Former Cranberries frontwoman Dolores O’Riordan has inked with Sanctuary for the release of her debut solo album, “Are You Listening?” The album is due May 8, with a single to precede it in late April. In Europe, it will be released via Sanctuary’s newly reactivated Sequel imprint, which is also home to Idlewild and the Cooper Temple Clause.
O’Riordan will tour in support of the record this spring and summer. The Cranberries’ last album was 2001’s “Wake Up and Smell the Coffee.”
— Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.
Blue Note in Paris has signed U.S. jazz singer Stacey Kent to a worldwide recording deal. Kent previously recorded six albums on U.K. label Candid Records. She also featured on “The Lyric” (Token), the album released in 2005 by her husband, British tenor saxophonist Jim Tomlinson. That set won best album at the 2006 BBC Jazz Awards.
Kent’s new album will be recorded next spring in London, where she lives, and is due out in September 2007.
— Aymeric Pichevin, Paris
Silkworm will release the last music recorded with late drummer Michael Dahlquist, the six-song EP “Chokes,” Dec. 5 via 12XU Records. Four of the tracks were put to tape in 2005 with engineer Steve Albini shortly before Dahlquist was killed in a car accident. One song, “Wrote a Song for Everyone,” features piano from the New Year’s Matt Kadane.
Also featured is a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Spanish Harlem Incident” taped Dec. 31, 2000, in Seattle. The performance is credited to the Crust Brothers, which featured Dahlquist on vocals backed by Stephen Malkmus and Silkworm’s Andy Cohen and Tim Midgett.
— Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.