I really enjoyed music this year, and found albums that will remain very close to me for years to come.
1. The Weather Station - Ignorance
I like this album more with each new listen. Tamara Lindeman managed to capture our zeitgeist and record a protest album for our times, but without ever losing her lyricism, poetry and grace. She's a magician in crafting beautiful melodies that work off her deep voice, and I can't think of a recent record that has such a strong sequence of opening songs (favorite songs: Parking Lot, Subdivisions).
2. Cassandra Jenkins - An Overview of Phenomenal Nature
I read someone who described this as a "lifejacket of an album", and I couldn't think of a better image. From the music to Cassandra's whisper to the production to Ramble, this album embraces you warmly. It's a beautiful meditation on loss and healing from an artist that seemed to have been looking for her own identity until she recorded this. Despite its almost ethnographic nature, its songs are full of hidden secrets and confessions that will reveal themselves to the listener slowly, a celebration of the magic of everyday moments that we tend to take for granted (Hard Drive, Ambiguous Norway).
3. Little Simz - Sometimes I Might Be Introvert
This was the album that surprised me the most this year, such is the power of Little Simz's creativity. She often cites Lauryn Hill as an idol, and you can hear her influence throughout this album (Woman is perhaps the most obvious one). Her rapping, even to a non-expert like me, is mesmerizing, and the production is smart enough to let it shine. Just fantastic (Woman; I Love You, I Hate You).
4. Spellling - The Turning Wheel
Seems like a pretty divisive album, mostly because of Cabral's voice, but this is one of the most inventive albums of the year, with gorgeous, sophisticated melodies and fantastic tunes all around. If you enjoy Kate Bush and art pop in general, chances are you will like this (Always, Turning Wheel)
5. Japanese Breakfast - Jubilee
Michelle Zauner released a great record and a memoir in 2021, and what did you do? While still coping with the loss of her mother, Zauner seems to be in a much better place with this album, which has moments of pure joy despite still stradling in some of her older themes. Her dreampop influences are not as pronounced here, as more direct synths and melodies dominate the album, but it somehow perfectly captured the joy of spring 2021 before we came to our senses (Be Sweet, Posing for Cars)
6. Genesis Owusu - Smiling with No Teeth
A theme across many releases this year was artists pushing boundaries of their genres or seemingly integrating disparate influences into something coherent. Smiling with No Teeth is perhaps the best example of the latter, with influences ranging from TV on the Radio to Pharrel. But where this stands out is in its clear-eyed political message, which took me back to Solange's A Seat at the Table (The Other Black Dog, Don't Need You).
7. black midi - Cavalcade
This was close to AOTY for me when it came out, but I haven't gone back to it as often as I thought. I didn't like their debut very much, but this one is a tour de force in creativity. Experimental prog rock at its best (John L, Slow)
8. Black Country, Black Road - For the First Time
That Windmill scene in the UK was pretty prolific this year, with black midi, Squid and this gem of an album by Black Country, Black Road. It's perhaps just as experimental as Cavalcade, and there's some resemblance in the aggressive vocals, but they are less interested in some of the prog troupes (Athens, France; Opus)
9. Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine - A Beginner's Mind
Nice to be positively surprised by a Sufjan album after The Ascension. The melodies here are top notch, their subtlety and complexity are truly testament to his skill as a songwriting right now (Lady Macbeth in Chains, Back to Oz)
10. Feu! Chatterton - Palais d'Argile
Beautiful album, lovely way to stay true to traditional French chanson while making what sounds like a really fresh, modern album (Cristaux Liquides, Compagnons)
11. Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & London Symphony Orchestra - Promises
12. Clairo - Sling
13. Squid - Bright Green Field
14. Rodrigo Amarante - Drama
15. Jane Weaver - Flock
16. Pearl Charles - Magic Mirror
17. Lucy Daucus - Home Video
18. Wolf Alice - Blue Weekend
19. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - G_d's Pee AT STATE'S END!
20. Sweet Trip - A Tiny House, in Secret Speeches, Polar Equals