My Top 10 Albums of 2023
2023 was something of a litmus test for the state of music in the post-pandemic era, with artists both grappling with the long-term psychological effects of enforced isolation and trying to evoke a sense of status quo in a world that has really started to brush off the cobwebs in the race to restore business-as-usual. To that end, we got a lot of projects either reflecting on the past (such as the brace of “Taylor’s Versions”), and perhaps even more trying to explore or predict the course of music to come. With an honourable nod to several high-quality records that just missed the cut (apologies to Hozier, Lana Del Rey, Lemon Twigs, Mitski, Yo La Tengo et al), I highlight the ten albums that inspired me the most this year.
Image credits: Wikipedia; North County Public Radio; Grammy.com; The Guardian
Julie Byrne, ‘The Greater Wings’
Ghostly International
By layering technical but understated instrumental parts, Julie Byrne creates a soundscape that is simultaneously spacious and intimate. Expressing grief and loss through her soft, mellifluous vocals, she draws you into her world with a dexterity that few other artists attained in 2023. The finger-picked acoustic guitar on the likes of Portrait of a Clear Day is entrancing, but this is not a straightforward folk album; the project is elevated by the dreamlike synthesiser lines, the contribution of Byrne’s long-term collaborator Eric Littmann, whose recent passing she mourns in her affecting lyrics.
The Greater Wings
Portrait of a Clear Day
Moonless
Summer Glass
Summer’s End
Lightning Comes up from the Ground
Flare
Conversation is a Flow State
Hope’s Return
Death is the Diamond
boygenius, ‘the record’
Interscope Records
Fans of boygenius have had to wait a while for the supergroup’s first LP, but I don’t think many will be disappointed with the result. It’s a testament to the three musicians’ relationship and connection that they can give each other such creative freedom and independence and still create a record so rich and cohesive. With a strong spine of collaborative songs - Not Strong Enough being a highlight - the album also benefits from some of the best individual tracks from any of its contributors’ personal catalogues, in the likes of True Blue, Emily I’m Sorry and $20. Putting all else aside, it’s hard to avoid being drawn in by the songwriters’ trademark self-aware, self-effacing and culturally conscious lyricism.
Without You Without Them
$20
Emily I’m Sorry
True Blue
Cool About It
Not Strong Enough
Revolution 0
Leonard Cohen
Satanist
We’re in Love
Anti-Curse
Letter to an Old Poet
Bob Dylan, ‘Shadow Kingdom’
Columbia Records
On Shadow Kingdom, Bob Dylan reimagines a host of his songs - some of them old classics, some more obscure cuts - to accompany the release of a concert film of the same name released in 2021. If nothing else, this record demonstrates that the creative muse has not abandoned the old master just yet. As a follow-up to his 2020 release Rough and Rowdy Ways, another highly compelling project, Shadow Kingdom finds Dylan in something of a creative renaissance, having found his feet in yet another idiom in the twilight of his career. How he manages to recontextualise songs that he’s been performing for almost six decades is a mystery, but every rerecorded track here is impeccable, and the overall effect is clearly purposefully designed and well-realised. And his vocals haven’t sounded better since the ‘70s.
When I Paint My Masterpiece
Most Likely You Go Your Way and I’ll Go Mine
Queen Jane Approximately
I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight
Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues
Tombstone Blues
To Be Alone with You
What Was It You Wanted
Forever Young
Pledging My Time
The Wicked Messenger
Watching the River Flow
It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
Sierra’s Theme
Squid, ‘O Monolith’
Warp Records
One of the standout features of the musical environment of the past few years, at least for me, has been the UK post-rock revival that has seen bands such as Black Country, New Road and Black Midi receive global acclaim for their experimental and boisterous material. On O Monolith, Squid have bottled this fresh and raucous instrumental-driven idiom in its bustling city context and rehomed it in the Wiltshire countryside. With a sonic landscape heavily reminiscent of the mid-2000s’ work of neighbouring Oxfordshire-based alt-rock giants Radiohead, O Monolith is a fine entry in the new post-rock canon, with sophisticated but accessible instrumentation that rewards close listening while satisfying that primal rock-and-roll hedonism.
Swing (In a Dream)
Devil’s Den
Siphon Song
Undergrowth
The Blades
After the Flash
Green Light
If You Had Seen the Bull’s Swimming Attempts You Would Have Stayed Away
Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter, ‘SAVED!’
Perpetual Flame Ministries
Known for her heavy religious themes and boundary-pushing, avant-garde music, Kristin Hayter retired her ‘Lingua Ignota’ alias in 2022 before changing direction and leaning more heavily into her Catholic background. To describe the resulting album as ‘unique’ would be totally underselling it. Combining original songs with reworkings of traditional hymns, gospel standards, and early twentieth-century folk and blues classics from the American south, SAVED! is a truly one-of-a-kind record. Not only does Hayter lean heavily and unapologetically on US folklore, but also experiments wildly (and ‘wild’ is the appropriate word) with production methods, vocal styles and recording techniques, even layering an 8-minute recording of her speaking in tongues underneath the closing track. It’s a challenging listen, but it was always intended to be, and the persevering listener is rewarded with beautiful and haunting tracks that stick long in the memory. One of the most impactful records of the last decade.
I’m Getting Out While I Can
All of My Friends Are Going to Hell
There is Power in the Blood
Idumea
I Will Be with You Always
Precious Lord, Take My Hand
May This Comfort and Protect You
The Poor Wayfaring Stranger
Nothing But the Blood
I Know His Blood Can Make Me Whole
How Can I Keep from Singing
Grian Chatten, ‘Chaos for the Fly’
Partisan
Known best for fronting the explosive post-punk outfit Fontaines D.C., Grian Chatten launched his solo venture this year with Chaos for the Fly. While it has never felt like Fontaines has been restraining his creativity, the overwhelming impression of Chatten’s first solo record is that he’s got the shackles off and is dipping his toe in new waters. His vocals, typically never straying far from sprechgesang with his band, are much more experimental and emotion-filled. The instrumentals are much more stripped back, with simple acoustic lines very much in the foreground throughout. This record has given us the chance to experience Chatten’s wit and poeticism in a new, more intimate context, and it doesn’t let us down. The songwriting is just as good as ever, as evidenced on All of the People, which might just be Chatten’s best ever song.
The Score
Last Time Every Time Forever
Fairlies
Bob’s Casino
All of the People
East Coast Bed
Salt Throwers off a Truck
I Am So Far
Season for Pain
Caroline Polachek, ‘Desire, I Want to Turn Into You’
Sony Music
The art-pop highlight of the year, Desire, I Want to Turn Into You is a musical odyssey. Polachek expands her musical vision, turning her hand to various idioms, exemplified early in the record when the arcane electronica of Bunny is a Rider gives way to the irresistible Latin groove of Sunset. With forays into alt-rock, indie pop, trip-hop and folk along the way, this album is nothing if not eclectic. But it is also well-informed, and keeps its experimentalism on a short leash, with extremely sensitive and thoughtful writing keeping it a certified toe-tapper throughout. The tight production is just another asset to this attentively constructed album.
Welcome to My Island
Pretty in Possible
Bunny Is a Rider
Sunset
Crude Drawing of an Angel
I Believe
Fly to You
Blood and Butter
Hopedrunk Everasking
Butterfly Net
Smoke
Billions
Holly Humberstone, ‘Paint My Bedroom Black’
Polydor
Holly Humberstone’s star has been rising for some time now; it feels like much longer than four years ago that she debuted at the BBC Music Introducing stage at Glastonbury and launched an exciting rise to prominence that has encompassed a memorable performance on the Tonight Show in the US and a supporting berth on Olivia Rodrigo’s recent US tour. It should have come as no surprise, then, that her eventual debut LP would demonstrate the profits of a wealth of experience, and yet Paint My Bedroom Black is still startling in the maturity of its songwriting. Though retaining the indelible stamps of her indie pop influences (most notably Lorde and Phoebe Bridgers), Humberstone carves her own path on her first major outing, with some extremely catchy and sophisticated tunes. If Pure Heroine and Stranger in the Alps were worthy signposts for the future successes of her predecessors, this record is surely just the first step in a glittering career to come.
Paint My Bedroom Black
Into Your Room
Cocoon
Kissing in Swimming Pools
Ghost Me
Superbloodmoon
Antichrist
Lauren
Baby Blues
Flatlining
Elvis Impersonators
Girl
Room Service
JPEGMafia and Danny Brown, ‘Scaring the Hoes’
AWAL
Danny Brown was on good form this year, putting out two really strong projects, but it’s his collaboration with JPEGMafia that really stood out for me. It’s a masterpiece of unapologetic hedonism. The beats are loud and brash, the lyrics wry and offensive, and the overall effect is an intense and thrilling joyride through disparate samples and diversiform themes. This is hip-hop with the brakes off; music to make people say “Give me back my aux cord.” But the chemistry is impeccable - the combination of Brown’s madcap, ironic flow with Peggy’s experimental production style is so natural that it feels as though these two rappers have been working together for decades. The fruit of their partnership is a record that is joyous from start to finish.
Lean Beef Patty
Steppa Pig
Scaring the Hoes
Garbage Pale Kids
Fentanyl Tester
Burfict!
Shut Yo Bitch Ass Up / Muddy Waters
Orange Juice Jones
Kingdom Hearts Key
God Loves You
Run the Jewels
Jack Harlow Combo Meal
HOE (Heaven on Earth)
Where Ya Get Ya Coke From?
Sufjan Stevens, ‘Javelin’
Asthmatic Kitty
Sufjan Stevens has forged a long and storied career out of exploring themes of love, grief and spirituality, making him one of the most beloved artists in the contemporary indie canon. It has always felt as though Stevens has bared his soul for his art, but Javelin has shown that, until now, we were still only looking through a small window into his vast heart. Stripping back the instrumentals and exposing the extents of his love and pain to a degree we haven’t seen before in the wake of his partner’s untimely passing, Stevens creates a record that is just as devastating as it is uplifting and beautiful.
Read my full review of the album here.
Goodbye Evergreen
A Running Start
Will Anybody Ever Love Me?
Everything That Rises
Genuflecting Ghost
My Little Red Fox
So You Are Tired
Javelin
Shit Talk
There’s a World