The storybook tiles on the roof were too much

Continuing my trip up The Guardian's Best Albums of 2020 list...

#16 : Punisher - Phoebe Bridgers

Phoebe Bridgers’ trademark skeleton outfit underscores the Halloweeny feeling of her music. The suburban iconography in her songs takes on a supernatural aura – going to the store “for nothing” while high on speed; being wasted on someone’s front lawn – and her keen sense of irony is undercut by the yearning to believe in something. Transcendence rarely arrives in the superb songwriting of Punisher, a record spooked by Bridgers’ tremulous vocals and self-produced, celestial indie-rock hum. When it does, it’s not to recalibrate the fractured relationships with helpless lovers and fathers, but in more fleeting escapes: the tender country hum of Graceland Too narrates a story taking MDMA, looking at the moon and driving to Graceland, finding salvation in the illusion.

I'd never heard of her, so my expectations were confined to the above description - whatever thats going on about.  I can however see "Halloweeny feeling" as not been a million miles away - she sounds a bit like a singing ghost at times.  I like the general sound, but sometimes it feels a bit ethereal - the songs with a bit more body to them worked better for me.  Interestingly, a lot of critics praised the lyrical openness, but I struggled to make them out for large parts of the album, so they may well be open but they're not distinct.

Wikipedia tells me that Phoebe's music is described as indie-rock and emo-folk - and let me assure you it's not indie-rock.  It might be emo-folk, but I suspect they've just made that up, so I wouldn't want to be seen to encouraging such behaviour.  "Customers also listened to" Sufjan Stevens (Soof-yan, you know!) and Fleet Foxes apparently, but I don't see it myself.  If you like slightly fey, female vocalists then you might well like this - I'm close to liking it, but it's just not quite there for me.  Having said that, I'm tempted to check out her debut album - Stranger In The Alps.

#15 : A Written Testimony - Jay Electronica

The rapper released this debut album 13 years after his first mixtape – it had to be very good to warrant the wait, and it was even better. In collaboration with a supreme court of rap producers including The-Dream, the Alchemist, Hit-Boy and No ID (plus curveballs James Blake and Khruangbin), Jay’s production is astounding, with dial-scrolling samples from Vashti Bunyan, Robert Fripp and Brian Eno, John Williams’ Valley of the Dolls soundtrack and Louis Farrakhan. The peak is the ecstatic chaos of Flux Capacitor and its use of Rihanna at full tilt. Jay-Z appears uncredited on nearly every track, rangy and creative, but Jay himself is riveting as he ruminates on his artistry and circuitous path with plenty of religiosity: “The prodigal son who went from his own vomit / To the top of the mountain with five pillars and a sonnet”.

Someone else I've never heard of, so no particular expectations - but I quite liked this.  He's certainly a man who has something to say, but he says it with a range of vocal styles and speeds and the backing track he lays the vocals over is quite interesting and varied.  It's not easy to describe, but if you like a spot of rap then I think it's worth checking out.

"Customers also listened to" Freddie Gibbs (here) which I can see, but I think I prefer this (at least at first listen).  Wikipedia tells me various things about his music, but I'm afraid the thing I took away was that he was responsible for the break-up of a marriage between a Goldsmith and a Rothschild - that strikes me as making some dangerous enemies.  So maybe you should listen to this album to help him pay his legal bills?  It won't be for everyone, but if you like this sort of thing, I think you should check it out - it's slightly different.

#18/17 - Two albums that are hard work
#14/13 - Jessie & Bob!