David Longstreth has released Song of the Earth (Instrumentals), instrumental versions of songs from his latest album, performed with his band Dirty Projectors and the Berlin-based chamber orchestra s t a r g a z e, conducted by André de Ridder. "They say a song is a landscape, but if you add even a single voice it becomes a portrait," Longstreth says, "so we’re rewilding the meadows. For an album inspired by natural places, this is an organic development. Song of the Earth Without Us. I love listening this way because it feels closer to the experience of dreaming. Melody floats, harmony shimmers, rhythms swirl. Words, those tethers into the hard world of discrete materials, are nowhere."

Robert Plant's Saving Grace, his first album with a new band of distinguished players, is due September 26 on Nonesuch. Its genesis was during lockdown, when Plant’s customary wandering was all but forbidden. It was in the English countryside that he connected closely to this diverse group of musicians—vocalist Suzi Dian, drummer Oli Jefferson, guitarist Tony Kelsey, banjo and string player Matt Worley, cellist Barney Morse-Brown. Produced by Plant and the band and recorded over six years in the Cotswolds and on the Welsh Borders, Saving Grace features songs by Memphis Minnie, Bob Mosley (Moby Grape), Blind Willie Johnson, The Low Anthem, Martha Scanlan, Sarah Siskind, and Low. Their take on the Low tune "Everybody’s Song" is out now, along with a video you can watch here. Robert Plant and Saving Grace will launch their debut US tour this fall, with an initial run of a dozen North American shows announced today.