Rectangles and Circumstance, an album of ten songs co-written and performed by Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion, is out now. Shaw and Sō's Eric Cha-Beach and Adam Sliwinski "sourced a group of nineteenth-century poems that shaped its expressive mode [and] ended up using verses by Christina Rosetti, Emily Brontë, Emily Dickinson, Gertrude Stein, and William Blake," says Sliwinski. "The lyrics on this album by members of the band contain wordplay that explores the same profound feelings explored by Blake and Dickinson.” Shaw and Sō co-produced the album with Grammy-winning engineer Jonathan Low (The National, Taylor Swift). Also out today is a video for the album track "Sing On," which you can watch here.

Ringdown, the cinematic pop duo of Caroline Shaw and Danni Lee Parpan, stopped by WNYC in New York City to perform on New Sounds' Soundcheck and talk with host John Schaefer. They perform three songs: "Reckoning," "Thirst," and "Two-Step," their Nonesuch debut single released in March. You can watch all three and hear the episode here. Ringdown recently joined Sō Percussion on New Sounds to perform songs from Rectangles and Circumstance, the new album from Shaw and Sō, out tomorrow.

The Staves have released a new video podcast episode in which band mates and sisters Jessica and Camilla Stavely-Taylor chat about all things All Now, their new album. "I think wanting things to be really good can make you very afraid to try, because you're worried about failing, about falling short of that, which is such a trap—it keeps you kind of frozen," Camilla says. "Ultimately it doesn't matter, you have to just do things, keep those muscles moving, making things and being imperfect and imperfections are what life is about. That's human." You can watch their conversation here.

"Right from the start, the very first notes sound almost like a pickaxe going against rock and then against that the singing has a certain quality that I think has that same simplicity of affect," composer John Adams says of his 2017 opera, Girls of the Golden West, in a new Boosey & Hawkes video marking the work's recently released first recording. "All of that comes together in this opera in a way that I think only opera can actually address, because it addresses you on an intellectual level, but it also fundamentally touches you on an emotional level." You can see what else he had to say here.

The cast of the current four-time Tony Award-nominated Broadway show Illinoise: A New Musical was on CBS's The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to perform "Jacksonville" from the show and the just-released original cast recording. The choreography and tap dance choreography are by the show's director, choreographer, and co-author Justin Peck, with tap dance improvisations by Byron Tittle; music and lyrics are by Sufjan Stevens based on his album Illinois. You can watch the performance here.

Caroline Shaw stopped by for the Nonesuch Selects video series, in which artists visit the Nonesuch office, pick some of their favorite albums from the music library, and share a few words on their choices. She chose recordings by Rhiannon Giddens, Dawn Upshaw, Gabriel Kahane, Mountain Man, Steve Reich, and Chris Thile.

"When you speak to her, you can feel her excitement about the possibilities in music, the enthusiasm for the way music tells stories and how it connects us," NPR's World Cafe host Raina Douris says of her guest, Nathalie Joachim. They talk about her new album, Ki moun ou ye—which SPIN just named one of The Best Albums of 2024 (So Far)—and more, and Joachim performs four songs from it. You can watch it here.

"That's the mark of good work: if an audience can know nothing about it and just enter into the space and take it in and have an experience that moves them," director-choreographer Justin Peck tells CBS Sunday Morning's Kelefa Sanneh in a feature on the Broadway show Illinoise: A New Musical. Sanneh talks with Peck, the show's director, choreographer, and book co-writer; playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury, who co-wrote the book; and Shara Nova (aka My Brightest Diamond), who performs on the original Sufjan Stevens album Illinois on which the show is based and the just-released original cast album. You can watch the piece here.

The Black Keys were on BBC Two's Later... with Jools Holland to perform two songs from their new album, Ohio Players: "Beautiful People (Stay High)" and "On the Game." They were joined by special guest Noel Gallagher for the latter song, which bandmates Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney co-wrote with Gallagher. You can watch both performances here.

The Staves stopped by The Independent's Music Box studio in London to perform two songs from their new album, All Now, live for Independent TV: the title track and "I'll Never Leave You Alone." You can watch both here.

Caroline Shaw, Sō Percussion, and Ringdown stopped by WNYC to perform on an episode of New Sounds focused on the music of Sō's Jason Treuting. They give live performances of three songs from the upcoming album Rectangles and Circumstance: Shaw and Sō on "Sing On," joined by Ringdown (Shaw and Danni Lee) on "Slow Motion" and "The Parting Glass." You can watch all three and hear the full episode here.

Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion have released "Slow Motion," a new track from their upcoming album, Rectangles and Circumstance, due June 14. The track features Ringdown, the cinematic pop duo of Shaw and Danni Lee, who co-wrote the song with Sō. You can watch the video, made by Robert Edridge-Waks and the artists, here.