2015 album(s) of the year – 4 to 2
(AKA - the inevitable albums that are on everyone's best-of lists)
4. Public Service Broadcasting - The Race for Space
Back in 2013, when I wrote about their debut album being one of my favourites of the year, I dismissively said that Public Service Broadcasting are a one-trick pony, that any follow up album would spoil what was a thoughtful and interesting experiment in taking samples from public service films and putting them to music.
How wrong I was. I failed to realise that the theme of the first release - snippets from safety films and Pathé-eseque documentaries - was just a one-off. They don't need to take samples from random newsreels - with effort, they can have a whole album based around one event, one theme, one topic. It's arguably a more difficult task, as sourcing dialogue and recordings about one subject means more time digging and experimenting, but done well it could overcome the main issue with the first album, that lack of a cohesive structure or overall flow.
And, in the main The Race For Space achieves that very ambitious remit. By focusing solely on the battle between the US and Russia but framing it as an effort by mankind as a whole to break the boundaries of our own atmosphere, they create an album that has a clear purpose, a clear narrative with celebratory highs and mournful lows. The story that the album tells is arguably its biggest success - though many artists write albums about a theme or idea, few are willing to tell a tale from beginning to end in such a clear way as Public Service Broadcasting have here.
It's not just story that works here. So many tracks work as pop songs in and of themselves - both Go and Gagarin have deservedly had plenty of radio play this year, and even less bombastic tracks like E.V.A. have an annoying habit of creeping into the subconscious and staying there. It's one of those albums that has a track for everyone, despite each track feeling very much connected.
Not every track is an outright success. The attempt to write something about women's contribution to these endeavours, Valentina, has no samples and feels very out of sync with the rest of the album as a result. Although important to the narrative and truly sad, Fire in the Cockpit isn't something that a listener wants to repeat very often.
But these are minor gripes about an otherwise remarkable record. No-one is making music like this nowadays, about a near-historical topic with a clear story and a sense of wanting to remind the world that these awe-inspiring events actually occurred. To many, The Race for Space and its subject matterwill seem annoyingly Meccano/Airfix/moth-eaten cardigan; if you're happy to indulge what might be an unfashionable topic, you'll be rewarded with a remarkably cohesive, unique record.
Here's looking forward to album three.
3. Joanna Newsom - Divers
A confession: although I've always loved her style, I've always struggled with Joanna Newsom's albums. Ys' sixteen minute long tracks and Have One on Me's two-hour long running time both felt like a chore to listen to, bloated bodies of work that could have done with a little more focus and editing. Many cited those lengths as part of Joanna's charm and uniqueness, a nice reflection of the pastoral poets of old that deeply influence her work; to me, they were a symptom of an artist who needed a little more focus.
Divers was a wary listen, but the average-length track list and song time convinced me to have a go. And I'm so glad I did, because it's such a delicate and beautiful album.
All of Joanna's trademarks are here - the harp, the pastoral sweep, the deliberate anachronisms (not many albums released over the past few decades will mention 'nacre', 'phosphoresce', or 'alderman'). The (thankful) brevity really works too - no story is dwelt on too long, no thread of meaning is lost due to interminable length, and the frequent change of pace and melody makes each song much more focused.
And, bloody hell, there are some excellent songs here. The bouncy skipalong tracks like Sapokanikan and Leaving The City sit well next to the slower songs like You Will Not Take My Heart Alive; the frequent variety of pace means that the album never feels stale, never feels like a track should be skipped.
In fact, it's often the slower tracks that command the most attention: the title track itself is a wonderfully beguiling contemplation of motherhood that, in lesser hands, would be ridiculous and self-indulgent but here is beautiful and sincere and incredibly compelling. The mournful A Pin-Light Bent followed by the celebratory Time, As a Symptom with its bombastic orchestral flourish is a hell of a way to finish an album, especially with the conceit of finishing mid-word and the realisation that the word is concluded when the album starts again.
It's really difficult to describe how delicate yet compelling this album is. It's a work of staggering beauty that many will dismiss as too twee, too girly, too harp-centric. Their loss, frankly. It's a brave album by an artist who knows her strengths but has created her most accessible and friendly work yet. It's something that will be listened to fondly for many years to come.
2. Jamie xx - In Colour
I really wanted to dislike this album. Everything about it is so achingly, annoyingly trendy that it's almost obnoxious. It has the veneer of an album that those in the know praise endlessly before release only for it to be played to death through some odd sense of fashionable obligation.
How frustrating, then, that it's so annoyingly good.
In Colour is an undeniably British dance/electronica album that manages to be unlike every British dance/electronica cliché, British in the truly multicultural sense rather than the tea-and-crumpets love-a-duck sense, dance/electronica in a clever ambient-yet-melodic way. It is a calm observation of London at 3am on a weekend, a study of the gritty urban landscape by an old professor who has little time for big beats but wearily acknowledges their existence if he must.
It's almost a modern dance record for people who hate that sort of thing. Actually, it's a modern dance record for everyone, trendy and curmudgeonly alike. It cleverly reflects Young London but never feels restricted to those who are under thirty.
It's one of those delightful crossover albums like The Chemical Brothers' Surrender, designed to encapsulate a number of scenes but appealing to them all at once. What works especially well here is that there's little inclusion of big name stars like Noel Gallagher but it still feels like it reflects that sort of scene somehow.
As a result, different tracks feel very different despite having the same generally ambient approach. And that is remarkable - it's definitely an album of comparable songs despite one being a bit singer-songwritery, one being pirate radioy, one being a bit Daft Punky, and so on.
As the first proper solo album from Jamie xx it bodes extremely well for the future. Fans will continue to love his occasion 12" releases and production work; many, like me, will be eagerly awaiting his next album proper. In the meantime, this will see me through for many months to come.