Add to playlist: Long-lost lo-fi pop song by Australian nun Sister Erin O’Connor and this week’s best songs | music

from Sydney, Australia
Recommended if you like Shirley and Dolly Collins; Sky Girl compilation from Efficient Space
the next God’s Fire of Love was reissued by Spend Freedom on November 14

As any noteworthy nun would tell you, revelation can come from the most unexpected places. Such is the case with Fire of God’s Love, a 1973 album by Australian nun Sister Irene O’Connor.

Simple and spectral, it’s a marvel of analogue pop — a collection of airy folk songs, played largely on drum machine, acoustic guitar and synthesizer organ, that sometimes sound more spiritually in keeping with singer-songwriters like Princess Demini and Mary Margaret O’Hara than most other non-secular recordings. Set to be reissued next month by Freedom to Spend – the arm of the popular electronic label Rvng dedicated to high-quality reissues of 70s and 80s amateur records – Fire of God’s Love is also a perfect winter record, perfect for the colder months ahead.

O’Connor first began making music in the 1950s while living in a convent in Singapore, and released music in the 1960s under the pseudonym Miriam Francis, to avoid ruffling any feathers in her community. In Singapore, O’Connor met another nun, Sister Marimel Lebregat, who had experience working in audio technology. Returning to Sydney, the pair would meet at the city’s Catholic Radio and Television Center to work on music together and record on a four-track tape recorder. The resulting songs are religious but oscillate between devotional music and contemporary pop. Some tracks, such as album opener “Fire” (Luke 12:49), contain elements of dub, while others, such as the teenage chorus, feel like a track containing British pastoral folk music. The whole thing sounds like a bit of a miracle: a brilliant, compelling pop record from a largely unexpected source. Shad D’Souza

The best new songs of the week

Rosalia – Berghain
German opera, lyrics comparing diminishing yourself for love to essential transformation, shattering false glass, “divine intervention” courtesy of Björk, Yves Tomor recreating Mike Tyson’s “I’ll Fuck You Till You Love Me” – who else has the vision? L.S

Lancôme – ghost town
The only act capable of making the success of the 1981 Specials more disturbing is Lankum’s dub exchange of the roaring drone and the “ya ya ya!” For deep choral. Happy Halloween! L.S

Dark blue – orchards
The American rapper and producer (who appears on Will Carner’s latest album) pours his heart out in one very poignant verse. As he navigates grief and growth, he learns that “it’s hard to fill the shoes of someone you never were.” BPT

Magdalena Bay – non-native
“Somebody’s gotta care / Put things in their place / While the world keeps burning,” sings Mika Tenenbaum, playing a depressed shopkeeper maintaining order while the song’s breezy strings contract and distort. L.S

Swamp Band – Mukashno Days
R&B notes flash through the gentle stream of resonant synths and loose, scratchy guitar that drives the Irish duo’s new EP, which gradually works its way into a loose beat. L.S

TeeZandos x Cristale – No, yes!
“It was tough before it was fashionable!” Proving there’s life in the classic UK drill sound yet, the two emcees seem to be trying to outdo each other in lyrical prowess and chest-thumping provocation. BPT

Betty Hammerschlag – Deep
This softly resonant and writhing track leads into Fake Girl, the beautiful new album from this bedroom dreamer, and one for any Grouper fan or those who were blown away by Joan Robertson’s latest LP. BPT

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