Albums of the year for 2019 – part 1

I’ve been compiling a list of my favourite records of each year for a decade or more. This year I’ve listened to music slightly differently; with monthly Spotify playlists on shuffle during train journeys and walks, but otherwise by putting a record on my record player and listening to the songs in the order they were sequenced. I’ll share a few of my favourites over the next few days just in case anyone is looking for new music to get them through the Christmas period, starting with something that came out during a surprisingly warm February.

Ex:Re – Ex:Re

Ex:Re is the solo project of Elena Tonra (from Daughter), and this record is touched by heartbreak, but also by the realisation that you sometimes need to pick the pieces of other people out of your skin before you can start to heal. It’s sparse and beautiful, and one of the most emotionally raw collections of songs I’ve heard this year.

The Twilight Sad – It Won/t Be Like This All the Time

Anyone who has known me for a while will know that The Twilight Sad are one of my favourite bands, and that their music often soundtracks the winter months for me. This year they delivered an excellent new record in January, which got me in the right head space for a couple of weeks of sub-zero cycling and an extremely challenging month at work (but it’s good to get the worst month out of the way at the start of the year, right?).

Weyes Blood – Titanic Rising

At this point I realise there are very few cheery records on this year’s list. This one is probably the most uplifting musically, although lyrically it deals with climate change, and the growing sense that if we don’t do something to avert the climate catastrophe then it doesn’t really matter what else we do because we are underwater. This one is a grower, and nothing like what I usually listen to, but it’s one I keep coming back to.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Ghosteen

I said yesterday that there are very few cheery records on this list, and this one doesn’t help. It is however one of the most beautiful pieces of music I’ve ever heard (this year or any other year), and it’s a million miles away from where Nick Cave started all those years ago (check out Release the Bats by The Birthday Party for something a lot angrier). This reminds me of one of those books where you just have to read it all in one go. Partly to find out what happened and partly because it deserves your full attention until you have consumed it completely. I would be surprised if there is an album of the year list that doesn’t include this record; it really is that good.

Kate Tempest – The Book of Traps & Lessons

This is a record that definitely needs to be listened to in the order it is sequenced. It’s also probably my favourite record by an artist who is responsible for at least one of my favourite records already (2016’s Let Them Eat Chaos). Kate Tempest is a writer who also performs, and The Book of Traps & Lessons is a single long poem put to music that demands to be listened to in one go. The music is much sparser than anything she has done before, but it allows the words to take centre stage as they should do. This record has probably provoked the most extreme emotional reaction of anything I’ve listened to this year, and I suspect I’ll listen to it for many years to come.