Add to playlist: Jordan Patterson’s Café Magic and the best new tracks of the week | music

from North Carolina, United States
Recommended if you like Fiona Apple, Anaïs Mitchell, Indigo Daughters
the next New album The Hermit is out now; He tours the US with Jens Leckmann in November

Jordan Patterson’s name is unfortunately so close to that of a certain conservative Canadian author, that Google suggests automatically correcting search results when you search for her. The 23-year-old American songwriter couldn’t be further from his missionary brand of hyper-masculinity. Her debut album, The Hermit, recalls the rich ’90s scene of queer female singer-songwriters in North America who would go on to share the stage at Lilith Fair: the acoustic breeze of Shawn Colvin, the earnest blues of Fiona Apple, and the raw joy of the Indigo Girls. (Same era, very different scene: Patterson’s voice has an expressive ambiguity that also guides Sue Tompkins’ “Life Without Buildings.”) Her songs could easily have lived on — and I say this as the greatest compliment — on the soundtrack to the cozy mother-daughter drama of Gilmore Girls. Fittingly, as God wonders if she should have a child, Hey Mama pays tribute to her mother, combining the moody triumph of Tom Petty’s Free Fallin’ with impressionistic vocals that sound like a diva pushing her way toward revelation.

Patterson grew up in North Carolina and moved to Los Angeles as a child, partly so the family could support her brother’s dreams of becoming an actor. She studied at the star-studded Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (alumni include Phoebe Bridgers and Haim) and also wanted to act – until music became her passion, and her taste developed beyond her family soul records and church background when she discovered Radiohead and Nick Drake. After the death of her brother and grandmother, she canceled her plan to study acting and, no longer able to pretend to be other people, threw herself into music. Since then, she has supported Cameron Winter and soon embarked on a US tour with Jens Lakeman. It seems the good kind of cult success lies her way. Laura Snaps

The best new songs of the week

Beverly Glenn Copeland – Let’s Dance
Glenn Copeland celebrates his relationship with his wife, Elizabeth, in this revamped version of Keyboard Fantasies, a hymnal of joy and movement featuring new choral accompaniment.

Oklou – Viscus ft FKA twigs
“Sometimes I’m so fragile / As if someone else’s face feels like my home,” the French producer trembles, cleverly juxtaposing a high, transparent euphoric ending with lyrics about the difficulty of feeling steady.

Haim – Tie you up with Bon Iver
Could Danielle Haim and Justin Vernon really start a sensual gospel duo? “I want you here but I don’t know how,” they sing, channeling the starry-eyed longing of their latest record. Looks like you do, actually, guys!

Jessica Moss – Now single with Tony Buck
From Canadian musician and Thee Silver member Mt Zion’s first full-length album, the invocation of murky Middle Eastern music is obscured and distorted by a shaky percussion and ominous vocal chorus.

Madison Cunningham – broken jaw
The frustration is evident in this reckoning with a broken relationship that neither party can forgive or forget, and the California songwriter’s voice is full of recriminations on both sides while ornate woodwinds whiz around her.

Jay Sum – Past Lives with Hayley Williams
From the Death Cab school of cold-weather blues, this crunchy collaboration between Melina Duterte and the frontwoman of Paramore is the perfect accompaniment to contemplation as the dark nights fall.

Ouri – Paris ft Oli XL
“Mmm, I like that,” the Montreal producer sings in a sumptuous ode to discovering her city’s potential as a teenager until dawn: the production flashes with playful touches and nocturnal excitement.

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