. But in terms of songwriting depth, McCombs has the gravitas of giants like Dylan and Prine. Interior Live Oak is named for a species of tree in McCombs home state of California – he’s now based in New York.

I don’t make music for other people. It’s private music. And no one can ever really get it, because there’s nothing really to get.

Cass McCombs, Line of Best Fit

McCombs is often inscrutable – he’ll jump from a seven-minute song about 19th-century actress Lola Montez, to this jokey couplet in ‘Juvenile’.

Mean people suck
Outer space sucks
Authority sucks
You suck, I suck
Primus sucks

Juvenile

The pretty, contemplative ‘I Never Dream About Trains’ is clearly an answer song to Robyn Hitchcock’s ‘I Often Dream of Trains’. Interior Live Oak is a lengthy 16-track album, but it never loses momentum.

I’m not familiar with all of McCombs’ catalogue, but if he has even better albums out there, I’d be impressed.

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Alex G

Headlights

2025, 7/10
Philadelphia’s Alexander Giannascoli, known as (Sandy) Alex G, is a product of the Bandcamp self-promotion era. He self-released albums of bedroom pop for a decade, building a profile for his pop/rock albums and his soundtracks. He’s now recording in professional studios, and Headlights is his first major-label album. He’s fortunate to work with engineering ace Heba Kadry, who makes the instruments glisten.

I’ll get this nugget of a few chords and a melody that’s kind of attached to it. Usually the melody has a phonetic quality and so I’ll get a couple words from that, and then the rest of the words come pretty slowly towards the end of the recording process.

Alex G, Pitchfork

The jangly ‘Afterlife’ is maybe my favourite song from this year, its chorus culminating in a joyful “Eeeeee!’

Faster songs are Alex G’s strong suit, and this record leans toward slower material. ‘June Guitar’ is a gorgeous, moody opener, but the country-flavoured ‘Far and Wide’ doesn’t play to his strength.

Alex G is a reliable, enjoyable album creator, but Headlights is his weakest for a while.

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Erika de Casier

Lifetime

2025, 8/10
I wasn’t expecting an album from Danish R&B artist Erika de Casier this year – it’s only been a year since her last record. But de Casier recorded Lifetime almost entirely by herself, doing all the writing and production. And it’s as reliably gorgeous as ever, de Casier’s gentle voice floating over airy trip-hop grooves.

It’s only half an hour long, but that’s the right length for de Casier’s mellow grooves and coquettish vocals. The horse sample on ‘Delusional’ is unexpected, unusually abrasive for de Casier. It’s often slight, but de Casier writes pretty melodies like ‘Moan’. The swoony melody of ‘Lifetime’ is one of de Casier’s prettiest.

De Casier’s music is slight, but it works when she’s writing great tunes.

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