I don't know how I got here but I know that loneliness is here

Continuing my trip up The Guardian's 50 best albums of 2024.

#47 : Bright Future - Adrienne Lenker

Whether solo or as frontperson of her band Big Thief, Lenker keeps her release rate high, with quality and emotional intensity to match. You can almost smell the leaf mulch in her latest, recorded in a studio in a forest with pianos, acoustic guitars and the occasional touch of ambient haze. She’s holed up away from the world, rueful and hopeful in equal measure (“This whole world is dying / Don’t it seem like a good time for swimming?”) as she takes stock of hard-won wonders, be it the lessons of heartbreak, the power of language or, on the absolute blubfest of Real House, her mother’s love.

We've met a Big Thief album on here before and I checked out Adrienne's previous solo effort - the general impression has been "close but not quite", but maybe she'll hit the spot this time.

Nope, it doesn't quite hit the spot for me - although there's a load of ingredients here that make me think I should like it. She's got a nice expressive voice and makes some nice sounds with various instruments, but it just feels like she's trying too hard not to show off - whenever she could just go for it and make me happy, she just backs off. It's certainly not bad though - I really wanted to like it, but it's just not quite there for me.

Wikipedia tells me it's her sixth solo album - she's done more than I knew! Interestingly, it was recorded, mixed and mastered on TAPE - there's can't be too many done that way these days! The critics were very nice about it but it does feel like the sort of album that's only going to be reviewed by people that like it - it is on a lot of year-end best-of lists (the most so far) and was also nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Folk Album. It's also had a surprisingly amount of commercial success getting to #35 here, #28 in New Zealand and #17 in Belgium.

"Customers also listened to" Waxahatchee, Buck Meek, boygenius and Searows - boygenius are probably closest out of the ones I know there. This has potential for me but doesn't quite hit the spot, I'm afraid.

#46 : World Of Work - Clarissa Connelly

Much like Julia Holter’s early work, the Scotland-born, Denmark-raised composer Clarissa Connelly’s music feels like the sort of singular study of ecstasy that could only have emerged from a remote cloister. (Perhaps unsurprisingly, both cite medieval nun Hildegard von Bingen as an influence.) On Connelly’s unique second record, there are the confrontationally drawn-out notes and complicated intonations of traditional folk songs; the off-kilter depths of Les Mystères des Voix Bulgares; in the spartan piano and dappled acoustic guitar, the gripping structural abstractions of one-offs such as Holter and Joanna Newsom. Its abiding themes are loneliness and death, but the warmth and self-possession of Connelly’s earnest inquiries into the point of it all seem to embody the lesser-known meaning of apocalypse, as revelation and the lifting of a veil.

I have met a Julia Holter album before, but I'm feel I know what we're going to get here when I see that Clarissa was born in Scotland and raised in Denmark - it's going to be pretty damn ethereal, isn't it?

Oh yes, it's ethereal and then some. For once, I agree with The Guardian being pointlessly arty - there actually are "confrontationally drawn-out notes" here. I can see the Joanna Newsom connection, but I actually think Julie Fowlis is a closer touchpoint - partly because I don't understand Julie because she sings in Gaelic and I don't understand Clarissa because (I think) she's singing in some alien language (apparently it's English, but you wouldn't think so for a lot of the album). I can't say I love it because it just feels a bit too detached (despite her having quite a warm voice) but it's certainly an atmospheric album and an interesting, unusual listen.

There's no Wikipedia entry for the album or artist - she does have a website but it's fair to say it's a case of style over content (intentionally, I suspect). So I'm pretty much in the dark on the woman, but I can tell you she's appearing at the ICA in February if you want to find out more (I won't be there though). However, somewhat surprisingly, this album did chart, getting to #33 which makes it the second most successful album on the list so far.

"Customers also listened to" Bas Jan, William Doyle, Anastasia Cooper and Still House Plants (love the name, dudes). Well, this hasn't been the most informative post ever, has it? I'm glad I caught up with this album but it feels unlikely I'll ever come back to it.

#45 : Funeral For Justice - Mdou Moctar

Niger guitarist Mdou Moctar makes desert blues into a fractal art, each insurgent riff embroidered with detail. On Funeral for Justice, it seems like a call for his burgeoning western fanbase to play close attention – not just to be dazzled by his vaulting dynamics, but to heed his lyrics about colonialism, particularly former occupier France’s majority control of his country’s uranium supply. If justice is dying, Moctar lit the pyre.

Me and African rhythms don't generally get along but nonetheless I keep listening when The Guardian tells me to - expectations are not high though. Although things did improve when I actually noticed this is my second Mdou Moctar album (because The Guardian told me to listen to his last one) and I actually didn't mind it.

Well, whatever expectations I had - I certainly wasn't expecting this! For the most part, vocally it's African lyrics (in Tamasheq, apparently) and rhythms but musically, it's much more of a Western-style rawk thang with Mdou throwing out some very rapid Hendrixesque riffs. Having said that, there are also some more Indian-style backing tracks which sound like they're being played on a sitar (although Wikipedia suggests no sitars were involved at any point). All in all, it's a bit of confusing mish-mash to my delicate Western ears, but I can't deny the axemanship on display. I'm also sure the lyrics are all very on point regarding colonialism and heritage, but I didn't understand a bleeding word of it.

Wikipedia has a surprisingly large entry, most of which says "people liked it" - and boy did they like it! And obviously spouted an awful load of bollocks whilst doing so - apparently the album is "tailor-made to melt minds at massive festivals" and "represents another step in decentralizing the public discourse from Western normative standards". It also enjoyed some chart success over here, getting to #24 (knocking Clarissa back into third place) and, in a first on the list so far, enjoying TWO weeks in the chart.

"Customers also listened to" Jessica Pratt, Hovvdy, La Luz and Hollow Ship - which is an interesting mix of names from different cultures, none of which sound in the slightest bit African. But Mdou obviously likes to drag in things from different cultures and there's no denying a high level of skill involved - but it's just far too confusing for me, I'm afraid.

Three albums I can appreciate why people would like them, but it was only Clarissa's offering that I got close to enjoying - and I'm afraid I still found it a bit too challenging for my sensitive Western ears.

#50-48 - Two out of three ain't bad
#44-42 - Quite the mix