The pain and grief of losing her mother to cancer, still so raw in this album it permeates every fibre of its being and longs for escape. Fleeing to imaginary and sonic landscapes with the listener tethered to Michelle Zauner while she explores the outer limits of her mind and body. The album in equal measure traverses melody and melancholy, harmony and helplessness, precision and past, all the while fusing a fixed tragedy into a timeless and widely relatable human condition. A stunning album that gives so much more than it ever asked for. This is a conduit between an outpouring of grief and the healing that comes through a comprehension of the greater cosmos.
If the college rock baton was to be passed onto any noughties artist, who better to champion that indie sound than Chad VanGaalen. Light Information is an album with one Converse shoe in the 90's and the other in 2017, making this record a timeless piece that ebbs and flows between heartfelt acoustic and spaced out electric reverb whilst always paired with VanGaalen's wobbly vocals. Elevating this record into another dimension is VanGaalen’s role in arranging and producing the album. Further cementing the full bodied approach to Light Information, every nuance and grand idea translate directly from his mad scientist domain to tape in a seamless and proficient way.
The curious thing about this album is that you never know which Aldous Harding you are going to get until the start of each track. Effortlessly tossing between heart aching melancholy, to up tempo and confident tunes such as Blend, through to the downright feisty and come get me approach of Horizon. It is so easy to feel the hurt and anguish experienced by Harding with her vocals dripping in passion and plea as recounting the torment that surrounds each of the tracks on the record. A wonderfully skillful album underpinned by its diversity and twist at every turn.
This dreamy pop gem is a slow burner with it's intricacies unfurling with each listen. From the galactic opener In Undertow puts Alvvays rhythmic and song writing prowess on full display. The single Dreams Tonite with its expertly crafted video clip gently oscillates whilst Rankin ponders if a passer-by will feature in her subconscious. Plimsoll Punks shifts gear into a power pop jingle fused with blues riffs that bubbles with irony. Hey is an electric wonderland with washed out guitars all held in check with Brian Murphy on bass. It is the restraint that Rankin employs in some tracks that makes her voice so ethereal and aching. Overwhelmingly a record canvasing very familiar concepts based on love, loss and longing, the sugary sweet way Alvvays coat these truths is one of their most appealing traits.
This is a gem of an album by husband and wife duo Tennis. Delivering a record full of pop sensibilities and indie charm. A record that is as personal in its inter-relationship commentary as it is in its broad general romantic appeal. Moving through phases of relationships via each track, it speaks of tumultuous bouts of love and fear, stagnation and freedom through to outright bursts of sheer joy. The musical stylings of this album are varied and defy category but therein lies one of its secret beauties.
Skillfully weaving dance tracks and gritty indie hooks into one interconnected and cohesive album, Pixx tackles issues of anxiety, depression and alienation. Sonically deceptive in its upbeat and club style tempo, the lyrical content belies the solitude and paranoia of a tortured yet highly talented mind. The synth laden tracks take on mystical elements with intoxicating effects as in Toes and Everything Is Weird In America. The embodiment of this album can be found in Baboo with its delicate production and cocktail of sounds. The variegated and richly layered tunes are a musical accompaniment to madness and states of confusion.
As concept albums go this is one of the greatest. Not because it is challenging any abstract musical boundary or that it is redefining any sonic constructs, but because it tackles the fundamentals of life and the origins of the universe through its digestion of quantum physics and biology. A bold initiative delicately handled by wizened musicians. The thought of making this album had been with Charlie Marshall for over a decade, but by his own admission was not an album that could be created without honing years of musical experience in other outfits as well as treating the heavy subject matter with the intelligence and respect it deserves. One must take their hat off to any artist who attempts to turn mankind's biggest philosphical debates into a musical wonderland.
Stripping it back, taking it to the streets and burning the flag. This re-recording features of some of the deadliest tunes Ian Svenonious and his gang have produced over five years. This reawakens what is so remarkable about their work and reminds all who dare to tread in the world of rock just how high the yard stick is courtesy of Chain & The Gang. The prolific Svenonious harnesses his wealth of experience drawn from performing in many iconic outfits and brings it all to bare on this record. Part socio-political, part punk and part comedy album, what Svenonious rails against is not one aspect of culture but the whole stinking lot. Hoping for more but not expecting a lot, he takes this album through the seedy streets no one wants to visit and holds a cracked mirror up for all see.
If any act has their finger on the societal pulse right now it is Arcade Fire. The mastery in which they deliver their cynic pop hits album after album is what makes Everything Now so remarkable. Losing nothing in their bite and ability to fuse all manner of genres into their unique blend is their specialty and greatest asset. Their acute sense of global politrix and social media saturation adds only to their creditability having signalled the siren many years earlier through previous releases. A musical warning few are heeding but with undeniably infectious singles, this album may yet save some souls.
Out of a relatively narrow musical palate B Boys expand the garage spectrum with masterful ability. The youthful exuberance and feisty delivery of each track encapsulates life in Brooklyn with all its grit, grime and glamour. What B Boys lack in extensive musical careers is made up for in their unobstructed view of modern life and punchy off the cuff tracks.