February: 18 albums you need to hear this month

Tracey Thorn 'Record' (Unmade Road)

What the world needs now – besides love, sweet love – is a new album from Tracey Thorn. Although aren’t they the same thing? ‘Record’ finds Thorn in forthright mood, opining on topics such as gender stereotypes, parenthood and hedonism in the form of what she describes as “nine feminist bangers”. Ewan Pearson’s productions fizz with electro-pop charm, and Thorn’s lyrics are delightful. On pro-choice/pro-pill anthem ‘Babies’, she sums up parental night-time frustration by crooning: “Lay your pretty head down ... get the fuck to bed now!”. ‘Sister’, meanwhile, is a passionate paean to womanhood, and a brilliant, nine-minute dubby jam that would make David Mancuso explode with joy; the queen of bedsit disco has never sounded better. Stephen Worthy

8/10