albums out – From Bleachers’ everyone-for-ten-minutes modern heartbreak to Hyd’s Iceland-made intimacy, six albums arrive on May 22, 2026—each treating sound like a place you can live in, not just an hour you pass through.
On May 22. 2026. the release calendar doesn’t just fill up—it gives you choices about how you want to feel while you’re listening. Bleachers comes in loud, tangled, and sharply tender. Thomas Dollbaum builds songs with collaborators drawn from New Orleans and Water Valley. Lowertown turns a duckling tale into a concept record that spirals from playful obsession into paranoia.
If you’re looking for craftsmanship. Ed O’Brien’s Blue Morpho moves with sweep and precision. stitched together with the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra and Radiohead drummer Phil Selway. Mabe Fratti and Bill Orcutt’s Almost Waking lands with an eerily intimate, lived-in warmth. And Hayden Dunham. returning as Hyd. makes Hold Onto Me Infinity out of research in Iceland—then frames it in a cover built without artificial effects. using glass sculpture. pyrotechnics. mirror reflections. and a sunset poking through a pierced window.
Bleachers. everyone for ten minutes
Bleachers’ new album. everyone for ten minutes. is the Jack Antonoff-fronted band’s follow-up to its 2024 self-titled LP. The record has been previewed by the singles ‘i’m not joking’. ‘you and forever’. and the especially ambitious ‘dirty wedding dress’. In a comment shared with NPR. Antonoff said. “It’s very rare that I write from the perspective of an everyone-ness… Obviously. the album is about my personal life. but when I was writing it. I was like. ‘We’ve never disagreed more. We’ve never been more torn apart.’ And yet there’s one core thing that everyone agrees on. which is: this version of modernity is trash. No one’s having a good time.”.
Thomas Dollbaum. Birds of Paradise
Florida-born and New Orleans-based. Thomas Dollbaum has unveiled Birds of Paradise with a lineup of Guirarist Josh Halperm. bassist Nick Corson. and MJ Lenderman on drums. guitar. and backing vocals. The LP was recorded in Water Valley, Mississippi in 2023 with producer Clay Jones. Dollbaum described the process in our Artist Spotlight interview: “Once I sent them the demos – I really only sent them phone recordings. The songs were done, basically. There were a couple things we worked out. but they just have really good ears about what to play. and it’s super fun and collaborative to talk about figuring it out. do a different take or try different things. But we didn’t really change too much.”.
Lowertown. Ugly Duckling Union
Lowertown—an act the outlet says it has interviewed twice—arrives with Ugly Duckling Union. a concept record built around a duckling protagonist and his companions. In the album’s premise, they attempt to defeat a tyrannical media corporation. Alongside the music, the project includes a playable Minecraft world, a handbook, plush dolls, and drawn comics by Doctor Nowhere. Even with all those props. the focus stays on Olivia Osby and Avsha Weinberg’s playfully ramshackle songwriting. which the description says curdles from infatuation to paranoia.
Ed O’Brien. Blue Morpho
Named after a butterfly native to Brazil. Blue Morpho is Ed O’Brien’s second solo album. The Radiohead guitarist worked on the Earth follow-up with producer Paul Epworth. with backing vocalists ESKA and Awsa Bergstrom. Estonian composer Tõnu Kõrvits. string players The Tallinn Chamber Orchestra. Radiohead drummer Phil Selway. guitarist-bassist Dave Okumu. and jazz luminary Shabaka Hutchings.
The album was completed between O’Brien’s studio in Wales and The Church Studios in London, with sequencing assistance from Flood and mixing by Ben Baptie.
Mabe Fratti and Bill Orcutt. Almost Waking
Mabe Fratti said she first became aware of Bill Orcutt’s music when the veteran improviser released his 2017 self-titled record. She later described the collaboration itself as a surprise: “I connected a lot with his music and I had no idea that years later we would be collaborating!” Fratti added. “It was a total surprise that we started chatting on the internet of collaborating!. — we bounced ideas back and forth, all starting with a series of guitar solo stuff that Bill sent me. I had a great time with the pieces and in some of them had the honor to collaborate with I.”.
The LP Almost Waking is described as feeling “eery intimate and lived-in.” Fratti also said, “The album ended up having this nostalgic vibe to it,” and she added, “I am so happy on how it turned out and grateful with the crazy coincidence that made it happen!”
Hyd, Hold Onto Me Infinity
Hayden Dunham, a New York-based artist and former PC Music affiliate, returns under the Hyd moniker with Hold Onto Me Infinity, following her solo debut CLEARING. The album was primarily recorded while Hyd was doing research in Iceland.
Collaborators on the LP include Hudson Mohawke and SOPHIE’S brother Benny Long. The cover was shot by Michael Bailey Gates and was made without artificial effects using a glass sculpture made by Dunham, pyrotechnics, mirror reflections, and a sunset poking through a pierced window.
A day like this doesn’t ask for one mood—it hands you different ways of paying attention. Bleachers leans into modern rupture. Dollbaum turns recording logistics into a kind of musical permission. Lowertown builds a world around its duckling struggle. O’Brien sweeps with orchestral heft. Fratti and Orcutt make intimacy feel almost accidental. Hyd turns geography into atmosphere.
Other albums out today:
fakemink, Terrified; My Precious Bunny, A Moment in My Eyes; Visible Cloaks, Paradessence; Hammock, The Second Coming Was a Moonrise; aja monet, the color of rain; Ali Sethi & Gregory Rogove, Room Jhoom; Aho Ssan, The Sun Turned Black.
May 22 2026 albums Bleachers everyone for ten minutes Thomas Dollbaum Birds of Paradise Lowertown Ugly Duckling Union Ed O’Brien Blue Morpho Mabe Fratti Bill Orcutt Almost Waking Hyd Hold Onto Me Infinity music releases concept albums