The turquoise in my ring matches the deep blue cramp of everything

Continuing my trip up The Guardian's Top 50 Albums of 2021

#9 : Collapsed In Sunbeams - Arlo Parks

As the beginning of 2021 marked almost a full year of the pandemic, many of us were experiencing some sort of impact on our mental health. So when Arlo Parks released her debut album in January, she found herself chiming with universal concerns. Addressing issues that had been triggered or exacerbated by lives stuck inside four walls – unrequited desire, sexuality, poor body image, prejudice, betrayal and depression – Parks emerged as an empathic, comforting voice. What makes Collapsed in Sunbeams so effective is that the music is the striking inverse of her themes – light, airy, her conversational voice vulnerable and childlike. Her songs are delicately but cleverly constructed, with ear-worm choruses and generous hooks; soulful, folky tones, gentle R&B and jazzy drumming; a shimmering sea of balm-like sound beneath which lurk those lyrical depth charges

One I've met, listened to and previously written about - a first for the end of year lists!  However, to make this post slightly longer than one sentence, I'm going to listen to it again and see if I can come up with something more than "I won't violently object to it if it's on".  And, to be honest, I preferred it on a second listen over headphones, but I'm still struggling to think of anything particularly specific to say about it.

I mean, it's perfectly fine but I really don't see it's doing anything that Katie Melua, Corinne Bailey Rae (who particularly springs to mind) and countless others have been doing for years.  If we were having dinner parties then I could see it would be a perfectly acceptable choice - but it's been a few years since anything like that happened, so I just don't see the need for this in my life.  But if you like this sort of thing, then I can't see you'd find anything to object to about it.

One final nugget for you (to pad this out to a grand total of three paragraphs), Arlo's real name is Anaïs Oluwatoyin Estelle Marinho which is fantastically grand, but I think settling on something shorter for her performing name is a sensible idea.

#10 - Well, this was surprising

#8 - One I liked more than I was expecting to