My thoughts:
releasing 9.5 is the path of least resistance.
Ideally we announce that we are going to release version 42.x.y. however nobody will pay attention until their build breaks.
Then we will get a flood of messages implying that we broke their build.
My gut says to go with 42.x.y, my head says it will be easier to take the easy way out and release 9.5.x