My Favourite Albums Of 2019

Every year I wonder if this is finally the year where my love for music leaves me and there are times where I feel nothing will inspire me. Then a record comes along, one like Lana Del Rey's Norman Fucking Rockwell for instance, that grabs hold of me and reminds me just why music has been so important to me all my life. For others it's a thing of their youth, a thing of nostalgia but, thankfully, for me it continues to be a huge comfort and joy. 

In 2019 there were plenty of albums that helped my love of music endure: a lot from old favourites but thankfully some fantastic new discoveries too. There were a few disappointments, but nothing devastating, and a few I loved that didn't make the list. If I had made it a little longer I would have definitely included Bat For Lashes' atmospheric ode to 80s vampire movies Lost Girls, Ryan Bingham's foot-tapping raw and rootsy American Love Song and the dark, witty storytelling of what would tragically be David Berman's last ever album, Purple Mountains. I may add them later, who knows but until then these are the 11 albums that made the cut...

11. Kelsey Waldon - White Noise / White Lines

Kelsey Waldon is the first artist to be signed to John Prine's Oh Boy record label in 15 years but hearing her label debut (her third album in all), you can certainly understand why. Kentucky native Waldon specialises in the same clever storytelling set to authentic rootsy country and folk music. Waldon sings with a magnificent twang to her voice and the music is the kind of gritty country that seems to be in short supply these days. She sings about her childhood in Kentucky 1988 telling us "this is my DNA, no matter how far I get away", while Black Patch is an ode to farmers standing up to big industry (Waldon grew up on a tobacco farm) and Sunday's Children about the hypocrisy of many religious folk. These are songs close to Waldon's heart, filled with energy, joy and love. She ends the record with the one sole cover, the old Ola Belle Reed song My Epitaph, showing she's an artist no afraid to look back while bravely moving forward.

10.  Julia Jacklin - Crushing

I discovered Julia Jacklin too late to see her live this year. By the time Crushing, had won my heart her UK tour had sold out. And no wonder, the Australian singer-songwriter's second album is a moody, emotional break-up record, not a million miles from Big Thief, that seems to stand in stark contrast to the colourful green album sleeve. The opening track, Body, sets the scene recounting a humiliating experience where her boyfriend's behaviour resulted in them being taken off a plane and takes you through the aftermath of the end of their relationship. A brilliant raw and intimate record, I hope I get to see her live soon.

9. The Highwomen - The Highwomen

The Highwaymen set a high precedent for country supergroups all those years ago: I mean, how can you even compete against a line-up as good as Cash, Nelson, Jennings and Kristofferson? And then the Pistol Annies have been proving the girls can do it too, sometimes even better. The Highwomen certainly fall somewhere in between those two, bringing together the talents of Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris, Amanda Shires and Natalie Hemby, and giving us a pure-hearted country gem. The girls even re-write the Jimmy Webb classic Highwaymen, turning it into a feminist anthem. Carlile definitely appears to take the lead on this record, and it's interesting to hear her embrace her country side, but maybe the best song comes from Maren Morris, her ode to growing up to fast that gives 70s folk rock a modern country slant. It's plain wonderful as is the entire LP in fact.

8. The Delines - The Imperial

Willy Vlautin has long been one of my absolute favourite authors. He's a superb storyteller, whether singing with the much-missed Richmond Fontaine or writing his brilliant, often heart-breaking novels such as The Motel Life and Lean On Pete. His latest project is equally arresting, but this time he's given over all the vocals to Amy Boone, a singer who sung with Richmond Fontaine in the past before forming The Delines with Vlautin, giving Vlautin's music a new female perspective. The band released their debut, Colfax, in 2014 before a car accident suffered by Boone delayed the follow-up. But Vlautin used the time wisely to create 10 songs that are more like short stories continuing the themes that he excels in: that of forgotten people struggling through bad luck and bad decisions. Boone's voice is world weary and emotive enough to imbue the songs with plenty of empathy and feeling. The songs are sad but soulful enough to inspire plenty of revisits and this is a very special record.

7.  Allison Moorer - Blood

Moorer recently wrote a beautiful but heartbreaking memoir of her childhood: one in which her father shot her mother and then killed himself. She's explored these themes before in her songs in particular on the album The Hardest Part. Not surprisingly this companion piece to the book is poignant and full of heartache but it's a tremendously beautiful and brave record. Two songs are particularly striking, Nightlight, a tender love song for her sister, the singer Shelby Lynne, and another written by her sister using lyrics written by their father years ago, I'm The One To Blame. She ends it with a prayer to forgiveness and survival, Heal. Listening to this along with the book you can only marvel at how Moorer managed to put it all together with such beautiful honesty.

6.  Sharon Van Etten - Remind Me Tomorrow

When I first heard Sharon Van Etten's move to a more electronic sound I was initially a bit disappointed but, oh man, how wrong I was. Van Etten has made some incredible records in the past, Tramp in particular was one won my heart completely, but this is easily her finest work.  The songs are still broody, tense and introspective but they are also her noisiest and most joyous, and certainly most confident. This is without a doubt best shown on the single, Seventeen, a brilliant smoldering look back to wild emotions and frustrations that come with being a teenager. It's the kind of song that would make Springsteen proud. 

5.  Sturgill Simpson - Sound & Fury

Sturgill Simpson for a time seemed to be one of the only country songwriters keeping the spirit of Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings alive and, to be perfectly honest, I completely loved him for it. But if ever a record came out of left field, Sound & Fury is definitely it. It's a heavy rock record with country sensibilities that also dabbles in electronic sounds and dance beats. And then there's a crazy expensive Netflix-produced anime movie that accompanies it. All this mish-mash of stuff should not go together but yet in Simpson's world he manages to make it all work and sound incredible.  Simpson is definitely one of the most interesting artists making music today and I can't wait to hear what he does next.

4.  Angel Olsen - All Mirrors

Just like Sharon Van Etten, Angel Olsen's latest album saw her embrace more electronic sounds, and again it took me a while before I really appreciated her latest album, All Mirrors, but once it clicked, it became a completely mesmerising experience. She's definitely moved on from her lo-fi folk beginnings and now seems to exist in a noirish David Lynch world where songs rise and swell and sweep you away into another darker world. The opening track, Lark, is like a little movie that builds and builds until she almost screams "What about my dreams?" as the cinematic strings become louder and more unsettling. It's an incredible way to start a record. She then turns to a more Lynchian electronic world with the emotive title track and beautifully intertwines synths with a rousing orchestral arrangement. Just gorgeous.

3.  Weyes Blood - Titanic Rising

It's taken me a while to discover Weyes Blood, aka Natalie Merling, but her fourth LP, Titanic Rising, is certainly an eye-opening introduction. To me its a swirl of 70s influences, sometimes sounding like Karen Carpenter making a prog-rock record with echoes of melodic chamber pop. Opening track, A Lot's Gonna Change, with its synth making way for piano before a rousing symphonic chorus comes in, sets the scene perfectly. Andromeda sounds like Joni Mitchell if Joni had been more interested in space and synths while her ode to the romance of the cinema, Movies, is more like a sparse Brian Eno electronic track with elegant yearning vocals. Apparently inspired by the endless bad news cycle running through Trump's presidency, no where is this better summed up by the hopeful Wild Time with its "it's a wild time to be alive" chorus. Titanic Rising is like a 70s Laurel Canyon singer-songwriter waking up in space years later, which is just as good and unique as it sounds.

2. Lana Del Rey - Norman Fucking Rockwell

For a couple of months after Lana Del Rey's sixth album came out, I listened to nothing else. I was obsessed. For me, it finally proved that Del Rey is everything she promised come to fruition. It pretty much strips down all the excess pop production and lets Del Rey's voice and songwriting shine and I guess I have to thank Jack Antonoff for that. He appears to work particularly well with female artists, bringing out the best of artists like Lorde, St. Vincent and Taylor Swift, and has even produced the highly anticipated comeback record for the Dixie Chicks. Here he helps Del Rey showcase all her 70s influences and her romance with American pop culture but encompassing modern day themes that see her look outside of herself into deeper more universal themes. The first three songs are particularly incredible starting with the piano-led confessional ballad Norman Fucking Rockwell. Then comes the sombre folk of Marniers Apartment Complex, that seems to give a nod to Leonard Cohen but breathlessly singing "I'm your man." Venice Bitch takes full flight into psychedelia, moving from tender ballad into a psych-rock jam that lasts over nine glorious minutes. The whole record is without doubt Lana Del Rey's masterpiece. 

1. Jenny Lewis - On The Line

What is it about heartbreak that seems to produce the best records? It certainly has helped Jenny Lewis make her best album since her solo debut Rabbit Fur Coat. Her latest, On The Line, is a break-up record written in the aftermath of her split from fellow singer-songwriter Johnathan Rice, her boyfriend of 12 years (I interviewed them both a few years back on his blog) and the tragic death of her once estranged mother. Not surprisingly emotions are high yet manages to bring California shine to what could have been a album full of melancholy. Instead we get the full Fleetwood Mac experience of lost love with a country rock sheen on Red Bull & Hennessy, a piano-driven confessional ballad, with a Laurel Canyon vibe that builds slowly and emotionally, called Dogwood and the pure, sunny singalong pop of Rabbit Hole. Even songs about her mother's drug addiction, Little White Dove and Wasted Youth, are given musical upbeat twists that stand in contrast to the sad subject matter. This is a triumphant record that turns heartbreaking events into an optimistic look to the future. One thing is for certain, Jenny Lewis keeps getting better and better.