Kacey Musgraves just released one of the best albums of 2026!

07:03 |

Friday 1 May 2026

It’s Kacey Musgraves who’s captured my heart this week, thanks to her seventh album, Middle of Nowhere. I’ve been listening to it for the last couple of weeks, while editing Hannah Ewens’ brilliant (UK exclusive) cover interview with the Grammy-winning country star, which you can read tomorrow.

Middle of Nowhere gets five stars from me – Musgraves has brought back some of her old bite, which she’d previously quietened on the introspective, philosophical 2024 album Deeper Well. My favourite tracks at the moment include the single “Dry Spell”, her hatchet-burying Miranda Lambert duet “Horses and Divorces”, the anthem for happy single women everywhere, “Loneliest Girl”, and the outlaw stylings of “Abilene”. Read my review here.

In Hannah’s interview, meanwhile, you can read Musgraves open up about her own extended period of single life, having grown exhausted by the toxic relationship cycles she found herself in. She also spoke about how that long-rumoured feud with Lambert, her fellow country queen, was mended, and why her feelings about having children have changed.

I love this comment she made: “I really learned that being alone does not have to equal being lonely… In fact, it can be extremely freeing and confidence-boosting to not be attached to someone else.”

If you’re a Kacey fan, let me know your favourite song on the new album once you've had a listen.

Thanks all! Roisin x

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ON THE RECORD

Now who the hell are these federal pricks?/ Hiding in the senate like a bloated ass tick/ Air conditioned fuckstick loafers/ Sittin in a room full of army posters

Tom Waits, "Boots on the Ground", April 2026

Being in love is a bit embarrassing. Writing soppy love songs is truly embarrassing. But we need that

Holly Humberstone to The Independent, April 2026

I just get frozen in not wanting to be bad, or something nuanced, anything morally grey.

Searows to The Independent, April 2026

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Tracks of the week

Subscribe to the official Now Hear This playlist on Apple Music and stay up to date with all the best new releases

1. "Loneliest Girl" - Kacey Musgraves

2. "You Should Care" - The Guest List

3. "Stubborn Mouth" - Girl Tones

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Q&A

Spotlight on... The SEI

Hello! Tell me about yourself

We are The Sei, made up primarily of interdisciplinary artist Stace Gill, Techno/Electronic Producer Ross Dowling and Swedish Choreographer, Dance artist and musician Maria Nilsson Waller.

What are the inspirations and influences behind your music?

We’ve been in collaboration for about seven years now, and all three of us have unique processes when creating music. For me, it’s about singing first, then song and story. I find the dance studio and artists, and the natural world, consistently inspiring. The feedback in these spaces and with these artists, makes the most sense to me, it lights me up and that has felt like a priority. I'm inspired by how some artists move through our worlds, particularly Kae Tempest and Laurie Anderson. There are so many more, but I'm very drawn to these voices. They're both exceptional story tellers and sharers in my experience of their work, both live and recorded.

What do you have lined up for 2026?

2026 is a very full year for us. We’re about to embark on a inter-disciplinary Dance tour with our company Flora Fauna Project. The work is called THE PEACE PROCESS and it is a durational circular map followed by five dancers for up to three hours. Music from this installation features on the EP We must be still alive?

When performed, the piece follows a 10-chapter score that functions as a continuous loop or spiral, “potentially performed forever”, offering the artists and audiences new exploration and a unique experience each time the circular map is followed. It is a living, evolving ritual that calls our collective attention to our personal power and roles in the growing of peace frequencies.

My new film/music exhibition ADHISTA also features as part of this installation. It’s a choreography of rivers, lakes and sunlight filmed between Glendalough and Jämtland since 2021. I will be formalising a solo exhibition this year of this series.