The 10 albums we couldn't stop playing last month - ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Beabadoobee, Orville Peck, Big Noter, Julia Jacklin and Beck released some of September's best new music. (Supplied: Erika Kamano, Facebook, Big Noter, Izzie Austin, Pooneh Ghana)

Spring has sprung, footy finals have wrecked our nerves, and Christmas decorations are already creeping in: must be September.

Here are 10 great albums released this month. Want more? Catch Shortcut on ABC listen for the full rundown.

The Naarm/Melbourne-based singer strips it back to the basics on her fourth album. (Supplied: 4AD/Remote Control Records)

Julia Jacklin etches herself deeper into the Australian songwriter wall of honour with her fourth album, The Gem.

Recorded in a studio above its small Collingwood pub namesake, Jacklin broke her habit of turning albums around in a fortnight, spending 11 months on this one.

The desire to be loved but also free permeates as Jacklin perfects her sound while experimenting with looped vocals and percussion.

It's stripped back to allow every instrument to shine under Melbourne's springtime sun, a time when the sweetness and warmth of nature embrace us as we emerge from hibernation, searching for our own slice of fresh-aired freedom.

Ride Lonesome is the shapeshifting American musician's first album in seven years. (Supplied: Universal Music Australia)

Beck's 15th album sounds nothing like its stylish synth-pop predecessor, Hyperspace. No surprise; his discography is defined by restless creativity.

What is unusual about Ride Lonesome is that he saddles up and returns to familiar territory. Namely, the heartbroken singer-songwriter of Sea Change and Morning Phase.

Made with the same collaborators as those records, these unhurried tunes reckon with loss and failure in sublime melodies and production, orbiting wounded vocals, twangy guitars and plaintive, reverb-drenched orchestral arrangements.

Melancholy is one of the many suits hanging in the shapeshifter's musical closet. He just hasn't worn it in some time. It still fits, splendidly.

Beabadoobee leans into heavy rock sounds on her fourth album Pylon. (Supplied: Dirty Hit)

The 90s and 2000s were a boom time for emotive rock music. Bea Laus wasn't alive for much of it, but she channels its sound and spirit with heart and precision on Pylon.

She sounds at home in noisier sonic terrain. It makes sense for a song like Sun Has Set: its guitar squalls and booming drums are a better fit for this jilted anthem than the sleeker pop of her recent records.

Pylon won't surprise fans, who already knew Bea could shapeshift. But Pylon should get her excellent songs to a whole new audience.

Orville Peck traces the hardest years of his life through his fourth equus album, Mule. (Supplied: Gordon Nicholas)

Orville Peck's fourth equine-focused album is Mule, his most overtly personal project so far.

Across 13 career-defining tracks, the masked musician paints the picture of the last three years of his life: a major break-up, a suicide attempt, identity crises, rehab visits and his ride to sobriety. It's heavy material, delivered with the colourful camp that we've come to adore from Orville Peck.

From staying out all night, kissing NFL players, and starting bar fights to the unflinching lights and rigid routines of rehab, the album views life through the eyes of a man who sees himself as a mule; overworked, unloved and unsure of himself.

Following a career lull, then a run of viral independent singles, Tinashe has, through pure will and grit, firmly placed herself back in the conversation around pop's "It Girls".

Now comes Popstar, her first major label release in eight years. From the 808-heavy R&B of Crashout to the Detroit techno-inspired Melatonin and early-2000s throwback Pillow Fight, it's a disparate yet addictive release from the 2 On hitmaker.

Popstar moves freely between styles while maintaining cohesion. It shines most when showcasing Tinashe's versatility, proving she's more creatively assured than ever.

Since forming in 2012, Ezra Collective has become the UK jazz scene's biggest success story. (Supplied: Mushroom Music)

The first jazz act to sell out Wembley Arena, this Mercury Prize-winning London quintet capitalises on their popularity with their conceptual fourth album.

Split into three movements outlining the migration of Black music across continents and eras, Here Because of Hope journeys from West Africa and the Caribbean to the UK streets, taking in Afrobeat, reggae, salsa, and more in a procession of contagious grooves.

It's a wide-ranging showcase for Ezra Collective's unbeatable synergy that hits less like a clinical music history lesson and more like a lovingly crafted celebration of culture. A cosmopolitan block party where everyone's invited.

When Nate Amos isn't busy with indie band Water From Your Eyes, he's making brilliant twangy folk as This Is Lorelei. (Supplied: Matador/Remote Control Records)

In a world awash with twangy storytellers, Nate Amos's point of view sets him apart. 

On The Singer In My Band, he frames characters — karaoke king Billy, the sagely Sarah, the frustratingly stubborn Joey — so vividly they stop feeling fictional.

His usual shades of American twang and British folk are here, but the synth-pop of 2024's breakout Box for Buddy, Box for Star is excised. Charming as that somewhat jumbled album was, the clarity of The Singer In My Band makes it the more compelling proposition, and his finest work yet.

This is the first C.O.F.F.I.N. (that’s Children of Finland Fighting In Norway) record released on King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard's p(doom) Records. (Supplied: p(doom) records)

Charging out of the gate with the title track's burly riffs, pub-punks C.O.F.F.I.N. nail the balance between accessible ferocity and explosive racket on their sixth album.

There's AC/DC worthy riffs and shout-along moments, but also splashes of surf rock, wailing harmonica and, on 13 Days, searing, slow-burning gothic splendour.

Commanding drummer-singer Ben Portnoy sounds like he's gargling razors while Abijah Rado's explosive solos are a consistent treat.

They've spent almost 20 years together refining their tinnie-crushing sound, as recent doco 10,000 Miles From Oslo chronicles. But enlisting members of Frenzal Rhomb and Amyl & The Sniffers to produce should tell you how revered C.O.F.F.I.N. has become.

Briggs leans into nu-metal on the debut Big Noter album, with a little help from Chuck D and Tom Morello. (Supplied: Island Records Australia)

Shepparton's finest, Briggs, is back with a bang with brand new project Big Noter. Missed your morning coffee? Don't worry, this will wake you up and then some. 

He's swapped hip-hop production for heavy, nu-metal-inspired guitars and harsh vocals on a jam-packed record produced with Nick DiDia (Rage Against The Machine, Bruce Springsteen).

Still in the lineage of rap that's inspired Briggs, there's an interlude from Public Enemy legend Chuck D, a face-melting solo from Rage Against The Machine's Tom Morello and a verse from IDLES's Joe Tablot.

After a high-profile spot on Kendrick Lamar's last album, AZ Chike delivers a strong debut this month. (Supplied: Warner Music)

LA rapper AZ Chike got his breakthrough moment on Kendrick Lamar's 2024 album GNX — Kendrick even performed Chike's verse from Peekaboo at the Super Bowl — and has run with the opportunity.

Known previously for his hyphy, gangster party rap, Chike has dialled in his songwriting on his major label debut. Guided by Lamar, No Rest For The Wicked carries diverse production and pockets, delivering hits, emotional moments and two stand-out features from the usually insular Tyler, The Creator.

The West has rallied around Chike; he's delivered a touchdown in return.

Listen to Shortcut, your cheat sheet to the best new albums of the month, on ABC listen.