As the years go by, I sometimes worry that music can't surprise me anymore, but it always proves me wrong in the end. It's often these moments of unexpected delight that lift an album into contention for my annual list, and this year is no exception.
Whether it's finding intelligent songwriting in unlikely places, or hearing an artist breathing life into an outmoded genre, this year's list is full of albums that dropped my jaw when I least expected it. I hope you'll give them a try, and that they give you the same joyful surprises they've given me.
The biggest surprise of the lot, I stumbled upon this stunning debut album completely by accident. As an online creator famous for her Google Translate parodies of existing songs, I admit that I didn't expect too much when an unsolicited YouTube short from Malinda Kathleen Reese led me to her newly-released record. I listened to the title track open-mouthed, pausing only to eat my words.
From the scintillating 5/4 groove of 'Brooklyn' to the layered harmonies of 'Like It's the End', this gem of an album is bursting with musical intelligence. It's a folk album at heart, filled with gorgeous flowing melodies and flute and violin arrangements that Wildwood Kin would be proud of. Yet many of the tracks would be equally at home on a Broadway stage. Reese's voice - which matches the album's scope and ambition - is in full pomp here, especially on the dark and sultry 'Good Intentions'.
This transcendent clash of folk and musical theatre is present in the lyrics too. 'Between Us and Them' is a beautiful story about those left behind in times of war, whose verses span the whole 20th Century. It's a startlingly affecting folk tale with the subtle cadences of of an emotional West End solo. I've come back to this album many times over 2023, and it keeps on giving.
My highlights: It's All True, Good Intentions, Between Us and Them, Collage
Hold the Girl (2022) by Rina Sawayama (2022)
Stick Season (2022) by Noah Kahan
My 21st Century Blues (2023) by Raye
Hold the Girl (2022) by Rina Sawayama (2022)
It's a testament to Rina Sawayama's songwriting that an album exploring such sober and complex subjects is so compelling and entertaining throughout. Guiding us through themes of racial anxiety ('Minor Feelings'), generational trauma ('Send my Love to John') and even her experience of being groomed as a teenager ('Your Age'), Sawayama's powerhouse voice and ingenious melodic choices turn these raw expressions of emotion into the most sincere, intelligent pop music I've heard.
Hold the Girl's pop influences are many and varied. We hear echoes of Lady Gaga and Marina on the more bombastic tracks like 'This Hell', but my favourite moments on this record are when she reaches even further for inspiration. From the sparkling synth leads on 'Holy (Til You Let Me Go)' to the key-change-chorus of 'Catch Me in the Air', Sawayama gives these classic pop tropes her own twist, owing as much to the music of India and Japan as to the heavily-produced pop of the 2000s.
The result is a timeless pop album with an arena-worthy sound. The fine brush of the record's production allows even the most intimate songs room to breathe, crafting them into cathartic anthems promoting forgiveness and self-belief. "They'll tell you to sit up, and shut up, and grow up," Sawayama sings on the title track. "What the hell do they know?"
My highlights: Minor Feelings, Catch Me in the Air, Frankenstein, Phantom
Penned largely during periods of COVID lockdown in 2020 and 2021, Stick Season expertly captures the world of contradictions that we find ourselves in since the pandemic. The New England winter for which the record is named is overwhelming despite its desolation, and each track is a struggle between the stifling comfort of a lonely home and the longing for deeper connection.
This latter sentiment shines through the musical decisions on this album. Kahan has stripped back the heavy rhythms and guitar effects of his previous work in favour of a simpler folk sound that brings his voice to the fore - especially on the plaintive 'Come Over' and 'Strawberry Wine'. But he wears it well, and has lost none of his quiet fierceness - with more upbeat tracks such as 'Northern Attitude' and 'All My Love' recalling Mumford & Sons at their peak.
Stick Season is a fount of well-considered lyrics. 'Homesick', for example, is a wry parody of a love letter to Kahan's hometown. Here he notes the irony that one of its notable natives is an Olympic runner: 'This place is such great motivation / for anyone tryna move the f*** away from hibernation.' But despite its bleak, elegiac tendencies, this is an album of reflection and perseverance - where nostalgia wins out over regret, and Spring will follow Winter in the end.
My highlights: Stick Season, All My Love, Strawberry Wine, Growing Sideways
The last few years have been a whirlwind for Raye, beginning with the fight to part with Polydor for withholding this album's release and culminating in her nomination for prestigious prizes as an independent artist. My pick from this year's Mercury Prize playlist, I can't understand why anyone would delay My 21st Century Blues - but boy was it worth the wait.
Like many albums on this list, Blues deals with some heavy subjects - addiction, anxiety and sexual harrasment to name just a few. But fittingly for the record's backstory, Raye's main target here is hypocrisy - from manipulative partners in 'Oscar Winning Tears' and 'Flip A Switch' to ignorant executives in 'Body Dysmorphia' and 'Environmental Anxiety'. For each of these topics Raye has a confident, silver-tongued response, truly marking her debut as a blues record.
It couldn't be clearer that Raye is a born songwriter. Lyrics, beat and melody feel less like well-combined elements than a single natural flow of infectious R&B. Inspirations mingle effortlessly into something new and irresistible: neither the smooth neo-soul of 'The Thrill Is Gone' nor the languid 'Mary Jane' would feel out of place on a Frank Ocean or Lauryn Hill record. Personal, theatrical and viciously original, I cannot recommend this album enough.
My highlights: Incredibly for a 15-track album, there are no skips. Just listen to the whole thing.
Unreal Unearth (2023) by Hozier
An album inspired by Dante's Inferno is the perfect project for Hozier, whose lyrics so often touch on mythology, politics and the disconnect between Christian doctrine and modern life. The album is a contemporary journey through the circles of Dante's hell: we see the gluttony of rich nations profiting from warfare in the punchy, tongue-twisting single 'Eat Your Young'; and humanity's violence against our own world in 'To Someone from a Warmer Climate (Uiscefhuarithe)'.
Yet despite this lofty, thorny subject matter, Unreal Unearth never feels preachy. Hozier's poetic skill, fully on display here, is in blending the personal with the universal. On the macro level, 'Damage Gets Done' explores how young people are often vilified by older generations for causing problems in society; but that doesn't stop it being a lilting duet about two lovers travelling the world together.
More than anything, this record showcases Hozier's mastery of modern rock music. It combines the grungy folk of his debut that some felt was missing on Wasteland Baby, with the polish and flair of that second album. The headbanging 'Francesca' is perhaps his purest rock song so far, while the soaring 'Who We Are' and 'Abstract (Psychopomp)' cement him in my mind as the finest balladeer of his generation. It's a true masterwork, and my only worry is that he may never top it.
My highlights: Francesca, Eat Your Young, Damage Gets Done, Abstract (Psychopomp)
Honourable mentions:
- The Crowned (2023) by Che Aimee Dorval - Symphonic rock and soul are strange bedfellows, but this album combines them with ease, and to great effect - Dorval's vibrant and powerful voice is a highlight throughout. Start with 'Lionize'
- Confidence (2023) by The Hoosiers - The closest this duo has come to recreating the whimsical ingenuity of their acclaimed debut album, their latest effort makes for a highly entertaining 35 minutes. Start with 'Hello Sunshine'
- five seconds flat (2022) by Lizzie McAlpine - Flush with frenetic rhythms, rich melodies and well-crafted metaphors, this immersive, assured sophomore album was very unlucky not to make the top 5. Start at the beginning
