2019 has seen a lot of great releases. This year, my list of the year's best have no bands I've been following for a long time. Rather, in this list I discovered Erlend Ropstad about 5 years ago, and I've discovered all of these artists after then. Another characteristic of this year's list is that half of the bands have women fronting them.
The best song of 2019? Seventeen by Sharon Van Etten. Or perhaps The Barrel by Aldous Harding. Not to forget Erlend Ropstad's epic Natta Som Er Over Nå. Or Big Thief's "Not".
The best week of 2019? In a single week in November I went to concerts by Aldous Harding, Weyes Blood and Andrew Combs here in Oslo. All of them great.
The best concert 2019? Aldous Harding, with Delines at Krøsset on a number two.
My top 10 list for 2019 has no particular order, and all of these albums are great. I've also compiled tracks from each of these ten releases in a Spotify playlist below.
Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising
Weyes Blood, Natalie Mering's alter ego, is difficult to characterize. Melancholy, of course, as I like it, and Mering's voice is used whole-range above a complex arrangement. This is not your standard chord progression songs. Her background in the underground noise scene can be heard in the instrumentation, as can her Christian upbringing and gospel music influences. Above all, these songs are strong, and her ability to convey them in concert at Parkteateret in november this year was amazing. And the detuned, nervous synth of Andromeda takes the prize for the coolest synth sound of 2019.
Highlights: Andromeda, A Lot’s Gonna Change
Aldous Harding - Designer
Aldous Harding's concert at Cosmopolite, Oslo, in november 2019 is one of the stranger I've been to. Great, but strange. The focus of the native New Zealander so strong that she almost was not there with us but somewhere else, trying to connect her reality to ours. Her band was one of the tighter ones I've heard lately. This stuff was part singer-songwriter, partly cabaret, part spoken word. Spellbindingly beautiful. Harding sounds like the daughter of Nick Drake and Nico. Amazing stuff.
Highlights: Zoo Eyes, Designer, The Barrel.
Sharon van Etten - Remind Me Tomorrow
One of my definite favorite albums of 2014 was Sharon Van Etten's Are We There. The songs of that album are traditional in arrangement, but the piano and Sharon's voice above the intimate production let the songs shine in all their melancholy glory. Since then Etten has become a mother, studied psychology, started an acting career in The OA. The new album is very different from Are We There. The production is modern - the piano is still there, surrounded this time by synths, heavy bass, sound effects. The songs, however, are strong as ever. Seventeen is a gem, as are most of the other songs. Her concert in Oslo this year at Parkteateret was all I wanted and more. Although I wish Etten all the best in her other endeavours, I hope the next album will not take 5 years.
Highlights: Seventeen, Comeback Kid, Malibou.
Erlend Ropstad - Brenn Siste Brevet
I discovered Erlend Ropstad's 2014 release Her om Natta shortly after release and found the single Maria irresistible. The aesthetics of 70's Bruce Springsteen meets Scandinavian songwriting - intimate, wistful and charmingly sloppy. The lyrics deal with the big questions illustrated through everyday life. His latest offering, Brenn Siste Brevet, feels very familiar. So nothing revolutionary here. But the songs are as strong as ever, so Ropstad is forgiven for lack of innovations. And sometimes that's what you want - just good stuff. And his concerts, including the one I attended in 2019, are brilliant. And when the songs are as strong as Natta Som Er Over Nå and the lyrics so strong we will forgive Erlend for his cheap rhymes:
Har du alltid hatt det ille, du er så ganske stille
Highlights: Natta Som Er Over Nå, Du Hang Med En Stund, Når Alt Har Ordna Seg
Big Thief - Two Hands / U.F.O.F
I'm not a person of regrets, usually, but this year I thought the Øya Festival was kind of boring. I scanned the program of acts that sounded interesting and went to a lot of concerts, but meh. The best concert was Mitski, and that was pretty good. However, one act playing that I did not attend was Big Thief. What a mistake. I discovered their two masterpiece releases of 2019 this autumn. Two albums of this quality in a single year. Big Thief has a simple and traditional instrumentation - bass, guitars, drums, vocals. That's about it for the traditional bit - the songs swing back and forth in waves, shifting time signatures and harmonies, Adrianne Lenker's vocals persistent and insistent. All members are Berklee College of Music graduates. Buck Meek's excellent guitar work reminds me of Peter Visser from Bettie Serveert, in the best way possible - supporting the song, melodic, noisy when called for, quiet when needed.
Forgotten eyes are the ones which we lose
Forgotten hands are the ones which we choose
To let go of, but it is no less a bruise
Highlights: UFOF, Not, Cattails, Forgotten Eyes.
Strand of Oaks - Eraserland
Timothy Showalter is a troubled man. After his brilliant 2014 record HEAL, he apparently gradually did, well, unheal. Where his previous album, Hard Love, felt unfocused and messy, Eraseland is consistent, epic. Apparently he was apathetic to the music business and his own career when his friends in My Morning Jacket booked studio time (without his knowledge) for him to record an album with them. He had no songs written, and had to pull himself together to make some. And what a collection it is.
All of My Morning Jacket except for frontman Jim James backed Showalter on this album - guitarist Carl Broemel, bassist Tom Blankenship, keyboardist Bo Koster and drummer Patrick Hallahan. Our man Jason Isbell contributes guitar work. And when the songs are this strong, they have power. Hopefully enough power for Showalter to heal once and for all.
I've seen Showalter once live - not as Strand of Oaks - but in a Jason Molina tribute concert 2018. Molina drank himself to death while making some of the most profound country-rock albums of the 2000's under the Magnolia Electric Co. moniker. Showalter's work is of the same quality.
I don't feel it anymore
Somehow I see clearer than before
I hold on to the bastion of light
I turn my back to the meaning of life
Highlights: Keys, Weird Ways, Wild and Willing.
Lana Del Rey - Norman Fucking Rockwell
Lana Del Rey has grown slowly on me. When Ultraviolence made waves back in 2014, I really didn't understand the hype. So when this year's Norman Fucking Rockwell was released, I barely noticed. At first glance, the album title seems childish and silly. Looking a little deeper, however, got me interested. Norman Rockwell was an American illustrator known for his illustrations and reflections of American culture. These songs feel familiar, something I've heard before. Soothing but with an uneasy backdrop. The vocal phrasing and production are both very modern. The lyrics feel personal, but referencing Rockwell makes us see them as an illustration of American culture. This album is brilliant.
Highlights: Mariners Apartment Complex, Love Song, Venice Bitch.
Pedro The Lion - Phoenix
Of the records on this list, Pedro The Lion is the most traditional. This is straightforward indie rock, unmistakably American. While the band was formed by frontman David Bazan in 1996, it has been in hiatus since 2006, and has had a large number of members over the years. The latest lineup has none of the original members, but Bazan seems reenergized. Phoenix is the place Bazan grew up, and also the name of this record. So it's back to the roots. Nothing revolutionary here, just solid songs. Catchy stuff. One of the records I've listen to the most in 2019 because it just feels good.
My Phoenix
If my Phoenix still shines
If my Phoenix will rise
Highlights: Circle K, Quietest Friend, Black Canyon
Andrew Combs - Ideal Man
In his previous music, Andrew Combs make heartbreaking Americana with a voice that that marries the crooning of Roy Orbison with the storytelling of Chris De Burgh. Combs has kept his voice, but Ideal Man is a different album. There's a pop sensibility to the songs, the instrumentation is very pop, and the production is, well, very pop. Thankfully Combs has also kept his songwriting chops intact, and the eleven songs are almost without weak spots. His concert in Oslo to a handful of people in November was great, although I find it a bit sad that not more people have discovered this guy. I'm looking forward to his ne
Highlights: Stars of Longing, Save Somebody Else, Born Without a Clue.
DIIV - Deceiver
While the sound of DIIV is definitely the sound of the early 90's - Shoegaze meets Smashing Pumpkins - their vibe and lyrics are definitely heavier. Perhaps this is my temptation to entertain the soothing calm of nostalgia - Shoegaze is definitely the sound of my late teens and early 20's. But DIIV is more than that. To an extent the album's theme is frontman Zachary Cole Smith's struggle with and recovery from heroin addiction, but reduce the amplitude and it describes problems that everyone can identify with. In a dark, majestic package.
Highlights: Horsehead, Blankenship, Skin Game.
