Watching airplanes land and sink into the pavement

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

#32 : First Two Pages Of Frankenstein - The National

If Laugh Track sprawled, confidently sharing the fruits of the National’s unexpectedly prolific return, then their beautiful first album of 2023 held a more precarious pose as Matt Berninger tried to maintain his footing on faltering ground. First Two Pages of Frankenstein spanned the terror and rage of how it feels when home doesn’t feel like home any more, when, as Berninger duetted with Phoebe Bridgers, “your mind is not your friend”. But for all that he battled with writers’ block, these are some of his most beautiful, prismatic evocations of loss, from the nihilistic anthem of Tropic Morning News to the vulnerable shudder of undersung standout Ice Machines. 

Our second visit with The National on this list - last time I was pleasantly surprised at the substance they provided, so I'm hoping for more of the same.

Hmmm - it's a bit less of the same for me.  I've no idea quite why it didn't hit the spot like Laugh Track did, but it didn't.  The duets with Phoebe and Taylor are nice though - the female voices work nicely with Matt's.  None of it is terrible, but it all feels a bit nothing to me across most of the album.

Wikipedia tells us it's their ninth album and very nearly didn't happen because the band had drifted apart during Covid and Matt then had a crippling bout of depression, but they found a way to get through it.  There's also a most peculiar section on the album artwork which concludes by informing us that the mannequin on the cover "is not a phrenological head".  The critics were mostly nice about it, but I have to agree with the guy from Mojo who said it was "a sometimes-striking record that suggests new ground without actually reaching it".  It did well commercially - #4 in the UK, #14 in the US and #1 in Ireland, Belgium, Portugal and The Netherlands.

"Customers also listened to" EL VY, Manchester Orchestra, Big Red Machine and boygenius - one of whom we'll be meeting (again) relatively soon.  I didn't mind this, but I didn't like it nearly as much as Laugh Track - and I am, of course, completely unable to explain why.

#31 : Why Does The Earth Give Us People To Love? - Kara Jackson

A one-time US national youth poet laureate, Jackson’s writerly pedigree leaps out of this droll, glum debut album. Backed by thrumming arrangements of acoustic guitar, pedal steel, ambient tones and more, and with shades of Joni Mitchell as well as a whole lineage of jazz vocalists, she sings of self worth in a world of would-be partners, lost loves and people who give her the “dickhead blues”. She captures the bafflement of heartbreak (be it romantic or grief-stricken) just right, where you’re well aware of your feelings but can’t find the route to clamber around them: “When you are stuck sinking in someone’s lagoon / Like a spoon drowns in a stew” is just one of her many spot-on, pleasingly assonant lines.

Never heard of her - I'm intrigued if not entirely convinced by The Guardian's introduction, so let's see what we've got.

Hmm - yes, I would say The Guardian's got it right with "writerly", "droll" and "glum".  What it doesn't mention is "well sung" - although, to be fair, she actually has a nice voice in her range.  However, she really likes to venture out of that range which just isn't something I personally felt the need for.  I can see if you like a bit of wry jazzy blues you might go for it, but it doesn't push any buttons for me.  She also looks very uncertain about being on the album cover.

Wikipedia gives us very little on the album - she recorded it, she released it and the critics liked it.  Two comments jumping out at me - Exclaim! noted that "Jackson doesn't furnish that verb with an object" (what does that even mean?) and Loud and Quiet said "she’s not far wrong when she has the revelation that “I am pretty top-notch"" - which feels like something a lot of people could do with realising.  Unsurprisingly, there's no section on commercial reception - this is certainly one of the more niche offerings from the list so far.

"Customers also listened to" Nourished By Time, Parannoul, Feist and Yaeji - and I'm amazed I've heard of most of them!  I can see what she was trying to do here and there are some nice lyrical observations, but let's just say this wasn't for me and move on.

Which leaves us with two albums that didn't quite hit the spot for me, I'm afraid

#34/33 - An intriguing pair!
#30/29 - Probably the best pair so far