I was RUBBISH at listening to new music in 2020, truly rubbish. But what I did listen to I loved.
Did you ask for this blog post? Nope! Do you care about my favourite albums? Probably not. Has it been years since I wrote about music? 100%.
But as this is my little corner of the internet, and I am fully throwing myself into 2021 with much more intent to embrace new music so with this, I am sharing my favourite albums of the last year, but what did I miss, let me know in the comments.
Touché Amoré - Lament
Each aching word in Lament sits with me, an album contrasting in these powerful lyrics and drums that sit in my chest with incredible sounds underpinned by fleeting moments.
Lament filled me with the same all-consuming hell of my own mind that I felt reading The Bell Jar.
Wherever I sat - on the deck of a shop or at a street cafe in Paris or Bangkok - I would be sitting under the same glass bell jar, stewing in my own sour air.
Lifted from this suffocating sense with these rising punches of life and light, Lament is beautiful.
Svalbard - When I Die, Will I Get Better?
When I say this album is lit, I don’t mean it in the trendy way that I cannot get away with saying. I mean it like there is this slow-burning angst, a rawness that didn’t sit within It’s Hard to Have Hope.
When I Die, Will I Get Better? Feels like it comes from the Open Wound of the title track, you’ve got to stay angry but there is an openness, a darkness as if this album is a gift because it feels so personal to listen to.
Basically - IT FUCKING SLAPS, go listen.
Gleemer - Down Through
Get lost in all the shoegazey dream vibes with all the emotional lyrics you can hold on to in Down Through. The album has this close authenticity to it, packing intense perception as if you could be in the room with them.
Listen to it and someone stock it in the UK plz.
Palm Reader - Sleepless
Hitting hardcore heritage and driving it into exquisite layers of depth, ambience and wilding riffs - Sleepless is a passion project.
It is clear every moment and feeling has been thought about, tracks of texture expanding into vast space whilst curated into form with Mckeown’s lyrics an inspiration to put pen to paper.
It is so easy to skip to known or favourite tracks when listening digitally - do not skip on Sleepless, embrace the album in its entirety.
For fans of pushing your creativity to the next level.
Spanish Love Songs - Brave Faces Everyone
The last gig before rona lockdowns, we saw Spanish Love Songs supporting The Menzingers the day Brave Faces Everyone was released.
I really bloody miss singing along in a crowded room with an overpriced pint.
From its repeat plays on release day to today, Brave Faces Everyone has become an escape, finding space in my brain by plugging into it for what 40 mins? You know, to remember what you are thinking about isn’t silly or strange - it’s human.
This is the honesty in every day and that you are not the only one in it. It’s singing your little heart out to lyrics that resonate and rising tracks that sweep you into every upbeat miserable moment.
Hot Mulligan - You’ll Be Fine
There might be an upbeat miserables theme to 2020 and You’ll Be Fine is an album that is 100% within that. Clinging on to raspy emotional moments and sing-along concerts in my car.
Caspian - On Circles
THIS ALBUM.
I don’t know if I have the words. On Circles grounds me.
I have no idea what these guys do to music, but I just find myself so within myself whilst listening to them.
Throwback to having a panic attack whilst they played Sycamore at ArcTanGent festival.
So perfectly crafted, I reach for On Circles in moments of anxiety, calm, creativity and happiness. The album roots itself, so visceral and natural that it feels effortless in its growth. On Circles swelling into this immersive experience that transcends time and trends.
In all that has happened in 2020, music has took an absolute hit, if you can buy an album, a t-shirt or support their social media, enjoy streams then please do.
Creativity is essential. Where would be without music?
