New Albums This Week: De Rosa, Tortoise & more

De Rosa – Weem (Rock Action)

The new album from the Bellshill five-piece is beguiling from the first listen and only gets better the more you cosy on up with it. It's ornate, sometimes grand, and shot through with their distinct brand of colloquial folk rock.

Tortoise – The Catastrophist (Thrill Jockey)

On occasion, the world of Tortoise has felt closed off to visitors, but here the doors are wide open. On their first LP in seven years, the band produce a uniquely accessible yet delightfully subtle collection of songs featuring guest vocals from Yo La Tengo’s Georgia Hubley and US Maple’s Todd Rittman.

• "It can be easy to get lost, but we always find our way" – our interview with Tortoise's John McEntire.

Shearwater – Jet Plane and Oxbow (Sub Pop)

Shearwater's punchiest and most populist work to date, hints of stadium-scale bombast are making their mark on the band's ever-evolving sound on Jet Plane and Oxbow.  Only occasionally does the grandeur threaten to run away from them; otherwise, their form is more or less impeccable.

Eleanor Friedberger – New View (French Kiss)

Like Friedberger’s last two records, one appreciates New View as one does a steady relationship. Just when it all seems familiar, you're struck by a specific detail and realise you’ve started to smile. An album combining timeless indie pop melodies with Friedberger's signature lyrical sneakiness.

The Besnard Lakes – A Coliseum Complex Museum (Jagjaguwar)

The Besnard Lakes' fifth album truly is colossal, and certainly complicated. Mystical and psychedelic, with a real knack for texture and detail in the midst of a big, blown-out prog adventure, this is an album best served whole.