Lately I've been thinking about our daughter growing old
Continuing my trip up The Guardian's Best 50 Albums of 2020...
28 : It Is What It Is - Thundercat
Stephen Bruner’s fourth album caught some flak for lacking the finesse of his earlier work: spattered with sub-two-minute ideas that seemed to constrict and slacken his six-stringed bass excursions; his louche falsetto barely concealing his existential anxiety and fear of loss. But this album was made following the death of Bruner’s close friend, rapper Mac Miller; its telescoping focus and subaquatic funk perfectly mirrored the tides of grief. And so harebrained odes to partying sit next to deeper contemplations of what it means to thrive: on Miguel’s Happy Dance, Bruner is frustrated by advice to dance the pain away, yet accepts that sometimes superficial relief is all there is; the compact drums and fizzing synths never peak, confining him to purgatory – until How Sway, a skittish 75-second blast of fusion, blows out the cobwebs
I'd listened to one of Thundercat's previous albums and almost immediately categorised it as "interminable tripe", so obviously I was ecstatic at the prospect of listening to this album which is apparently "lacking the finesse of his earlier work". Oh joy!
And, the best thing I can think to say about it is that I don't think this is any worse than his previous album I listened to. Most of the tracks sound like mediocre 70s funk, with some of them "enhanced" for no obvious reason by the application of completely random rhythms. It's nonsense, quite frankly, and it's also on a lot of "Best Album of 2020" lists, which just annoys me. I can't even be bothered to find out what "customers also listened to" because I know I won't like it. And yes, I'm grumpy now.
27 : Song For Our Daughter - Laura Marling
Rushed forward by four months to give people something to enjoy during the first UK coronavirus lockdown, Song for Our Daughter sounded like bubbling with Marling herself: the gorgeously recorded vocals sit at the front of the mix, perched at the lip of your ear, and the arrangements sound as if they’ve been made from instruments that happened to be lying around a room (deceptively so, given their depth). Many of her best-ever songs are here: the sniping and sexiness of the toxic relationship in Held Down; the scirocco that seems to blow through Strange Girl; the stillness and bald vulnerability in the moment sketched on The End of the Affair.
I've listened to most of Laura's albums because I feel she's the sort of singer I like, but I've generally considered her voice as somewhat fey and her lyrics as somewhat random - and the combination annoyed me. So I was both looking forward to and slightly dreading this - and I'm pleased to say I really enjoyed it.
Her voice seems stronger than usual on this album - quite Joni Mitchell (who I suspect we'll be seeing later) at times and she also reminded me of Emmy The Great (who I imagine we won't). She also sounds happy - and any joy she can spread this year has to be a good thing. The lyrics also seemed slightly more straightforward - no doubt her true fans are livid at the accessibility of it all, making it enjoyable by people like me! The closing track "For You" stood out to me - it had a pleasingly instant hook, which I hadn't noticed previously in too much of her music.
Wikipedia informed me of the frankly astonishing fact that despite her having been around for what feels like forever, she's actually only 30 - I can only assume she recorded her first album at kindergarten. "Customers also listened to" a load of people I've never heard of, which surprises me given that "female singer/songwriter" is most definitely my thing, so maybe I'll check some of them out. But first, I'll head back and listen to this album again - it definitely warrants a revisit and helped lifted me out of my post-Thundercat grump.
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