Sometimes it's hard to live up to the perfect lie

Continuing my trip down The Guardian's top 50 albums of 2023

#46 : Perfect Picture - Hannah Diamond

Dressed in pink outfits and with a girlish voice to match, Diamond seemingly dares you to belittle her or view her pure pop project as ironic. Instead she is inspiringly sincere as she sings about wanting to be noticed and loved, and she ponders the gulfs between fame and ordinary life, between digital artifice and flesh-bound reality, with keen feeling. Her vulnerability and genuine ordinariness – so different from the performed relatability of big stars – is perhaps why she has not crossed over from the underground. But these songs (produced with Scritti Politti’s David Gamson) are true pop masterpieces worthy of any A-list singer.

I've never heard of her, and the introduction from The Guardian isn't exactly filling me with hope I'm gonna love it - but let's see, shall we?

Well this is an odd one and no mistake.  It's as though an AI was seeded with Owl City's "Fireflies" and told to make an album that was "like that, but girlier and poppier".  And if that was the brief, then it's done exactly the job that was asked of it - and I suspect you imagine that must just sound like the worst thing ever.  But, somehow, it actually works pretty well for me - for at least a track or two anyway, but after that it does get a bit samey.  The whole thing does feel a bit post-ironic though, if that's even a thing.

Wikipedia does have an entry for the album - I've read it through several times and have yet to find anything of interest in there.  The critics have really written the biggest load of bullshit about the album - apparently it "navigates a more complex interplay between the different brands of nostalgia within a typically kaleidoscopic soundscape".  But you knew that already, right?!?  It didn't exactly storm the charts, getting to #69 in the Album Download chart (and I didn't even know that was still a thing!).

"Customers also listened to" Harmony, AG Cook, HYD and Polar Youth - I have, of course, got no idea about any of them.  And having listened to and read about Hannah's offering, I'm not sure I really have any more idea about her - I'm not really sure what's going on here.  But, for a track or two, it's quite enjoyable confusion.

#45 : everything is alive - Slowdive

Made following the deaths of singer and guitarist Rachel Goswell’s mother and drummer Simon Scott’s father, the second album of Slowdive’s comeback bore a newfound clarity: their dense shoegaze haze had been lifted, as if with it youthful illusions about anything lasting forever. Everything Is Alive is barebones and contemplative, newly sharpened by chilly electronic touches yet still monumental in scale. Poignantly, its awareness of life’s cycle of endings and rejuvenation also attracted a new audience on TikTok, suggesting a pan-generational appeal for their hard-won perspective.

Ah - this feels like safer ground to me!  I've not listened to this, but I did see them at Glasto so I've probably heard most of it but I'm looking forward to listening to it "properly".

Yeah, I liked this - as The Guardian says it's not as shoegazey as you'd expect, but it's still hidden away in there for me.  "Ambient shoegaze" anyone?  This feels like an album that would be great to put on late at night at a low volume and just contemplate - I may have to revisit at some point.  I like the intriguing album cover too.

Wikipedia tells me this is their fifth album (in 32 years) and after the family deaths, the expectations were it would be a dark album but it somewhat turned out to be an escape from the gloom and grief.  The critics were very nice about the album and it also did very well commercially across Europe - #6 here, #4 in The Netherlands, #7 in Germany and charting somewhere in most European countries.  I'm pleased for them!

"Customers also listened to" Kik, Nation Of Language, my bloody valentine and Ride - a 50% "well at least I've heard of them" hit rate there for me.  I'd say Ride are my favourite purveyors of shoegaze, with Slowdive a close second but this album shows a nice level of evolution to it - I enjoyed it.

An interesting pair of albums with a clear "winner" for me not least because I felt like I understood what Slowdive were trying to do, but Hannah's effort isn't without merit.

#48/47 - Two surprisingly enjoyable albums
#44/43 - A most peculiar pair