Inspired by Joni Mitchell and quarantine, Mac student Zoé Freeman created an album all by herself
C/O Zoé Freeman
By: Serena Habib, Contributor
Meet Zoé Freeman, also known as Zoé Alexis. A fourth-year student in the arts and science program, Freeman’s album River was released in December 2020. The process of single-handedly creating an album might seem daunting to most people, but Freeman saw it as a challenge that she felt compelled to undertake.
Music has been a part of Freeman’s life for as long as she can remember. From harmonizing to songs on the radio and recording covers in her basement to performing in choirs and musical theatre troupes in Toronto, Freeman grew up singing. However, she was always afraid to write her own music.
“Music was always a thing in my house so I actually have my parents to thank for that. I got my first little music player when I was seven or eight and I just listened to the same 12 Beatles songs over and over and over again,” said Freeman.
Music was always a thing in my house so I actually have my parents to thank for that. I got my first little music player when I was seven or eight and I just listened to the same 12 Beatles songs over and over and over again.
Zoé Freeman
Her fear of writing music changed when she moved to university. While going through a challenging time during first year, Freeman attempted to write her own melodies. However, she found it to be a discouraging process.
Freeman compared songwriting to flipping pancakes. Practice makes perfect, or in her case, a song she’s happy with. Through practice, the title track of Freeman’s album was born, with each drum beat created electronically and manually placed into the spellbinding track.
Freeman gained confidence while singing with an intense competitive music group in England while on exchange in her third year. When she returned home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she began a new musical journey.
“I was living completely alone during the first month or two of quarantine and I didn't see a single person, not even my family. So I went into overdrive. And I couldn't stop writing . . . The only reason I even decided to release an album was honestly because I liked the challenge. I thought to myself, “I wonder if I could write, record, produce, edit, mix and release an album, all by myself.” And once the seed was planted, I couldn't stop thinking about it. It became something I had to do to . . . prove to myself that I can actually do it,” said Freeman.
I was living completely alone during the first month or two of quarantine and I didn't see a single person, not even my family. So I went into overdrive. And I couldn't stop writing.
Zoé Freeman
Using the same microphone, mix boxes and editing software she’s had since the age of 12, Freeman was determined to create the album on her own. In her writing, she intertwines memories to make her songs both ambiguous and relatable. This conception of memory is echoed in the childhood photos used as the artwork for her music.
“It was fun for me because I wrote about everything right now. I wrote about things that had happened years ago. I wrote about new things that were happening during quarantine. I wrote about things that people didn't even know I knew about,” explained Freeman.
Freeman’s favourite songwriter and greatest inspiration is Joni Mitchell, who invented her own type of guitar tuning and chord progression structure by ear because her polio prevented her from using traditional methods. Joni Mitchell’s story has helped Freeman overcome insecurities surrounding her own unorthodox way of creating and playing music by ear.
Freeman begins with the guitar, memorizing finger placements for her desired sounds and then designs a mental image of the other instruments. She then records voice memos of herself singing accompaniments and either send them to friends or constructs the harmonies herself. River is a tribute to Joni Mitchell’s song of the same title and the song “Oh Joni” pays homage to the singer as well.
“Part of her being my biggest musical inspiration is that it's made me realize there is no right way to play music. You can sort of just do it any way that you want and, as long as you end up getting the result that you want, it doesn't really matter how you got there,” said Freeman.
You can sort of just do it any way that you want and, as long as you end up getting the result that you want, it doesn't really matter how you got there.
Zoé Freeman
The end product of Freeman’s journey is an exquisite collection of music that stems from personal experience. However, it may be a while before fans have a new album to listen to. Freeman does not feel compelled to continue publicly releasing her music.
“I would love to be one of those people who leads a professional career, but plays in a band on the side, like that's my dream . . . Music has always been and will always be sort of something that I do for myself,” Freeman explained.
Freeman is heading to law school next year, but she plans to continue sharing her music with loved ones. Music has allowed her to connect with friends and family through hardship and it has been there for in times of loneliness. Regardless of whether she releases more songs, Freeman hopes that listening to River provides people with a sense that they are not alone.
The music video for Ellis’ first single “The Drain” opens with less than a second of television static. That glimpse of static appears several more times throughout the course of the video but it’s more than just a motif for the video, it’s the overarching theme of her debut project, The Fuzz.
[spacer height="20px"]Ellis is the musical project of Hamilton-based singer-songwriter Linnea Siggelkow, who derived the name from her initials. Her sound was once described to her as emo dream pop and this is the label she assigns to it. It is beautiful, dramatic and sad music.
The Fuzz, which dropped on Nov. 9, is a collection of songs that Ellis wrote around the same time. She independently released the six-track project, which includes her first two singles “The Drain” and “What a Mess.” The EP gets it its name from the feelings that Ellis felt while writing the songs.
“[T]he fuzz is… this metaphorical place like the noise on a TV screen. It's just the lack of clarity… a feeling of being lost and a place I found myself in often and... where a lot of the songs came from was feeling sort of disoriented and confused and uncertain in this sort of metaphorical place,” Ellis explained.
On Nov. 28, Ellis will be playing at The Casbah for her EP release show. While performing makes her anxious, one thing she loves about performing in Hamilton is being able to see the familiar faces of her friends and collaborators in the audience.
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Not originally from Hamilton, Ellis loves the creative and caring community that she has found in the city. On The Fuzz, she collaborated only with the circle of talented individuals that she feels lucky to call her friends. Being able to trust her collaborators was important in creating this personal project.
In order to share some of the meaning behind her intimate tracks, Ellis created a zine with collaborative partner, Sean Richman. The zine features a spread for each song consisting of photographs, handwritten lyrics and GPS coordinates for significant places.
“I'm trying to create a mood… and I think to me the project is moody. But I also want it to just be beautiful… I love having visual elements. I think it's a great way to connect the listener with music in a different way… I hope it's a way of, if people are interested, going a little bit deeper into the songs themselves,” Ellis explained.
While the personal nature of the project means that it’s hard for Ellis to discuss all the events that inspired the EP’s tracks, she wants listeners to be able to relate to and resonate with the music. For her, making music is a way of processing emotions and using them to create something productive and tangible.
She started playing piano as a child since her mother was a piano teacher. When she was 12 years old, she began playing guitar and writing songs. Song-writing is very much ingrained in who she is.
Her song-writing process begins solitarily, which lends itself to the intimacy of her music. She always begins with a lyric and then builds up the song as much as she can on her own before she brings in her collaborators.
[spacer height="20px"]Ellis was deeply involved in all aspects of The Fuzz. She co-directed the videos for “The Drain” and “NYE” with her friend Andy Friesen.
“I think for this project it's been mostly DIY… I definitely like to have my hands on as many things as I can to do with the project. I feel a bit possessive of it,” Ellis explained.
This homespun approach has created a sound and visuals that feel attentively crafted and beautifully raw. In the new year, Ellis hopes to create a full-length album and tour, allowing her to share her stories of fuzz and freedom with more of the world.
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By: Vanessa Polojac
A shared love for noise rock, plenty of practice room jam sessions and a journey across Europe helped forged the decade-long friendship behind Look Vibrant.
The Montreal-based noise/art-pop band’s futuristic sounds and high-energy performances will be featured again on their upcoming studio album.
Look Vibrant will be dropping their well-awaited debut full- length album The Up Here Place, set to release on March 15.
Look Vibrant is composed of Justin Lazarus (keyboard/synthesizer & vocals), Matthew Murphy (guitar & vocals), Eli Kaufman (drums) and Alex Rand (bass & backing vocals).
Both Lazarus and Murphy knew from an early age that music was something that they were bound to pursue.
Their friendship began over a decade ago while they were both attending the Etobicoke School of the Arts.
“We were always jamming out in the practice room,” said Lazarus.
“A lot of the bands that influence us now have come from those jam sessions. We both liked noise music and bands that many other kids [did not listen to], bands like Black Dice.”
Then when the two graduated from high school, the best friends decided not to go onto post-secondary school right away. They travelled across the world and showcased their musical abilities.
They backpacked across Europe to gain a worldly perspective and inspiration while busking to survive.
This is when Lazarus and Murphy began the musical endeavour of Look Vibrant.
“The band name sparked up from a mistranslation,” said Lazarus.
“While we were in a record store in Italy, someone was trying to introduce us to Luke Vibert (a British electronic recording artist) but we understood the name as Look Vibrant because of his accent,” said Lazarus.
The following summer, the two packed up and moved from Toronto to Montreal to record their first demo under the name Look Vibrant.This name also sparked an idea for the two close friends.
Coming from a background in all forms of art, they knew that the visuals would correspond with their band name.
Look Vibrant has been heavily involved with the image of their band.For the past five years, the band has been collaborating with Montreal based artist, Max Taeuschel.
His work has been featured in Pitchfork, POP Montreal, Art Matters and many other Canadian art publications.
“The name of our band lent itself to our aesthetic. … We grew up with Max and he has been with the band forever. He is really the mastermind behind all of the bright colours in our music videos, live shows and band art.” said Lazarus.
Much like Hamilton, Montreal is a city that takes pride in their music scene and focuses on promoting their artists. Lazarus and Murphy were both drawn to Montreal because their alternative-rock idols hailed from the city.
In 2013, they met Rand, who is also a native to Toronto and Kaufman in Montreal to complete the rest of Look Vibrant.
Although forming and emerging out of the Montreal music scene, Lazarus found there to be a distinct difference between his own band and the rest of the city’s music scene. But over time, they have become a staple indie act in the city.
“At the time we started out there was a lot of jangly guitar rock music that had come from Calgary and heavy electronic music that was becoming very famous in [Montreal],” explained Lazarus.
“We did not fit into those categories, so we felt [distant] to what was evolving musically in the city.”
Look Vibrant is a unique band because their music does not seem to fit into any specific genre.
At the beginning, Lazarus and Murphy were heavily influenced by the noise music genre that directly inspired their debut singles “Plateau” and “Stranger Kind”. Now, the band is looking to evolve and progress past the acts that initially inspired their first jam sessions.
“During the past few years, Matt went back to school. He polished our sound for our current album although we kept some of the low-fi noise elements,” said Lazarus.
With the release of their debut album, Look Vibrant has moved away from this genre of music to a more electro-acoustic sound.
For the rest of 2018, the band will be heading across Southern Ontario to embark on a headlining tour promoting their debut album.
They have also have begun working on their follow-up album and are hoping to release new music shortly after the debut of The Up Here Place.
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When we interviewed Scott Helman three years ago, he was a young Torontonian on the rise after the release of his EP, Augusta, and his major label debut. There were a few consistent themes from then that persist to today. His inspirations such as Leonard Cohen, his enjoyment for songwriting and his talent all remain.
One of the most curious things since our interview three years ago, however, is his development as a person. It is obvious that Helman has grown in a positive way and matured over the years leading up to his first major studio album, Hotel de Ville, released on May 12.
“At the time, I felt like everything was given birth from art. I felt that art was the starting point of everything. I know I’m being super conceptual, but I felt that art was the point and that everything was the result of it.”
These larger concepts are continuously on Helman’s mind when looking back at his development.
His main inspirations have continued to lead him towards the history of music and its influence over the decades, and ponder what songwriting means to him and the world as a whole. This internalization of ideas and the perspective he has as a successful artist has changed his thoughts about music and the industry as a whole.
“Now, after having been a songwriter and artist for enough time, I feel like it’s the other way around. Life happens, then art is the byproduct, and that’s when art is beautiful is when it is the soundtrack and not the focal point.”
This comes through in his newest album. While most of the tracks are upbeat and enjoyable to listen to no matter what the mood is, there is almost always a double meaning or hidden depth to it. It works with a strong balancing act. He incorporates his own life and uses art as a way to process it, think about it and work through it. His continued idealism feels natural in his songs despite these larger, heavier considerations.
“If I make a song where those things exist strongly, I feel like I’ve succeeded. ... I definitely feel like that is a central focus of my music to make that a reality.”
Over the years, he has received Juno nominations and success on a national scale across Canada, but seems to remain grounded. He has been involved in an organization called The Global Class where he talked with students in Durham, Zambia and St. Petersburg, Russia about music’s influence around the world. His microsite called Solve the Solvable continues to promote the exchange of ideas on how to take local action to contribute to global issues no matter how big or small they may be.
Despite all of this, the music will always be first.
“I think music is always there for you, and that’s why it’s so beautiful.”
He plays at Club Absinthe on June 8.
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I’ll be honest. I went through a borderline snobbish phase concerning music. Mainstream tunes were overrated, and if you hadn’t heard of the Blue-Speckled Egg Boys — I wouldn’t be surprised if this band actually exists — then we could not have a civilized conversation. It’s fine to go through this hipster phase if it remains just that: a phase. It becomes a problem when you remain a member of the I’m-better-than-you-Taylor-Swift-plebians crowd. Sooner or later, you realize that your family is done with your shit, and your pre-set Indie stations will have been deleted from every radio in the house. None of your friends want to hear about the new Speckled Egg album, and you have no one to take to your lo-fi dream pop neo-jazz underground festival.
I no longer classify myself as a judgmental music snob. I threatened to become one, but got over it after being exposed to other music snobs. Jimmy Kimmel conducted an experiment at Coachella 2013. He asked people about bands that were “obscure” (because they were fictional) and festival attendees claimed to known and went on to praise their music. When I saw where I was headed — what I could become — I had to take a step back and evaluate why I was so harsh on the One Directioners of the world. I still personally don’t like the (in)famous boyband, but what’s so bad about liking their music? Enjoying “One D” does not necessarily make you a less cultured person. I can understand why people enjoy their music; it’s toe-tapping, head-nodding fun! Music is meant to create an inclusive and interactive space for everyone. Who are we to judge others for their tastes when we know Iggy Azalea’s rap in “Fancy” by heart? (Remember, the first stage of grief is denial, fellow snobs!)
When I saw where I was headed — what I could become — I had to take a step back and evaluate why I was so harsh on the One Directioners of the world.
When addressing music-snobbery, there is a lesson to be learned from an unlikely source: Justin Bieber. His new style has attracted many former and current music snobs who claim to appreciate his musical transformation — as everyone should. This is despite most of us having wanted to stick a dagger in the car radio as soon as “Baby” started playing. There seems to be no point in judging an artist’s new work based on their past offenses. Thank you Bieber for showing us that good music can come from unexpected places.
My message to you is to just be real and honest. There’s nothing wrong with saying you haven’t listened to the latest Weeknd album yet just as there’s nothing wrong with belting “Shake it Off” in the shower. I’m not judging, and let’s hope that others aren’t either. After all, what good comes out of being so exclusive? Best case, you just lose potential fellow concert-goers, and in the worst case, friends.
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Upon looking up Sioux Falls on Facebook, I saw that the lead singer’s name is Isaac Eiger, which tickled me, given that I was just about to write this piece comparing Eiger to another Isaac, Brock of Modest Mouse.
Sioux Falls’ Isaac Eiger is flexible in his singing. He can both yell and “sing pretty.” This sort of versatility was described by Built to Spill’s Doug Martsch when discussing Isaac Brock’s singing style in the 2014 documentary, Lonesome Crowded West.
https://soundcloud.com/sioux-falls/sets/rot-fornever
Songs like “San Francisco Earthquake” on Sioux Falls’ Rot Forever are reminiscent of the Lonesome Crowded West era of Modest Mouse, specifically, the riff at around the middle-mark of the song reminds me of a similar riff in “Teeth Like God’s Shoeshine.”
Not all tracks are exact shadows of Modest Mouse’s work, though. While Brock does yell on his tracks, they aren’t necessarily aggressive in the way that Sioux Falls tends to be. “In Case It Gets Lost” is a prime example of this. In fact, this particular track is post-punk-emo enough to remind me of the tone of Brand New’s album, Deja Entendu.
The album itself is rather lengthy, running for seventy-three minutes. Sioux Falls has been criticized for the length of the album by Pitchfork, but I disagree. The songs don’t drawl on for an inordinate amount of time, they play out long enough to lull the listener into falling in love with them. I think that the length is characteristic of the band’s influences. All-in-all, I enjoy the lo-fi post-punk sound of Sioux Falls, and I think this album will be putting them on the map.
Rot Forever is the album I have been waiting for from Modest Mouse since 2007’s We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank. If only I could swap out Rot Forever for Strangers to Ourselves so that we can officially forget about the latter album and let it rot forever.
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My early explorations of music started in the stacks of the Hamilton Public Library around eight years ago, where I would arbitrarily pick out a dozen CDs to bring home. Bloc Party’s debut album, Silent Alarm, was probably the single most important discovery in these trips. To this day, Bloc Party’s early discography has solidified the UK pop-rock outfit in my shortlist of all-time favourite acts.
Bloc Party has gone through a string of hiatuses and break-ups following 2008’s Intimacy, but their career has unfortunately been overshadowed by the weight of following up on their rapturously received debut. Silent Alarm’s critical acclaim has loomed over Bloc Party’s career, despite the more matured, conceptual approach on their sophomore work A Weekend in the City and a collection of gems from Intimacy.
Now, Bloc Party returns without bassist Gordan Moakes and drummer Matt Tong in their fifth studio album, Hymns. Their new album is an hour of moody electronic sounds and an especially close and personal vocal performance from front man Kele Okereke, who discusses his relationship with his Christianity, hopeless romance, and loneliness. Hymns leaves me unfortunately, and expectedly, feeling lukewarm.
Even after several listens, there are few moments that really resonated with me. With the exception of the bland but upbeat leading single “The Love Within,” the entire project sits in a mid-paced electronic drone. Okereke’s beautiful vocal work, showcasing impressive growth in both his emotional and musical range over his decade long career, saves what is otherwise a complete write-off.
For long-time fans, Hymns will feel like a husk of what the band once was. Though Kele has grown as a singer, there are very few notable moments in the song-writing, and the religious themes of the album don’t particularly amount to any form of powerful revelation. It is especially painful to summarize lead guitarist Russel Lissack’s contributions as electronic drone, given how instrumental he has been to distinguishing the group among other mid-2000s indie rock-pop groups. Lissack’s guitar and melody work almost carried the inspiration and legacy of Johnny Marr’s work with The Smiths, and much of Bloc Party’s success was founded on that work. It doesn’t help that Tong’s precision complex and precision drum work is no longer part of the equation.
This is where I think the comparisons should end. It is clear that Hymns is the introduction of a new Bloc Party, and though this album still warrants a sub-par score, it is equally apparent that there is no desire for the group to return to their original form.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V23fQ1KREcE
As much as I personally appreciate the group’s early work, it is important to recognize that comparing this new group to their previous work is a measure of a group’s history, and a measure of what has changed, and marks some deliberate artistic choices. Hymns will be panned by fans and critics alike as yet another project that’s not as good as Silent Alarm, which in my view, is an absolute cop-out.
There are solid moments in the project, and tracks like “Only He Can Heal Me,” “Different Drugs” and “Living Lux” create a potentially perfect backdrop to that summer city night where you and a particular someone go out for drive. That being said, you’re going to have to keep a finger on the skip button a little too often.
Hymns is an unspectacular, but fairly inoffensive effort, and may even have some appeal to fresh ears looking for ambient and intimate electronic beats with a great supporting voice. There were enough charming moments, enough talent, and there is enough promise in this hopefully rejuvenated group that I am still looking forward to what the new Bloc Party has in store for us.
Photo Credit: Rachel Wright
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There is nothing conventional about Robyn Rihanna Fenty. It only takes a few notes on her newest album Anti for that reminder to set in. “I got to do things my own way,” Rihanna warns in the opening song “Consideration.” This has always been her legacy. More than anything else, Rihanna has consistently come across as real. On Instagram, she positioned herself as a self-governing force with an affinity for blunts and middle fingers. This is the version of Rihanna we came to know — the one who played by her own rules and did so with endless bravado and confidence.
At the same time, she became a hit-making algorithm pumping out songs for neon lights and sweaty last calls. And we danced to it, because it was good. We spent our Friday and Saturday nights with Rihanna bumping to one of her 13 number-one singles. She became the pop star we wanted her to be because she did it brilliantly.
But until now it just didn’t completely feel like the Rihanna we had been shown. Anti, Rihanna’s eighth studio album, feels more like the artist behind the hitmaker, the authentic Rihanna.
It’s not what we expected. If her last seven albums were flashing lights and booze-soaked adventures, Anti is a solo Friday at home with a bottle of wine. It works, because it’s good. With the possible exception of “Work” featuring Drake, this album is devoid of any club bangers. Those songs were for us. Anti is for Rihanna.
Floating between soul, rock, r&b, and pop, Anti never fully commits to one genre. The grainy, blues adjacent “Higher” sounds like a drunken plea from a scrubbed Rihanna. Each note of “Desperado” drips with the fuck-you attitude she has worked to perfection. The likely hit of the album, “Kiss It Better,” shows introspection absent in past songs. But the most obvious example is Rihanna’s cover of Tame Impala’s “New Person, Same Old Mistakes.” Rihanna lends her voice to a genre not usually belonging to her, echoing instead of re-imagining the song completely.
With the exception of “Work” featuring Drake, this album is devoid of any club bangers. Those songs were for us. Anti is for Rihanna.
While always present on some level, this version of Rihanna hasn’t fully been exposed. There is a confidence in self, an underlying Bad Gal quality to the album that seems more like the yacht partying and blunts in bathrobes versions of her. These are the type of songs that couldn’t have been written for anyone else.
The Rihanna who tweeted “I’m crazy, and I don’t pretend to be anything else” seems very present singing “Tryna fix your inner issues with a bad bitch / Didn’t they tell you that I was a savage / Fuck your white horse and a carriage,” on “Needed Me.”
This album feels like a glimpse at the inner workings of Rihanna’s brain. The off-camera version. From front to back, Anti tells the story of self-exploration, growing up, and coming full circle. With the album already platinum, the understated Anti is Rihanna’s biggest statement yet.
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Solemn. Melancholy. Almost cacophonous in its softness. Daughter’s music has always had the ability to somehow silence my thoughts, but these were nonetheless what went through my mind during my first listen of Not To Disappear.
Daughter is a three-person band from England, and since their formation in 2010, they have released two albums, four EPs and three singles. Not To Disappear is their second album, released three years after 2013’s If You Leave. Despite the gap, Not To Disappear retains the eerie melancholy that has defined Daughter’s contribution to the indie folk genre.
One could not be blamed for dismissing Daughter’s music as depressing. It is. With songs characterized by loss, vulnerability and loneliness, it’s hard to come upon one that will make you want to get up and dance. If You Leave was the epitome of this notion. Featuring soft, slow tracks with words that were better off imagined as whispers had they not been sung, the album inspired a hazy, dreamy feeling framed by endless lyrical metaphors.
Where If You Leave was soft and somber even at its most emotional, Not To Disappear abandons the listless loneliness and replaces it with a more blatant desperation.
Not To Disappear is a reflection of this same idea, but Daughter has taken a few steps in a different direction. When they first announced their second album in September 2014, guitarist Igor Haefeli claimed that the band was playing with a “rockier dynamic” this time around, influenced by all the touring they’ve been doing over the year, and this attempt becomes apparent in stronger crescendos and more insistent guitar and drum lines.
Where If You Leave was soft and somber even at its most emotional, Not To Disappear abandons the listless loneliness and replaces it with a more blatant desperation. The new dynamic brings the album somewhere as gritty as the indie folk genre can allow it to go. This second album works with themes of nostalgia and memory, is more reflective than cathartic, and while previous songs were hazy and dreamy, Not To Disappear feels grounded. The music is still solemn, still hardly ever above a whisper, but somehow louder and more defined.
The album begins with “New Ways,” a song that feels a lot like being wound up tight, but instead of this feeling being drummed up into a climax then released in a song equivalent of a denouement, the feeling continues throughout the whole album, leaving the whole picture exposed and raw. The songs themselves have their own climax and denouements, defined by fluctuating tones that take you somewhere low and dark one moment before erupting in weeping tracks and higher voices, or vice versa.
The lyrics are more honest, relying less on similes and more on personal confessions. The album’s frantic tone creates a feeling of helplessness, manifesting as a plea for help in some songs and as a resigned acceptance in others.
Not To Disappear takes a bolder approach to Daughter’s music, while nonetheless retaining the same intimacy and vulnerability I’ve slowly come to appreciate. Criticisms can be made out about the band’s repetitive nature, but those fade easily behind the lucidity this album has managed to achieve. It’s mature, it’s numb, and though some songs felt like they could have easily belonged in a previous album, I got what I came for, and more, when I heard Daughter had released a new album.
Photo Credit: 4AD
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Tomi Milos/ANDY Editor
56 Nights - Future
Future absolutely destroyed 2015 and it all started with 56 Nights. Following the likes of Monster and Beast Mode, 56 Nights goes about asserting Future’s exponential growth as an artist since his very public breakup with Ciara with a slew of hyper-personal tracks many do a disservice by dubbing “turn-up bangers”. Despite how heavy they go in the club, songs like “Never Gon Lose” and “March Madness” do everything but glorify narcotics. Anyone who listens closely to the lyrics will be able to perceive how Future is driven to drugs as a coping mechanism and only resorts to self-celebratory verses to mask his deep pain.
In Colour - Jamie xx
Everything about Jamie xx’s modus operandi reeks of deliberateness. His debut solo record is titled In Colour, and befittingly sports a rainbow-hued cover that also hints at what lies inside. Just like his music with his band The xx, Jamie’s efforts on In Colour are rich in emotional depth and range. The eleven-track record has a stunning array of highs and lows, as well as what is probably the song of the summer in “I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times)”. While that particular Young Thug collaboration is the most obvious ear-worm, the rest of the songs all reward multiple listens in which their genius subtlety comes to light.
Return To The Moon - EL VY
The National didn’t release an album this year with its members either focusing on their families, or investing energy into solo projects, but all of them have released stellar material regardless. Matt Berninger’s collaboration with Brent Knopf is arguably the most immediately gratifying of the bunch. Return To The Moon finds Berninger at his most self-aware, making fun of both himself and all the dad-rock jabs that his work gets from critics. The title track is a pitch-perfect example of the occasionally formulaic catharsis that Berninger’s band aims for, while the rest of the record decidedly distances itself from any comparisons.
The Names - Baio
Chris Baio has released solo material for some time now, but Vampire Weekend’s extended break has allowed the bassist-turned-producer to put out an extremely polished record in The Names. The quiet, intellectual that Baio comes across as in interviews marries his exuberant on-stage personality on the record. Sometimes uncomfortable, but always danceable, The Names is a heartwarming foray into electronic music by a talented musician who reveals himself to be an academic in his devotion to learning a new craft, but not in blending his knowledge into a cohesive product.
I Don’t Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside - Earl Sweatshirt
While Odd Future has ceased to be interesting, Earl has remained a brilliant outsider unhindered by the tunnel vision of his old peers. I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside sees Earl remind us how miserable he is, but in much more inventive fashion than usual. While listening to someone’s personal struggle can get grating, what makes Earl’s continued forays down that path rewarding is that he has matured much more than his former friends. Whereas Doris had a lot of misplaced anger on it, I Don’t Like Shit, I Don't Go Outside has a much grander scope and is ultimately about recovering from the bleak episodes that he recounts.
Vannessa Barnier/ANDY Reporter
RULES - Alex G
Before getting signed to Domino last year, Alex G dropped this lil album on Bandcamp. G has since put out other albums this past year, but it was something about the comfortable, lo-fi, bedroom-cooing featured on RULES that made it trump 2015’s Beach Music. It was only in 2015 that this album, along with TRICK, was mastered in a studio and made commercially available. Domino’s reissue put RULES on the map for me, and contributed to it becoming my most-played album of last year.
Homespun - Jordaan Mason
From the first seconds of Jordaan Mason’s Homespun, you can predict how intimate the album will sound in its entirety. You can hear Mason walk in and sit down on the first track as they join you in the experience that is this album. Homespun is a vulnerable piece that was made as a gift to Mason’s husband, who convinced Mason to share this album publically. This album is Mason’s attempt at an ambient-sounding album with warmth and sounds they weren’t hearing in the ambient genre. The result is a comforting record.
Carrie & Lowell - Sufjan Stevens
As a mainstream artist, the heartfelt nature of Sufjan Steven’s Carrie & Lowell was rather unexpected. This album affected a lot of listeners since high-profile musicians — for the most part — don’t use their music as an opportunity to tell hyper-personal stories about themselves. Listeners of this album often admit to crying to the songs, noting that this is a confessional album that really hit them. This is a sad album, but I’ve heard sadder albums. For what it’s worth, I overplayed Carrie & Lowell in 2015, and will continue to do so in 2016.
A New Place 2 Drown - Archy Marshall
This year, Archy Marshall moved away from his moniker, King Krule, and released an album under his own name, in partnership with his brother, Jack. A New Place 2 Drown was accompanied by a book, as well as a short film to fully explore the themes of brotherhood and art in the release. With murmuring and static, Marshall released an album that showed more sides of him than he had cared to display in his previous albums. His deep, beautiful voice vibrates out his poetic lyrics and went well with the lethargic tempo of the album.
Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress - GY!BE
Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress came out on the last day of March, when I was ending a relationship that I had hardly let begin. Luckily for me, GY!BE released this track after a long hiatus and just in time to save me from sinking into personal despair. This album is every bit reminiscent of GY!BE’s past work without being derivative. This LP is home to the usual drone-y ambience with some added gusto that makes the listening experience all the more rich. I’d recommend listening to this when you catch yourself staring out of a window.
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