Tag: Dream Pop

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Albums

Best albums of 2023: #5 Pale Blue Eyes “This house”

Things are getting real now on this list of my favourite albums of 2023. The number five album comes care of a band that I’d never even heard of three months ago and now I can’t imagine this year without it.

Pale Blue Eyes were formed just a handful of years ago in southwestern England when married couple Lucy and Matt Board met Aubrey Simpson at a music festival. They recorded the bulk of their debut album amidst the lockdowns of the COVID pandemic and it was largely informed by the sudden death of Matt’s father. I have yet to listen to 2022’s “Souvenirs” but I have every intention of rectifying this in the very near future.

“This house” followed that debut by one day short of a year. This album is considered by the group to be the debut’s older and wiser sibling, not just because it benefited from the band’s ability to perform live and hone their craft and that it was recorded with the band together, rather than locked down in separate places. The sophomore record was finished in the shade of another parental death, this time after Matt’s mother had endured a long terminal illness. This was a sustained mourning rather than a bolt of lightning, but this mourning was extended to the ending of many things. The house on the cover, as an example, was the house that frontman Matt grew up in, where both of the band’s first records were recorded, and that needed to be sold, inciting the band’s relocation to another city.

Reading this, one might think that the music would be dour and melancholic, but this is not the case at all. The music is a blend of the various band members’ favourite music and so dream pop, jazz, electropop, and disco all bring an upbeat and hopeful feel to such difficult subject matter. It is 44 minutes of transporting music, songs that stick to your bones and seep into your skin, and make you want to live in the music and let it delay what comes next just a little while longer.

There isn’t one out of the eleven that I dislike but these three picks for you are ones pulled from those near the top of the heap.

“Takes me over“: “Surrounds me, like a living dream.” The first single released off the album nearly closes the album at track 10 of 11, practically the climax before the climax. It begins with a driving bass line that might be pulled from Peter Hook’s playbook and then the drums take over and we’re really off to the races. This frenetic track deals with release and how music can get you there. As Matt Board says, it’s about “embracing, processing and letting go through music making and any artistic or creative process”.

“Spaces”: Jangling guitars and shimmering synths and punishing rhythms, oh my. Matt Board’s vocals are there, right on top, urging us all on. “Forget about life. Forget about what was, it’s always changing. Let go, let go, let go. You’re already gone. These feelings, they’re temporary.” It’s another track that’ll leave you breathless by the end of its three minute duration. Pale Blue Eyes want you to accept change and get on with it and have a great time in so doing.

“Simmering”: This last one here is pure joy, the height of the evening, a night out with friends and forgetting all that ails you. It’s banding together for support and appreciating all the little things that add up to greatness. It is a driving guitar that doesn’t know where the brakes are. It is rapid fire drumming and a piece of 80s synths that teases and flirts. It’s Matt board asking “In the morning it’s over, where is my mind? Is this a party inside?” This is a song that would have had me on the dance floor in seconds back when I was young enough not to know my limits and didn’t care. And I still think it would get my butt out there. It’s so beautiful.

We’ll be back in a handful of days with album #4. In the meantime, here are the previous albums in this list:

10. Bodywash “I held the shape while I could”
9. Boygenius “The record”
8. Depeche Mode “Memento mori”
7. The Clientele “I am not there anymore”
6. Eyelids “A colossal waste of light”

You can also check out my Best Albums page here if you’re interested in my other favourite albums lists.

Categories
Vinyl

Vinyl love: Nation of Language “Strange disciple”

(Vinyl Love is a series of posts that quite simply lists, describes, and displays the pieces in my growing vinyl collection. You can bet that each record was given a spin during the drafting of each corresponding post.)

Artist: Nation of Language
Album Title: Strange disciple
Year released: 2023
Details: clear vinyl

The skinny: Two weeks ago today, I headed back downtown from my home office in the suburbs, not something I would not normally dare to do after work on a Friday night. This was Black Friday, though, and I had my eye on a particular RSD Black Friday release so I went on down to Compact Music in the Glebe, one of my preferred local indie record stores. I was unsurprised to find that the special release had sold out hours before*, given the store had been open for hours, so as plan B, I decided to take advantage of being at a brick and mortar store and purchase some records at the 20% off deal of the day. One of the two records that I brought with me up to the front caught the attention of the store’s two owners and the young woman working the cash and each approved of the purchase. Nation of Language’s synthpop revival sound would definitely be appealing to any fan of 80s new wave and their energetic and passionate sounds caught my ear with their debut album back in 2020. “Strange disciple” was super close to making my top ten favourite albums of this year but I definitely didn’t let my ‘honourable mentions’ post pass without a nod to this great 10 track collection.

Standout track: “Sole obsession”

*Have no fear, I managed to track down said album online the following day.

Categories
Albums

Best albums of 2023: Albums #10 through #6

Good morning, good morning! And happy Tuesday!

To be honest, Tuesday mornings are not something I typically get too excited about but today, I’m starting in on the countdown of my top ten favourite albums of the year. Music has always been a trusty crutch and a source of joy and in recent years, has even been more so. And the albums that I’ll be focusing on as we close out the year are my favourites that the last eleven plus months have offered us.

As in years past, there’s been lots of great music in 2023. It’s true that I’ve had to be more selective in vinyl collecting, continuing a trend from last year, what with the rising costs of everything. But rest assured, I’ve been listening to lots more than the handful of new records I’ve procured, streaming hours of music through my trusty Apple Music service.

I’ve discovered plenty of great new artists over the course of this year’s music journey and I’ve also reacquainted myself with many old friends. Indeed, a good number of my top albums have come from bands that I’ve been a fan of for years and despite high expectations, have put out some fantastic new pieces of work. Some of these were represented in the post I shared on Friday of five exceptional albums that didn’t quite make the cut but were worth your attentions nonetheless. Some are these are yet to come – today, and in the weeks ahead.

As I mentioned earlier, this post marks the start of my top ten countdown in earnest, starting with albums #10 through #6. Then, I plan to share my favourite five over the next few weeks, hopefully, getting them all in by the end of the year.

With all the excellent releases, I am sure I missed out on one or two so as we go through my own ten favourite albums, I welcome your comments and thoughts and perhaps even your own top ten favourites in the comments spaces provided.

Let’s do this.

#10 Bodywash “I held the shape while I could”

Bodywash is a shoegaze duo that was formed in Montreal in 2014 by Chris Steward and Rosie Long Decter, apparently after musically bonding over another Canadian indie, dream pop group: Alvvays. I only came upon the group a few weeks after the release of this, their sophomore record, but I was so enthused that I immediately went back to explore their previous debut EP and LP and was sad to hear that I had just missed their swing through town on their tour. “I held the shape while I could” was mostly self-produced but recorded with Jace Lasek (The Besnard Lakes) and is notably darker and muscular than its predecessor but shares its penchant for shimmering guitars and airy vocals from both its singers. It is by times haunting and fleeting and explosive.

#9 Boygenius “The record”

Just over five years ago, three of the most exciting young solo singer/songwriters in indie rock banded together and put out a six song, self-titled EP. This particular music fan could and should be forgiven for assuming that that one fine release would be it for the humorously named Boygenius. As great as it was, Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus were all very successful and busy in their own careers, had put out their own excellent albums in the interim and toured quite a bit. The announcement of “The record” was met with a lot of excitement and just as much hype and the album of course lived up to meet both face to face. The songs are all finely crafted but what’s more impressive is how you can almost feel the joy with which these three musicians perform together while listening and you just can’t do so passively at all.

#8 Depeche Mode “Momento mori”

Depeche Mode is probably the band that I’ve been following the longest of those that I consider amongst my favourites and they’ve made quite a few appearances on this blog’s pages already. The new wave and synth pop icons have been making music for more than four decades and the time that passed between records had never been more than four years before. “Memento mori”, though, comes six years after 2017’s “Spirit” and after news came of Andrew Fletcher’s passing last year, reducing the one-time quartet down to a duo, I was actually surprised we saw the 15th album come out at all. But what was even more surprising to me was how much I loved this album. It’s like a return to form without feeling like a retread and chock full of bangers.

#7 The Clientele “I am not there anymore”

The Clientele has also already appeared on these pages a number of times*. I can’t really believe that I’ve been following the indie pop group from London for a couple of decades but the dates on all those timeless albums on my record shelves don’t lie. Indeed, their sun-kissed and lazy sunday psycheledelic dream pop has been one of my mainstays and every album an event. However, it had been almost six years since we’d last heard from them and then, when news came of a new album but that it would be a departure, I was hesitant to check it out. Luckily for me, those words of experimenting with jazz and electronic music were a bit overstated. They have indeed expanded their sound, freshening it up and seemingly invigorating its players in the process, but it’s still beautiful Clientele music.

#6 Eyelids “A colossal waste of light”

Eyelids are a power pop, indie rock band from Portland, Oregon. As far as I can tell, they’ve been active since some time around 2012, which blows me away because I only just learned about them this year. The announcement of the impending release of their sixth studio album, “A colossal waste of light”, came up on my Instagram feed care of The Decemberists’ account. As it turns out, the latter band’s drummer, John Moen has had this side thing going with a good friend of his, Chris Slusarenko (ex-Guided By Voices), for quite some time and they are quite excellent. Their latest features their new bassist Victor Krummenacher (Camper Van Beethoven, Cracker) and is produced by good friend Peter Buck (R.E.M.). With all this music pedigree, you can bet that the tunes are tight and slick, jangly power pop that gets stuck in your head for days and will cause no complaints while it’s there.

*They had songs on my Best Tunes lists for 2000 and 2003 and made my Best Albums lists for 2007 and 2017.

Stay tuned for album #5 on this list. In the meantime, you can check out my Best Albums page here if you’re interested in my other favourite albums lists.