tUnE-yArDs | I can feel you creep into my private life
Merrill Garbus and her now full time partner in tUnE-yArDs, bassist Nate Brenner, have always had an uplifting songwriting ability and even with the serious and forboding overtones in most of the lyrics here they’re still able to keep it up beat. At their most reflective and almost bitter moments the group remains forward thinking and even optimistic while delving into the darkness of human nature. With all of this self exploration and socially conscious meditations, the album feels very 2018, while the music itself still features Garbus’ drums loops, her increasingly varied vocal deliveries and her trademark drumstick work – even if it is a little more polished this time around.
Porches | The House
The third album from Aaron Maine aka Porches is an amazing exploration of love, regret, change and decay. Below it’s outwardly shiny exterior, The House runs deep with themes of isolation and anxiety and deals with a fascination with identity. Thoughtfully put together this is not your average coming of age record. There’s a poignancy and depth here that is exploratory and honest.
Shopping | The Official Body
There’s a certain strength in challenging an audience to dance even though the world is crumbling around them. The tracks on this record are so incredably fun and funky that it’s almost a healing experience. Shopping have been one of the UK’s best underground groups for a few years, but from the sounds of The Official Body it seems like they wont be underground for too much longer.
First Aid Kit | Ruins
When it comes to the themes of female empowerment and the incredibly analysis of relationships and identity in the modern world that Ruins does such an excellent job of addressing there’s little comparison to First Aid Kit’s accomplishment. But looking at this record from a truly musical point of view: this is an incredably well-arranged, passionate piece of recording that offers the listener a mature, lush and majestically expansive bright and assertive sound. This is their fourth studio record, and it is by far their best offering to date.