I'm going to see the otters. There aren't any otters.

    

Continuing my trip down The Guardian's top 50 albums of 2022. 

#19 : Stumpwork - Dry Cleaning

An air of unease haunts the south London band’s second album: the guitars are dank and sludgy, the rhythm section proceeds at a suspicious pace, pockets of ambience linger unsettlingly. And yet, Stumpwork is even more captivating than the more rollicking New Long Leg because it demands we pay closer attention. In Florence Shaw’s inimitable lyrics, she nudges towards intimacy and flinches at mistrust, and her expressions of inferiority and fear pierce with a strange, ineffable sort of sadness. But the prevailing disquiet also makes Stumpwork’s fleeting moments of joy and humour all the more gratifying: “Things are shit but they’re gonna be OK,” Shaw sings on Kwenchy Kups. “And I’m gonna see the otters".

Last time we met Dry Cleaning, the verdict was that it was enjoyably quirky lyrics over tight indie tunes which I might grow to love - but I've not given the album a chance to prove itself again, except for "Scratchcard Lanyard" which I still love.  I'm expecting pretty much more of the same here...

...and I'm most definitely given what I'm expecting.  If you like the previous album, you'll like this one too - if you don't know them, then it's worth checking out but I can see how it would be annoying for a lot of people.  Our Flo most definitely has an interesting vocal style - it doesn't quite get on my nerves because the lyrics are so amusingly out there, but it's not far off.  I can't say I love the album cover though.

It got to #11, but just managed the one week in the charts - which surprised me, because it feels like they got a lot of press for that one week.  Wikipedia has a whole five sentences on the album - basically it exists.  It did manage to make a minor impression elsewhere globally, which somewhat surprised me because it feels a very British kinda quirkiness.

"Customers also listened to" Jockstrap, Gilla Band and Special Interest - two of who we are still to meet on this list.  My verdict on this one is pretty similar to their last one - it's skilful and quirky fun, but I'm yet to be convinced it's enduring (and no doubt I'll still be saying that about their tenth album in 2030).

#18 : Gemini Rights - Steve Lacy 

After the release of his watery debut album Apollo XXI, it felt as if any goodwill towards Steve Lacy – accrued thanks to the promise of his sleeper hit debut EP Steve Lacy’s Demo, his work on Kendrick Lamar’s Damn, and the showstopping charisma he displayed as a member of the Internet – had burnt up as fast as it had arrived. Then he released Gemini Rights: an electrifyingly bitchy breakup album that’s sad and viciously horny one moment, nihilistic and cartoonishly forlorn the next. The perfect expression of Lacy’s indie-meets-R&B-meets-funk style – the kind of genrelessness that genuinely feels invigorating and intentional, not just mushy – Gemini Rights is fuelled by contradiction, detailing Lacy’s hedonistic pursuit of women after having his heart broken by a man and mashing his ostentatious, peacock-y musical sensibility (and fashion sense) with the shyness of all the best shoegazers. Smutty, candid and strange, it was the year’s most pleasantly surprising breakthrough.

I know Steve has gone down pretty well in his native US of A but I'm not aware we've gone quite so mad for him over here.  And, from the above, I have absolutely no idea what to expect...

Hmmm.  This is perfectly fine.   Absolutely, 100%, "perfectly fine" - but 100% nothing more than that.  It's someone who likes Prince and Outkast paying tribute to them in a perfectly fine but somewhat underwhelming way - I got none of the "smutty, candid and strange" that I was warned about.  All very peculiar - maybe he puts on a cracking live show which has won people over.  Or maybe I'm missing something (it has happened once or twice before).  At least it's only 35 minutes - Outkast would have made it 350 minutes long.

One week in the charts at #47 suggests the public here are generally in agreement with me - that feels like quite a few one time listens to check it out to see what all the fuss was about, but nothing more than that.  Wikipedia is going to tell us we're all wrong, isn't it?  Actually, it doesn't go overboard, although it does give us the somewhat bizarre fact that he "came up with the title while "tipsy" at a bar" - well done him to put two words together while inebriated.  The critics mostly liked it, but they didn't exactly go overboard either - but the US public did, with it spending three weeks at #1.  Which is bizarre.

"Customers also listened to" Omar Apollo, Jack Harlow, Harry Styles, Beyoncé and Kate Bush - which seems a somewhat odd mix to me.   Which all just adds to the somewhat mystifying nature of this album - if anyone's able to explain exactly what's so great about it, I'm interested to hear it.

#17 : Midnights - Taylor Swift 

Of all the reflective projects Taylor Swift has embarked upon recently – re-recording her first six albums to reclaim ownership over them; two sepia-tinted lockdown releases – her tenth studio album was the most revealing. Midnights revisits 13 sleepless nights from across her life, her mature perspective casting new light on stories we thought we knew: the toll of success as a young woman and of relationships that look exploitative in hindsight; how she has chafed against expectations of femininity; the self-loathing underpinnings of her public persona. Fittingly, its sound put a moody, sophisticated filter on the pop that made her name while still serving up crowdpleasers. It felt like Swift finally shaking off the ingenue, and hopefully lays the groundwork for her to strike forward and process her present with this level of acuity on whatever comes next.

The fourth one on the list we've previously met - we're on a roll this year (and we're definitely going to make it over 10%).  I didn't mind this when I listened to it, but I'd have to say I've heard it more than enough times since - and not once has been through my choice.  It's fair to say it's done OK for itself commercially - it only managed the two weeks at #1, but it's yet to be out of the top three in the eight weeks it's been on the charts.  And it spent five weeks at the top in the US, setting all sorts of global streaming records in the process.  The Wikipedia entry for the album has somewhat grown since we last met it as well - it's up to 591 milliPeppers now.

A strange assortment of albums which received somewhat different amounts of exposure.  But, please remember, #justiceforlana.

#21-20 - One nearly yes, one absolute no
#16-15 - Two very fine albums