Favourite albums 2022

Although the pandemic is still a live concern, the easing of restrictions earlier this year instigated a slew of new releases, with performers finally dropping and touring albums that had long been on the back-burner. Summer festival season resumed after the hiatus, Glastonbury 2022 starring a mix of headliners new and veteran - Bille Eilish, Kendrick Lamar, and Paul McCartney. Here's just a tip of the iceberg of fabulous music that has helped boost mental health after lockdown (not to mention tanking economies and Putin's tanks).

Mitski, Laurel Hell (Dead Oceans)
Named after beautiful but prickly bushes, the Japanese/American musician’s 6th album is a delight. From brooding tracks like the opener ‘Valentine, Texas’ through to the upbeat but wistful ‘That’s Our Lamp,’ the catchy synth pop captures many conflicting emotions.

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Dry Cleaning, Stumpwork (4 AD)
“Things are shit but they’re gonna be OK,” goes the chorus on 2nd track, ‘Kwenchy Cups.’ Bittersweet and poignant, the South London post-punk band take the template of last year’s debut, New Long Leg then crank up the captivating guitar lines layered beneath Florence Shaw’s enigmatic spoken-word vocalising.

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Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Cool It Down (Secretly Canadian)
The New York indie band’s 5th album received a ‘Best Alternative Album’ Grammy nomination. Musically expansive, joyous and intimate, nine years may have lapsed since 2013’s Mosquito but it has been worth the wait.

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Harry Styles, Harry’s House (Colombia)
Harry Styles may have been introduced via X-Factor’s lottery, where 15 minutes’ fame tends to be far less transient than those fabled 900 seconds. But he has evolved into a bona fide popstar, delivering hit after hit, covering many bases, R&B, funk, electropop. His Mercury-nominated 3rd album is poppy and catchy and guaranteed to rile music snobs.

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Warmduscher, At The Hotspot (Bella Union)
The 4th album by the London band fronted by the enigmatic Massachusetts-born Clams Baker Jnr is a delicious slice of sleazy, funky, garage rock, cooked-to-perfection. Capturing the essence of their electric live shows, so many tracks do the 3D experience justice. ‘Twitchin’ in the Kitchen’ and ‘Fatso’ were regularly plugged by one Marc Riley.

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Suede, Autofiction (BMG)
Their 9th album sees Suede consumed by all the passion that drove them to the forefront of British alt rock three decades ago. Anderson has stated, “Autofiction is our punk record. No whistles and bells.” If Richard Oakes’ guitar lines are in any way stripped back, Anderson’s emotions are palpable. In ‘She Still Leads Me On,’ he delivers a heartfelt paean to his late mother. “But I loved her with my last breath, and I loved her with a love that was strong as death.”

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English Teacher, Polyawkward (Nice Swan)
The five-track debut EP from the fresh-faced Leeds band is an arresting compilation. Lily Fontaine's lyrics are wryly observational. "She's longing for a fix in thе city. Looking for the swimming baths. Up there, thе people are pretty. But she's struggling with mental maths." The title track's dynamic blend of melodic keyboard lines and discordant breaks paves the way for potent songwriting.  

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Helen Ganya, Polish The Machine (Bela Union)
The stunning debut album by Scottish-Thai songwriter presents haunting harmonies, shimmering keyboards washes, bold rhythms, and a soaring voice that invokes Liz Fraser, Kate Bush and Siouxsie Sioux.

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The Orielles, Tableau (Heavenly)
The Halifax band’s 2018 debut Silver Dollar Moment received rave reviews; four years and much airplay later (including sessions on new music torchbearer Marc Riley’s Radio 6 show), their 4th album is brimming with confidence and dreamy experimentation.

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Cate Le Bon, Pompeii (Mexican Summer).
The talented Welsh musician wrote and recorded much of her 6th album during lockdown, so the result is naturally introspective. But there’s also a bright and hopeful post-Covid vibe, with angular guitars, emphatic brass, and occasional nods to glam-era Bowie.

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Gwenno, Tresor (Heavenly Recordings)
Tresor is treasure in Cornish, and the 3rd album of alluring psych pop by the Cardiff-based musician is indeed glittering. The 5th track from it to be released as a single is ‘N.Y.C.A.W.’ (Nid yw Cymru ar Werth), sung in Welsh, translating as “Wales is not for sale,” but Gwenno’s ethereal voice mostly sings in Cornish. The beautifully poetic indigenous language, marginalised by English for centuries, is wonderfully revived with layered instrumentation.

Related blog: Repression of indigenous British languages

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Katy J Pearson, Sound Of The Morning (Heavenly)
The Gloucestershire alt pop chanteuse delivers her 2nd album, blending the title track's wistful folk with upbeat numbers – ‘Alligator’ and ‘Willow’s Song’ – and much more.

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Big Thief, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You (4AD)
Receiving a Best Alternative Grammy nomination, the Brooklyn band’s 5th album boasts big ideas and diverse sounds. With 20 songs and a running length of over 80 minutes, this double album is a sonic kaleidoscope. Previous outings have seen them crowbarred into a box entitled quirky/indie folk. The depth of musical delights on these American soundtracks is more like a Pandora’s Box of infinite possibilities being released.

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The Big Moon, Here Is Everything (Fiction)
The London indie band’s 3rd album is as self-assured and supremely catchy as ever, but the emotive punch is even stronger, energised by songwriter and main vocalist Juliette Jackson’s motherhood. As the title says, here is everything, and the hope of a new life has inspired music overflowing with hooks, from the singles, ‘Wide Eyes,’ ‘Trouble,’ and ’This Love’ to glowing tracks like ‘Ladye Bay’ and ‘Daydreaming.’

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Life, North East Coastal Town (Afghan Moon)
Album no 3 from the Hull post-punks, the pulsating opening track, ‘Friends Without Names’ signposts their evolving direction and growing confidence. Guitars ring and lyrics sparkle in an unashamedly colloquial ode to their East Yorkshire roots.

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Yard Act – The Overload (Island, ZEN FC)
BBC Radio 6 Music stalwart and longstanding indie cheerleader, Steve Lamacq, chose this fine debut album as his favourite release this year. To these ears, sometimes reminiscent of The Fall sung in a wonderfully deadpan Leeds rather than Salford accent, James Smith’s urban poetry is underpinned by a startling fusion of dark humour and exploratory guitar lines. The joy of finally being unleashed on the live circuit after Covid permeates their material, and, unlikely as it might seem, they have even collaborated with one particular fan, Elton John.

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Florence and the Machine, Dance Fever (Polydor)
With Florence Welch describing her icons as Siouxsie Sioux, Kate Bush and Stevie Nicks, Florence and the Machine’s 2009 debut Lungs lodged in the UK Top 40 for over a year. Multiple awards, stadium headline spots later, not to mention being namedropped by Beyonce as an influence, their 5th album was inspired by choreomania (an epidemic of uncontrollable dancing that swept across 14th-17th century Europe). These spontaneous outbursts - affecting people of all ages who would dance until they collapsed of exhaustion – is the starting point for the lush, layered musical backdrop to Florence Welch’s soaring voice.

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Daniel Avery, Ultra Truth (Bingo Records)
The Bournemouth-born musician may have been a young My Bloody Valentine fan, but he has made his name for creating flawless electronic soundscapes. His 11th album shows no sign of his innovation flagging, and features collaborations with Kelly Lee Owens, HAAi, and others.

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Courting, Guitar Music (PIAS)
The debut album by the post-punk Liverpudlians, this is indeed, guitar music, finely textured, and propelling sharply observed lyrics. On ‘Famous’:
​“All of my friends are getting work done/ Fillers, facials, personal trainers/ Calvin Klein collaborators/ The American Dream/ Crashed into a petrol station/ Then crashed into car parks upon car parks and car parks.”

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The Nightingales, The Last Laugh (Tiny Global Productions)
John Peel reputedly caught a previous incarnation of Robert Lloyd’s band, The Prefects, in 1977, with one song, ‘VD,’ lasting seven seconds. The night before he had attended a Genesis concert where few songs seemed to clock in at under half an hour. Cue the third most Peel sessions for any band bar The Fall and Half Man Half Biscuit. Forty-five years and a 1986-2004 hiatus later, The Nightingales released album no 12. Championed by longstanding fan, BBC6 Music and former Fall guitarist Marc Riley, who remarked on them bucking the traditional rock ‘n’ roll trend by just getting better and better with age, this is an exhilarating collection of 11 songs. Included is ‘Frances Sokolov,’ a heartwarming tribute to Lloyd’s mentor, the late, great Vi Subversa of Poison Girls.

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The Bug Club, Green Dream in F# (Bingo Records)
The South Wales-based band’s 2nd album is a defiantly lo-fi but supremely confident rock ‘n’ roll record. Great hooks, warm lyrics, and receiving adulation on BBC Radio 6.

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Port Sulphur, Speed of Life (Last Night from Glasgow/Creeping Bent Records)
Nostalchia, a 1983 Soviet-Italian film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky (Cannes Festival Best Director award winner) might seem an unlikely inspiration, but this album is a richly layered reimagining of that film's soundtrack. The second album produced by an audio collective directed by Sexual Objects guitarist Douglas MacIntyre, these guitar-driven instrumentals are dynamic and emotive. According to the sleeve notes: "Speed Of Life features 10 tracks, all of which were cut live before being reconstructed by editing, in much the same way that Can and Harmonia shaped their music."

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Just Mustard, Heart Under (Partisan)
Broadly falling into the catchall if somewhat lazy category of shoegaze, the Dundalk five-piece's 2nd album is a collection of mesmerising and sometimes unsettling mood music. Katie Ball's otherwordly vocals drift in and out of a dark but finely textured soundscape; tracks like 'Seed' and 'Blue Chalk' would have made for just as unnerving a backdrop to the killer's lair in Silence of the Lambs as The Fall's 'Hip Priest.'  Devoid of traditional verse/chorus/break structures, the overall effect is consistently arresting. A truly original rock album for 2022. 

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The Smile, A Light for Attracting Attention (XL Recordings)
Of all the bands emerging from early 90s British alt rock, whether they went on to languish under titles like Britpop, shoegaze, grunge or whatever, one band went on to consistently plough a solitary furrow, unfettered by any desire to be ‘on trend’ or be seen schmoozing with Britprimeministers. Radiohead. This debut album from Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood’s side project, The Smile, alongside Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner, often sounds like out-takes of Yorke and Greenwood's  parent band. But it’s also its own wonderful, idiosyncratic inspirational source, probing new sonic dimensions. ‘Thin Thing’ doesn’t sound too much like the R word at all, its meld of scratchy lo-fi guitar and Yorke's flighty voice drawing the listener into a hypnotic core. 'The Same' is a surreal post-punk gem that would satisfy fans of '2+2=5' from 2003's Hail to the Thief, its uplifting melodies swirling around flowing chord progressions. ‘Open Floodgates’ takes us into more introspective, piano-driven territory, bringing Yorke’s melancholic voice to the fore above interweaving woodwind and keyboards. Ditto the atmospheric 'Free in the Knowledge.’ No two songs sound remotely similar, and the cocktail of prog, Afrobeat, post-punk and ambience does, indeed, conjure a wide, appreciative smile.

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Related blog: Favourite albums of 2021