2021 was a year of many conflicting emotions. The big “you-know-what” is still around, but in terms of the music world, some things definitely improved: widespread vaccinations meant the resumption of touring, the effects of quarantine gave an unexpected boost to the industry of physical media such as vinyl, and many new artists had their breakout moments, while other veteran artists were able to build atop their successful discographies.
As far as my own relationship to music this year, the lifting of lockdowns meant I had much more time to listen to albums on the go, resulting in a far more diverse personal listening palette compared to last year. Narrowing my favorite albums of the year down to twenty is never an easy task, but like most music fans, it’s impossible to decline an opportunity to dive deep into a good ranking. Below are my favorite records of 2021, along with reasons why they felt so vital in a year like this.
20. One Step Closer – This Place You Know
On their debut album, Wilkes-Barre, PA-based hardcore band One Step Closer have catapulted themselves to the top of the punk conversation. Cycling through moments of aggression and soaring beauty, This Place You Know boldly follows in the footsteps of other melodic hardcore giants like Title Fight and Turnstile, as the band reflects on their upbringings against hard-hitting riffs and pained vocal deliveries. The album’s surreal artwork, depicting a grisly scene along the Susquehanna River, greatly complements the record’s central themes of instability, whilst highlighting the disconnect between feeling “at home” while being desperate for belonging. Conflicting relationships with one’s hometown is a topic as old as punk’s been around, but One Step Closer manage to put a fresh spin on a tried formula, sounding more fully-formed, confident and polished on their first record than most bands are by their fourth.
19. Aimee Mann – Queens of the Summer Hotel
Nearly forty years into her songwriting career, Aimee Mann still has new stories to tell. In early 2020, Mann was hard at work on a set of songs meant for a Broadway musical based on the novel-turned-film Girl, Interrupted, which follows a young woman’s experiences in a mental hospital. However, when the COVID-19 pandemic threw a wrench in her plans, Mann forged ahead by molding these new ideas into an album format. Building atop her career-high 2017 LP Mental Illness, the dense and introspective Queens of the Summer Hotel showcases Mann diving deeper into the darkest facets of the human condition, as she uses the original text of Girl, Interrupted to highlight themes of depression and suicide, as well as the role patriarchy plays in the treatment of mentally ill women. Throughout the record, Mann immerses the listener in the world of Susanna Kaysen’s novel, as she sings from the perspective of several of the story’s characters, or even personifying the bustling commotion throughout the hospital’s walls. Although these songs may reach their fullest potential onstage someday, Mann’s lyrical brutality and foreboding yet playful melodies are worth its existence as a well-rounded, engaging full-length record.
18. The Armed – ULTRAPOP
Between The Armed’s mysterious image, ever-changing lineup, and lengthy list of guest musicians and credits, their sophomore LP was wrapped in enigma from the start. However, things get even more confounding once the actual album begins: each track on ULTRAPOP is a wonderfully-constructed wall of cacophonous punk and noise rock, as ear-splitting guitar chords overpower the mix, staying true to the album’s bold title. Despite the chaotic nature of the record, the band do let melody and structure take over from time to time, as songs like “AN ITERATION” or the title track throw in moments of infectiousness to counter the confusion. Although an album like ULTRAPOP remains as strange as its shadowy context, the band’s willingness to push past the expected limitations of what rock music is capable of is worth countless revisits.
17. Fiddlehead – Between the Richness
On Fiddlehead’s sophomore effort, the band are able to have their cake and eat it too. Between the Richness is an exploration of grief, rebirth and mindfulness that channels heavy, emotional themes into a highly-energetic package, a balance that works wonderfully (thanks to help from producer Chris Teti, of The World is a Beautiful Place… fame). The record’s thick guitars and vocalist Pat Flynn’s monotone yells border on hardcore, but breezy indie rock rhythms and irresistible call-and-response hooks, coinciding with Flynn’s anxiety-ridden lyricism reminiscent of emo, bring the project to a comfortable middle ground between these styles. Each song bursts at the seams with fiery riffs and pounding drums, and it’s difficult not to want to headbang until you sprain a muscle while it’s on. Although the record is hardly genre-defying, it’s a loud, fun-as-hell rock record that doesn’t sacrifice introspection for catchiness.
16. Matt Maltese – Good Morning, It’s Now Tomorrow
The music video for “Mystery,” the lead single off UK songwriter Matt Maltese’s third LP, features lingering shots of intimacy: Maltese embraces a woman on the back of a motorcycle, before the pair read each other’s palms in a forest, and later lie together in a serene meadow. Comfort is a central theme throughout Good Morning It’s Now Tomorrow, whether Maltese softly croons about seeking it from others, relishing in its bliss, or lamenting its disappearance in a failing relationship. Although he sometimes wears his influences on his sleeve (more harmonious cuts like “You Deserve an Oscar” and “Lobster” clearly takes after later Beatles classics), Maltese strings together a formidable collection of nocturnal, hazy piano-led odes to romance. In his mid-20s, Maltese sings with the conviction and jazzy delicateness of those twice his age, especially in his most vulnerable moments. This isn’t without the occasional sprinkle of tongue-in-cheek humor; on the closing track “Krakow,” he describes the absurdities of loneliness, as he admits the “Most intimate I’ve been of late/is a pat-down at the airport.” Maltese’s lyrics are as clever and specific as they are honest, and it’s what makes each song he cranks out much more interesting than the last.
15. Indigo De Souza – Any Shape You Take
Indigo De Souza isn’t an artist to hide behind mystery. On her second album, the North Carolina-based songwriter lays her deepest fears and anxieties bare across ten tracks, each dealing with the consequences of negative emotions: songs like “Die/Cry” and “Pretty Pictures” reflect on the regrets that accompany a hard breakup, while “Real Pain,” complete with a collage of recorded screams and pained yells sent to De Souza from fans, is an unforgettable reminder of how insurmountable the depths of depression may feel. The album, while maintaining a fairly consistent grunge-inspired indie aesthetic, occasionally experiments with other sonic flavors, like on the AutoTune-laced “17,” a hushed cut of bedroom pop; or “Hold U,” which pays homage to the feeling of adoration and intimacy, complete with a playful rhythm and funky guitar chords. De Souza’s pointed lyricism is the album’s biggest asset, as words like “No one asked me to feel this fucked up/but here I am, fucked up” cut deep to the bone. Any Shape You Take may at times feel discomforting in its brutality, but like venting to a friend over the phone, or an intense journaling session, sometimes nothing beats the catharsis of just letting it all go.
14. Lil Nas X – MONTERO
It’s hard to talk about Lil Nas X’s debut LP without discussing how he got here. Coming off a monstrous 2019, thanks to the success of his inescapable hit “Old Town Road” and its parent EP 7, Lil Nas spent most of the next year and a half drumming up hype for his eventual first full-length, the promo for which kicked off with the dazzling “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name).” From its seductive flamenco-inspired beat, to Lil Nas’ explicit references to gay romance and bottoming (topped off with a Satanic lap dance in its video), the track not only broke barriers within pop music, but shattered records too. Lil Nas was quick to capitalize on the hysteria from evangelical Americans, with many dubbing him a “marketing genius.” As time went on, it almost seemed more people were discussing “Lil Nas the provocateur” rather than “Lil Nas the musician.” However, when the full album dropped, it became clear Lil Nas wasn’t all marketing, gimmicks and image: he could pull off a memorable debut album to back it up. MONTERO serves as a window into the mind of a black queer artist thrust to the top of the pop conversation, as he deals with the conflicting emotions it brings along the way. Many of the songs, loaded with earworm melodies and hard-hitting instrumentals, serve as a personal victory lap celebrating his newfound success, with highlights like “INDUSTRY BABY” and “SCOOP” showcasing Lil Nas at his most unashamedly confident. The album also dives deep into the darker side of his upbringing and current fame, whether he’s dropping references to past thoughts of suicide (“DEAD RIGHT NOW”), or waxes poetic about his fear of irrelevancy (“ONE OF ME”). Perhaps the album’s crowning achievement is “SUN GOES DOWN,” a ballad where Lil Nas recounts his struggles with racism, homophobia, and religion; it’s a powerful track whose subject matter and honest delivery guarantees an emotional response. After describing the painful past, Lil Nas shifts towards gratitude: “I’m happy that it all worked out for me/Imma make my fans so proud of me.” As it appears, he’s definitely pulled it off.
13. Kanye West – Donda
Almost no album released this year felt quite as polarizing as Kanye West’s tenth LP, Donda. Named after his late mother, the artwork-less album was subject to a highly-publicized, months-long rollout, filled with moments of spectacle and confusion, as well as instances of controversy, which is par for the course at this point of Kanye’s career (this time, the inclusion of disgraced artists DaBaby and Marilyn Manson on the alternate version of “Jail” was condemned). When all is said and done, the music and structure of Donda, on a basic level, seems just as jumbled as its rollout. The record spans nearly two hours, is over twenty tracks long, and features little cohesion between the finished tracklist. Despite this, Kanye manages, at the same time, to create some of the most compelling, honest, and infectious music of his entire career thus far. On songs like “Off the Grid” and “Praise God,” Kanye experiments with hard-hitting trap and drill beats; “Believe What I Say” and “Pure Souls” serve as reflections on fame set to bouncy, gospel-inspired instrumentals; and Kanye’s opening verse on “Jesus Lord” ranks among his most stunning and immersive examples of storytelling in years, as he relates his devotion to Christianity to the horrors of gang violence. Donda is, for all its ambitions and shortcomings, a record nobody but Kanye could have pulled together.
12. Foxing – Draw Down the Moon
While some bands may find a certain sound and run with it, Foxing are an excellent example of a band refusing to be boxed in. After their breakthrough emo debut The Albatross, they shifted towards an art rock direction with the subdued Dealer, and basically threw genre out the window with the experimental Nearer My God. With their fourth LP, the band doesn’t toy with different styles and influences like Play-Doh nearly as much as they did on their previous record, but rather embark upon a newer, consistent sonic palette that suits them just as well. Draw Down the Moon is Foxing’s synthpop record, with thumping bass hits and synth chords ever-present on each of the album’s ten tracks, as frontman Conor Murphy’s vocals soar and wail above anthemic choruses, reminiscent of early 2010s Passion Pit. It’s also the band’s most melodically memorable album yet, with the infectious rhythms and sing-along choruses of “Go Down Together” and “Where The Lightning Strikes Twice” ranking among their most arena-ready material to date. Even though Foxing’s sound veers more towards the accessible here, Draw Down the Moon‘s emotional core isn’t lost beneath its glossier coating. The album’s closing track “Speak With the Dead,” a fusion between the band’s anthemic new direction and the progressive, atmospheric sounds of Nearer My God, is a seven-minute odyssey that’s nothing short of chill-inducing; as the track reaches its final crescendo, Murphy enacts his signature strained yell beneath a crushing wall of synths, topped off with a fiery guitar solo, and it feels like the entire universe is caving in. For an album mostly dependent on conventional structure, Foxing still can’t resist the urge to be bold.
11. IDLES – Crawler
IDLES, the band infamous for lashing outward, are now looking inward. On their fourth album Crawler, the UK-based punks have placed a greater emphasis on introspection and personal lyricism, based on several harrowing experiences from frontman Joe Talbot: after struggling with addiction and alcoholism, and nearly losing his life in a road accident while under the influence, Talbot entered a two-year stint in therapy, which inspired much of the album’s subject matter. The aforementioned accident is referenced in the album’s opening track, as Talbot describes the shattered glass and bodily mutilation of a collision, and goes on to discuss the harmful, heartbreaking effects of addiction on “The Wheel” and “Meds”; Talbot’s lyricism here is more poetic, and barely resembles the agitated sloganeering on past records, which only makes the rest of the band’s sonic experimentation on the record more inviting. The low, foreboding synth hums of “Progress” is the band’s deepest journey into drone-y strangeness, “Wizz” is a rush of unbridled hardcore madness that runs under a minute long, and the album’s centerpiece, the waltzy cut “The Beachland Ballroom,” is the band at their most dynamic, quickly cycling between moments of glistening soul and lounge-pop, and their more typical buzzed-up punk sound. As the song reaches its intense climax, the band bring forth an earth-shattering moment of instrumental catharsis, as Talbot passionately yells, “damage, damage, damage…” It’s powerful and haunting moments like these that make Crawler one of IDLES’ strongest achievements yet.
10. Citizen – Life In Your Glass World
More than past years, 2021 seems to be the year of the “emo band that got tired of being emo.” In Citizen’s case, the band once known for being a central part of emo’s fourth wave have made a brave leap into the worlds of dance-punk and groovy post-punk. Taking cues from danceable indie titans Bloc Party and Foals, Life in Your Glass World is filled to the brim with sharp basslines, four-on-the-floor rhythms, and anthemic choruses meant for the mosh pit. From the intense opening one-two punch of “Death Dance Approximately” and “I Want To Kill You,” to the thundering drumming on “Pedestal,” or the Strokes-y guitar chords on “Edge of the World,” the band deliver one punchy slice of driving indie rock after another, without abandoning the gloomy, emotional subject matter that initially put them on the map. The record’s reliance on upbeat rhythms prove deceiving, as Life in Your Glass World is a project littered with dread and anxiety, courtesy of frontman Mat Kerekes’ musings on depression, heartbreak, and isolation. The album’s more downtrodden cuts, such as “Glass World” and “Winter Buds,” more closely sonically resemble the album’s overarching themes of mental agony, but the band’s ability to combine these dark introspections with arrangements worth uncontrollably moving your body to only furthers its appeal with each close listen. Citizen seem to know that there aren’t many better ways to exorcise demons than to confidently try and dance them away.
9. King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard – Butterfly 3000
At this point, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard have become notorious for their intense work ethic and rate of releasing new material. After the band initially dropped five albums in one year back in 2017, they’ve maintained a steady schedule of dropping records every year since, whether it’s the expected new music, or live albums and reissues in between. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say King Gizzard fans were being “fed well” over the years, but it’s remarkable how the band continue to reinvent themselves at a point when most bands would be running out of steam. Compared to the more familiar microtonal experimentation on their last two records K.G. and L.W., Butterfly 3000 is by far the band’s most synthetic project to date, as the record is dominated by walls of synthesizers, keyboards, and drum machines, eschewing their typical guitar-led sound. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find any guitars on the album, aside from the rare acoustic embellishment. The psychedelic, dreamy synthpop sheen of the album’s best songs, like “Dreams,” “Interior People,” and “Catching Smoke,” are comparable to those of MGMT, or even Merriweather Post Pavillion-era Animal Collective, but the record’s identity still very much feels like a King Gizzard release. The band’s surreal lyricism is still present, Stu Mackenzie’s vocals still shriek and “woo” in the right moments, and Michael Cavanagh’s drumming remains as steady and urgent as ever. Judging by how well the band’s familiar elements mesh with synthesizer-based production, it begs the question of why they haven’t gone this route sooner.
8. Remi Wolf – Juno
Not many debut albums this year managed to sound as fresh and exciting as Remi Wolf’s Juno. Named after her dog, the LP followed a series of viral singles released last year (thanks to the TikTok hit machine), and explores the wilder, more eccentric side of pop music. Remi’s style of outlandish pop is brash and in-your-face, as her expressive vocals glide above funky, bass-driven instrumentals and alarming beats; it’s more grounded instrumentally than those in the “hyperpop” scene, yet the album’s relentless energy and sugary atmosphere make such a label all the more tempting. As thick bass chords and chirping synthesizers swirl around Remi’s voice, her lyrics contain their own level of madness. Written during last year’s lockdown, the subject matter on Juno is much darker than the colorful beats let on, as she refers to her fragile mental state (“Quiet on Set,” “Grumpy Old Man”), describes frayed relationships with family (“Anthony Kiedis”), and balances newfound success with her recurring anxiety (“Front Tooth”). The striking dichotomy between the record’s fun, quirky instrumentals and Remi’s dark lyricism is one of the album’s biggest strengths, another being its knack for a killer chorus: the majority of Juno contains the some of the strongest hooks of 2021, especially on songs like “Sexy Villain,” whose lockstep grooves and smooth vocal delivery invites a strong feeling of invincibility. Juno might not be a pop album you’d show your grandparents, but it definitely knows its way around a great hook, and isn’t that what great pop music should be?
7. Tyler, The Creator – CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST
A little over a decade into his career, Tyler, The Creator is on top form on his sixth LP. In sharp contrast to the melancholic lyricism and R&B-pop experimentation on the immersive Igor, the music on CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST is Tyler largely returning to his hard-hitting rap roots. Despite this, it’d be disingenuous to compare the majority of tracks on this record to anything on Goblin or even Flower Boy: Tyler’s production hasn’t ever sounded this crisp and eclectic, and it’s overall a far cry from the more minimalistic, playful beats from his Odd Future days. To complement the record’s bombastic instrumentation, the record features narration from DJ Drama (known for his “Gangsta Grillz” mixtape series), while Tyler rides these beats with his signature bravado as he adopts the persona of “Tyler Baudelaire,” a globe-trotting, sophisticated superstar, essentially a heightened version of his own current standing within the music and fashion industries. Tracks like “LUMBERJACK” and “RUNITUP” feature bass-ratting, stadium-ready refrains tailor-made for a rowdy festival, while other highlights like “MANIFESTO” and “HOT WIND BLOWS” (the latter of which features one of Lil Wayne’s greatest verses) showcasing some of Tyler’s most high-quality rapping in recent memory. While CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST tends to feature some familiar tendencies, the album presents Tyler as an artist that never settles in place, continuously raising his own peaks of creativity.
6. Billie Eilish – Happier Than Ever
Nobody seems to have more to say about the price of celebrity than Billie Eilish. Behind the numerous accolades and acclaim, the pop phenomenon, now 20, faced numerous struggles in her personal life over the past two years since her debut LP, whether it’s body shaming and objectification from both tabloids and listeners, depression and intense stress while on tour, or being embroiled in various social media controversies. Happier Than Ever, a title whose irony isn’t lost on many, is the product of a young artist dealing with the cards they’re dealt coming off the heels of fame; small lyrical moments on the album are indicative of Billie adjusting to this less-than-glamorous lifestyle, as she laments on the album’s opening track, “Things I once enjoyed/just keep me employed now.” To complement the album’s more introspective content, the record has Billie and her brother/songwriting partner Finneas scaling things back, mostly opting for a downtempo-inspired sound (although songs like “Oxytocin” are a notable exception). The record is also more sonically experimental than its predecessor, as they experiment with choral music on “Goldwing,” bossa nova on the fittingly-named “Billie Bossa Nova,” and raging pop-punk on the cathartic title track. Despite the gloominess hanging over most of the album, Billie does make room for positivity, like on the trip-hop inspired “My Future,” where she peacefully relays her content with the brighter sides of her new life. After her lyrics of self-appreciation throughout the track, she ends the song, “I’m in love/but not with anybody here/I’ll see you in a couple years.” It’s hard to say what new directions Billie might take once that happens, but when that time comes, it’ll be something worth looking forward to.
5. Teenage Wrist – Earth Is A Black Hole
It can be difficult for a band to recover from a lineup change, let alone losing a frontman. After Teenage Wrist released their 2018 debut Chrome Neon Jesus, an irresistible record combining the fuzzy alt-rock sound of Smashing Pumpkins with the melodic side of newer shoegaze-punk acts like Nothing and Hyperview-era Title Fight, the band’s vocalist and chief songwriter Kamtin Mohager departed the band after six years. The band briefly carried on as a trio, before guitarist Chase Barham also left the band late last year, leaving only two members in the lineup. In usual circumstances, bands would either recruit new members or disband entirely, but Teenage Wrist managed to pull through and release a second LP as a duo, which remarkably managed to pick up where their debut left off. Compared to Chrome Neon Jesus, the sound of Earth Is a Black Hole is noticeably more polished; the vocals, coming from guitarist Marshall Gallagher this time around, are greatly elevated in the mix, no longer hiding behind walls of reverb, giving his largely lovesick lyrics a bigger platform. In addition, the band play more with their alt-rock leanings, with some highlights like “Taste of Gasoline” or “Wasting Time” resembling a hazier version of post-Bleed American Jimmy Eat World. Earth Is a Black Hole is filled with memorable, soaring hooks, powerful guitar leads, and heart-on-sleeve lyricism that breezes by in about half an hour, which only beckons the replay button. It’s a disturbingly catchy rock record that, considering the backstory, might have not even existed. It’s worth not dwelling on what that reality might have looked like.
4. Weezer – OK Human
Although Weezer have made some of the most confusing career choices in modern music, the silver lining of their constant shifts in direction is the ensuing unpredictability. Compared to the band’s more acclaimed guitar-based output, or even their radio-friendly electronic pop detours, OK Human is gorgeous, blissful orchestral pop, recorded with a 38-piece orchestra and is lyrically centered around Rivers Cuomo’s experiences during last year’s quarantine. Not since Pinkerton has Cuomo sounded this earnest and melancholic, as he sings about the mental toll of isolation and growing old (“Playing My Piano,” “Bird With a Broken Wing”), society’s fixation on ‘likes’ and constructs of superiority (“Numbers”), or the monotony of daily routines (“Aloo Gobi”), as swirling arrangements of strings elevate his exasperations with modern living. Some of Cuomo’s more curmudgeonly lyrical moments notwithstanding (like on the Luddite preachings of “Screens”), the majority of OK Human is Weezer doing what they’ve done best since the early ’90s, albeit with a 2021 outlook: evoking feelings of being lost and insecure, paired with memorable, fine-tuned melodies that never quite leave your brain.
3. Turnstile – GLOW ON
More than most current bands, Turnstile have quickly established themselves as one of the most daring acts in independent rock music, blending traditional hardcore punk with dance music, funk, R&B, and whatever other genres may pop into their brains at the moment. The band first introduced their subversive style of hardcore to the masses with 2018’s Time and Space, a powerhouse record that would be considered a career peak for most bands, but this year’s GLOW ON proved Turnstile were only just getting started. The band’s pummeling yet hooky song structures are still here (especially on punchier tracks like “BLACKOUT” and “HOLIDAY”), yet many of these songs lean further into the eclectic: songs like “DON’T PLAY” and “DANCE-OFF” rank among the grooviest punk songs of the last few years, and more melodic, polished cuts like the shimmering “UNDERWATER BOI” and the Blood Orange-featuring ballad “ALIEN LOVE CALL” stray so far from hardcore it’s sometimes hard to believe it’s the same band who wrote a song as aggressive as “Real Thing” a couple years prior. By demolishing the barriers between the traditional and the strange, the record feels like a middle finger to the gatekeepers of punk, who narrowly define the genre by its old practices. With GLOW ON, Turnstile are continuing to rewrite the hardcore playbook, one confounding genre shift at a time.
2. Black Country, New Road – For The First Time
Black Country, New Road have attracted countless questions over this past year, some more absurd than others: why do the band members look like the cast of a teen soap opera? How much of their lyrics are facetious or truthful? Why did their vocalist wear a snorkel mask onstage? Although listening to For The First Time, their debut LP, doesn’t give a clear answer to any of those inquiries, it does present a striking fact about the young seven-piece from London: they clearly don’t pay too much attention to how they’re perceived. Combining elements of experimental jazz, post-rock, klezmer, and post-punk, the record is a firecracker of conflicting ideas and sounds, thrown together to form a stunning account of personal shame and deep-rooted insecurity. On tracks like “Sunglasses” and “Science Fair,” vocalist Isaac Wood paints harrowing lyrical portraits of humiliation and unease, with his deeply-accented voice quivering and shrieking above blaring horns and angular guitar riffs; through his intense delivery, Wood makes seemingly inconspicuous events, like spilling Coke on your shirt while at a circus, feel as terrifying as fleeing the scene of a crime. High drama is scattered across the LP, with the band’s love of slow, ominous builds and spoken word verses often compared to influential post-rock pioneers Slint (who get a name-drop on the album), and the band’s influence, especially during the breakdowns on “Athens, France,” can sometimes be hard to ignore. What makes Black Country, New Road rise above their influences, however, is the way in which these distinct sounds come together. Not many bands can pull off a rattling horn-based instrumental based around a repetitive keyboard riff without it sounding tacky, or structure a ten-minute epic around the concept of sunglasses hiding your face and have it feel intense rather than ridiculous. The band often straddle the line between the outlandish and compelling, and For The First Time‘s “this-shouldn’t-work-but-it-does” factor thrusts them far ahead of their contemporaries.
1. The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die – Illusory Walls
Despite being sometimes pigeonholed due to their emo beginnings, The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die have been genre-bending since the very beginning. On albums like Whenever If Ever and Harmlessness, the band were firmly established within the emo scene, but always had a foot or two outside the genre, occasionally crossing over into more progressive, post-rock-influenced directions, as evidenced by their affinity for the occasional seven-minute-plus song. On Illusory Walls, however, TWIABP’s love of these genres have finally reached a fever pitch, with the band adopting a richer, more atmospheric and enveloping sound, closely following the path of bands like The Appleseed Cast, who also confidently shed the emo label in favor of a more progressive, artsier aesthetic. Most of the album’s songs have the band exploring darker musical territories than ever before, as vocalists David Bello and Katie Dvorak muse on personal experiences, such as core childhood memories or recent emotional turmoil, as well as tackling larger, more abstract topics, including climate change, capitalism, and nostalgia. Songs like “Trouble,” “We Saw Birds Through the Hole in the Ceiling,” and “Died in the Prison of the Holy Office” roar with layers upon layers of guitars, as the instrumentation gradually evolves and grows with awe-inspiring ferocity and finesse. The album’s first nine tracks cover enough ground by themselves, but the record saves its truest gems until the very end, in the form of two of the longest songs in the band’s discography: the 15-minute “Infinite Josh,” and the 20-minute “Fewer Afraid.” Even though the placement of these lengthy songs back-to-back in the tracklist seems daunting on paper, both tracks magnificently shift between distinct sections with painstaking precision, comparable to the greatest works of post-rock heroes like Godspeed You! Black Emperor. The band navigates numerous climaxes and breakdowns in succession, each just as rewarding as the last, and results in experiences that make a 20-minute listen feel more like six. During the last minutes of “Fewer Afraid,” TWIABP bring back the closing, repeated refrain off “Getting Sodas,” the last track off Whenever If Ever, which has become known as one of the band’s most iconic track endings, and remains an anticipated moment during their live shows. As the gang vocals of “The world is a beautiful place, but we have to make it that way…” kick in, it’s almost symbolic of the band’s journey leading up to this point, a bittersweet reminder of the passage of time, that although life isn’t always predictable and ideal, it’s comforting to know some things you love may never change.
—
HONORABLE MENTIONS
- The Weather Station – Ignorance
- Songwriter Tamara Lindeman reflects on the ever-growing climate crisis against a gorgeous folk-pop backdrop of woodwinds and jazzy instrumentation, as its driving rhythms feel as urgent as its subject matter.
- Brockhampton – Roadrunner: New Light, New Machine
- On their most personal and focused full-length yet, the rap collective bring forth their usual hard-hitting bangers, while discussing themes of family struggles, gun violence, and grief.
- St. Vincent – Daddy’s Home
- Annie Clark’s second collaboration with writer/producer Jack Antonoff is a delightful foray into ’70s funk and lounge music, containing some of her most immediate material yet.
- William Fitzsimmons – Ready the Astronaut
- On his seventh LP, the hushed singer-songwriter takes a left turn towards synths and drum machines, presenting his brand of intimate folk songs within a new synthetic context.
- Eidola – The Architect
- A crowd-pleasing and melodic offering of progressive post-hardcore, cementing Andrew Wells as one of the genre’s most exciting and versatile vocalists.
- Squid – Bright Green Field
- The much-hyped UK post-punk five piece deliver an exciting debut LP, filled with infectious energy, expressive performances and an array of eclectic influences, such as dance-punk and krautrock.
Deep Fried, Certified. 