Below are the ten songs I most enjoyed listening to in 2019 (not necessarily ones issued in 2019). They are listed alphabetically by artist.
Courtney Barnett and Kurt Vile – ‘Fear Is Like A Forest’. A live version of my favourite track from their album Lotta Sea Lice.
Craig Finn – ‘Blankets’. One of the best rock lyricists (if you don’t know him check out his band The Hold Steady) and this great song from his latest, and probably best, solo effort I Need A New War shows the brutal, truthful economy of his words to great effect. This live version has a lengthy talking intro and the song proper starts at 1.43.
Death and Vanilla – ‘Let’s Never Leave Here’. This gentle psychedelia has echoes of Mazzy Star. I really liked the outro – would have been happy if it had been 10 minutes long! If you’ve never come across these Swedes before and you like this track check out its parent album Are You A Dreamer? I would love to see them live.
Gary Clark Jr – ‘This Land’. Great blues rock guitar and coruscating lyrics served well by a powerful video. This won the Grammy for ‘Best Rock Song’ and ‘Best Rock Performance’. Already one of the great protest songs.
K. Flay – ‘High Enough’. I saw K. Flay in October at Saint Luke’s and this is from her enjoyable album Every Where Is Some Where.
Low – ‘Fly’. One of the best gigs I attended last year was Low’s at the Tramway – powerful and mesmerising. The album they were touring, Double Negative, is excellent and this is a track from it. The video is arty and the song starts about 43 secs in.
Matthew and the Atlas – ‘Pyres’. They delivered another of my favourite gigs of last year (see review http://gigsglasgow.com/2019/05/matthew-and-the-atlas/). I didn’t know too much about them before the gig but subsequently fell in love with their album Morning Dancer. This is from that album but I could have just as easily chosen ‘Tower Above The Sun’.
The National – ‘Oblivions’. I love The National but it did take me a few listens to get into their latest album I Am Easy To Find – and then I couldn’t stop playing it. The introduction of female singers was a masterstroke – the lead vocals from Mina Tindle (aka as Pauline de Lassus aka as Bryce Dessner’s wife) and the backing vocals on this track testify to that. This is my favourite track from it and this video is a good live version.
Peter Bruntell – ‘Broken Wing’. At one stage I was playing this several times a day. PB is a Brit from Devon who I had not heard of before coming across this. I have seen him described as British Americana, and you can hear why, but to me he is simply a classic singer songwriter – the music and lyrics on this song are both flawless (as they are throughout its equally brilliant album The King Of Madrid).
Sivert Høyem – ‘Give It A Whirl’. I am a sucker for Scandi rock and pop and have been a long term fan of Norwegian SH. This is a track from his 2011 album Long Slow Distance. The album version has some great female backing vocals but I thought the live version in this video gives some sense of what a rock star SH is. I had the privilege of seeing him in 2014 in a smallish London venue (Oslo, ho hum – capacity 375) where he gave an electrifying, muscular performance which just blew me away. Would really love to see him again.
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