A bunch of albums I had been highly anticipating all came out around the same time and none of them let me down. Here they are:
Second Love by Emmy the Great
I absolutely adore Emma-Lee Moss. She’s made three albums that all have their own distinct sound (she’s landed in an alternative singer-songwriter electronic hybrid genre) and are all equally amazing. If you haven’t listened to her music, please change that! As featured in the image for this post, I bought her album (and awesome notebooks) at her recent show in Philly which means I got the album before the release date and heard some of the songs live first. Absolutely in love with this album. Emma is one of my favorite lyricists and continues to deserve that honor.
Zoetic by The Rocket Summer
Bryce Avary’s first three albums were all something I held dear as a teenager. While I liked his two after those, they didn’t have the same hold over me. But this new one has pulled me right back in. It has been about four years since the last album and has been well worth the wait. I am falling in love with TRS all over again.
You’re a Man Now, Boy by Raleigh Ritchie
Raleigh Ritchie is the stage name of Jacob Anderson, who sometimes popped up in British television shows I watch. Others might know him from a show called Game of Thrones. (I gave up on it before Jacob Anderson’s character appears so I have no idea how much screen time he gets.) I can’t remember how I came across his music or if I even recognized who he was at first, but one way or another I found his songs and have been waiting for this full length. His music is considered alternative R&B, apparently. A lot of the songs on this album easily get stuck in my head. Many will make it into my summer playlists.
Night Swim by Josef Salvat
Early 2016 has been ripe with releases from artists I’ve been waiting around for new music from based on their singles and EPs. So this is another one to check off my list. Salvat is an Australian pop/electro-pop singer who really got started around 2014. So I haven’t been waiting for as long for this as some other albums. But still I am impatient and happy to have it.
Phase by Jack Garratt
Jack Garratt is quietly becoming the fave of many celebrities. Wishing him all the best luck because his music is truly awesome. He’s a one man band who is impressive to watch live. The way he layers sounds and changes pace during songs is ambitious and it works in unexpected ways. He makes discordance work. Probably none of this will make sense until you listen. There’s a reason I don’t review albums at length.
At Hope’s Ravine by Holy Esque
HOLY SHIT THE DAY HAS COME. After being teased for ages there is finally this full length work of art from Holy Esque and I am unsure what to even say about it. What I do know is the songs have to be mesmerizing live so they should do a real tour of the US that comes to Philly instead of just SXSW and whatever else they’ve been doing.
I’ve also been listening to Ra Ra Riot’s latest and Charli XCX’s new EP, which I haven’t been able to form an opinion on because it’s kind of insane.
Anchor & Braille just released a new album that for some reason I haven’t gotten around to really listening to so I am going to get on that.
Right now my most anticipated album is Frightened Rabbit’s. COME BACK TO ME, MY LOVES.