THIS HAS been a year without gigs, concerts, or festivals, and yet, it has still been a year which has given us some outstanding music. Here is my selection of the best albums of 2020.
1. Marina Kaye - Twisted (PIAS Recordings )
An album which challenged my whole view of pop as a genre, Twisted, and Kaye, convey how modern pop is as worthy a vehicle for thoughtful, confessional, witty, and vulnerable words, and imaginative music, as rock or indie.
2. Denise Chaila - Go Bravely (Narolane records )
This is called a mixtape, not an album, but however it is defined, this is the first full length opening statement of a truly fresh and exciting Irish artist - an articulacy and a wisdom beyond her years, armed with groove filled beats and melodies that are as catchy as they are clever (and I love how she peppers her raps with Gaeilge ).
3. Paul Weller - On Sunset (Polydor )
Fusing psychedelia with soul, r'n'b, English music hall, and a touch of folk, this meditation on time, memory, and the power of music showed that, 43 years after he first appeared with The Jam, The Modfather's still got it.
4. Shygirl - Alias (Because Music )
OK, this is an EP, not an album, but the London rapper Shygirl packs more into 20 minutes than most artists do in 40 - filthy, ribald, powerful, and with a real edge - another release which has made me reconsider what pop is and is capable of.
5. Ezra Furman - Sex Education OST (Bella Union )
This soundtrack to the Netflix comedy-drama can be enjoyed without ever having seen the series. A more considered reflection than the angry Twelve Nudes, Furman contemplates a divided America, with his sense of solidarity and hope sounding, never trite or glib, but always empowering.
6. Dream Wife - So When You Gonna... (Lucky Number )
Featuring not only their trademark uncompromising, Feminist indie-punk, this album also shows how Dream Wife has grown these past two years. The songwriting is more diverse, with a much wider sense of light and shade, fast and slow, tenderness and edge.
7. Mary Coughlan - Life Stories (Hail Mary Records )
By turns powerful, swaggering, sexy, harrowingly raw, and deeply honest, Life Stories runs the full gamut of emotions from cabaret (‘High Heel Boots’ ) to late night jazz (‘Elbow Deep’, ‘No Jericho’ ) to some of the most exuberant pop Mary has yet done (‘Forward Bound’, ‘Steps Forward’ ).
8. Paddy Hanna - The Hill (Strange Brew )
Ranging from punk-folk to chanson, quirky pop to spoken word, raw country to vocal pieces which sound like scores to films that do not exist, The Hill does not yield its charms on first listen, but richly rewards the listener prepared to commit.
9. Courtney Marie Andrews - Old Flowers (Loose )
Wading through, the emotional wreckage of a failed relationship, Old Flowers moves through nostalgic and melancholy recollection ('Burlap String' ); once happy memories now too painful ('How To Get Hurt' ); dark nights of the soul ('Carnival Dream' ); to something approaching hope.
10. Pillow Queens - In Waiting (Pillow Queens Records )
Pillow Queens are not overly 'political', yet via their guitar drenched indie-rock, they explore life from a Queer female perspective, making what they have to say resonant and challenging.
