2024 listening

Thanks to last.fm. See 2024 playback report and 2024 listening report.

Favourite Songs of 2023

1 Midnight Sun – RVG

2 King Creosote – Blue Marbled Elm Trees

3 Slowdive – kisses

4 Floodlights – Moment of Distraction

5 Nabihah Iqbal – This World Couldn't See Us

6 Gretel Hänlyn – War With America

7 Sumner – Stranded

8 Chosen to Deserve – Wednesday

9 Yo La Tengo – Aselestine

10 Cable Ties – Mum's Caravan

Honourable mentions

The Blue Aeroplanes – Building an Ark for the Anthropocene
Cloth – Never Know
Descartes a Kant – After Destruction
Elisabeth Elektra – Broken Promises
Four Tet – Three Drums
Julia Jacklin – Shivers
London Grammar and SebastiAn – Dancing By Night
The National – Tropic Morning News

Favourite albums of 2023

1 RVG – Brain Worms

2 Slowdive – everything is alive

3 King Creosote – I DES

4 Yo La Tengo – This Stupid World

5 Floodlights – Paintings of My Time

6 Cloth – Secret Measure

7 Young Fathers – Heavy Heavy

8 Emma Anderson – Pearlies

9 bdrmm – I Don't Know

10 Blue Aeroplanes – Culture Gun 

Honourable mentions

Blondshell – Blondshell

Blur – The Ballad of Darren

Body Type – Expired Candy

boygenius – the record

Cable Ties – All Her Plans

Descartes a Kant – After Destruction

Nabihah Iqbal – Dreamer

Pia Fraus – Evening Colours

Riel – Percipio del Fin

Dan Sultan – Dan Sultan

Wednesday – Rat Saw God

Favourite books of 2023

1 Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow – Gabrielle Zevin

2 A Canticle for Leibowitz – Walter M Miller Jr

3 The Wolf Border – Sarah Hall

4 Finding the Heart of the Nation – Thomas Mayor

5 Too Much Lip – Melissa Lucashenko

6 In Ascension – Martin MacInnes

7 Telling Tennant's Story – Dean Ashenden

8 Ducks – Kate Beaton

9 Factfulness – Hans Rosling

10 Spaceships Over Glasgow – Stuart Braithwaite

Full list of 2023 reading here.

Favourite books of 2022

1 Islands of Abandonment – Cal Flyn

2 Free – Lea Ypi

3 The Ministry for the Future – Kim Stanley Robinson

4 The Book of Form and Emptiness – Ruth Ozeki

5 Apeirogon – Colum McCann

6 Luckenbooth – Jenni Fagan

7 Light Perpetual – Francis Spufford

8 A Shock – Keith Ridgway

9 Sea of Tranquility – Emily St John Mandel

10 Twenty-one Nights in July – Ianto Ware

Full list of 2022 reading here.

Favourite albums of 2022

1 Nilüfer Yanya – Painless

2 Adalita – Inland

3 Gretel Hänlyn – Slugeye

4 Sharon Van Etten – We've Been Going About This All Wrong

5 The Big Pink – The Love That's Ours

6 Pale Blue Eyes – Souvenirs

7 Yard Act – The Overload

8 Fontaines D. C. – Skinty Fia

9 Alvvays – Blue Rev

10 caroline – caroline

Honourable mentions

Elisabeth Elektra – Mercurial

Julia Jacklin – Pre Pleasure

Suede – Autofiction

Favourite Songs of 2022

1 Nilüfer Yanya – midnight sun

2 Gretel Hänlyn – Motorbike

3 Ethel Cain – American Teenager

4 Fontaines D.C. – Roman Holiday

5 Yard Act and Elton John – 100% Endurance

6 Young Fathers – Geronimo

7 Sharon Van Etten – Darkness Fades

8 Adalita – Savage Heart

9 Burial – New Love

10 The Big Pink – Lucky One

Honourable mentions

Alvvays – Belinda Says
Dolores Forever – Conversations With Strangers
Elisabeth Elektra – I Am the Love
Fleeting Joys – Something in Your Melody
Mogwai – Boltfor
Carla Morrison – Diamantes
Ruth Radelet – Stranger
Riel – TKM
Talmont – IDATMT
Triple One – Come Over

Favourite Songs of 2021

1 Mogwai – Ritchie Sacramento

2 Caroline Polachek – Bunny Is A Rider

3 Self Esteem – I Do This All The Time

4 Goat Girl – Sad Cowboy

5 Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen – Like I Used To

6 Public Service Broadcasting – Blue Heaven (feat. Andreya Casablanca)

7 Sea Power – Folly

8 We Were Promised Jetpacks – Don't Hold Your Breath for Too Long

9 Cassandra Jenkins – Hard Drive

10 Wolf Alice – The Last Man On Earth

Honourable mentions

Julien Baker – Hardline

Big Thief – Little Things

CHVRCHES – How Not To Drown (feat. Robert Smith)

Deafheaven – Great Mass of Color

Dinosaur Jr. – I Ain't

Efterklang – Living Other Lives

El Ten Eleven and Kishi Bashi – Every Day Is a Sunday

Sam Fender – Seventeen Going Under

Low – Days Like These

Mitski – The Only Heartbreaker

Mdou Moctar – Afrique Victime

Pale Blue Eyes – Chelsea

Sault – Bitter Streets

Sault and Beatrice Burnt – Paper Planes

Softcult – Perfect Blue

The Weather Station – Tried To Tell You

Favourite Songs of 2020

1 Sault – Wildfires

2 Briggs and Tim Minchin – HouseFyre

3 The Weeknd – Blinding Lights (feat. Rosalia)

4 Baxter Dury – I’m Not Your Dog

5 Cable Ties – Lani

6 Bob Mould – American Crisis

7 Gorillaz – Aries (feat. Peter Hook and Georgia)

8 The Avalanches – Wherever You Go

9 Mama Kin & Spender – The Road

10 Matt Berlinger – Holes

Honourable mentions

Arab Strap – The Turning of Our Bones

Annie – The Streets Where I Belong

Buddy Ross – Bored Again! (feat. Gabriel Delicious)

Christine and the Queens – People, I've been sad

Daniel Avery – Lone Swordsman

Night Shop – Waiting

Romy – Lifetime

Southeast Desert Metal – Beds are Burning

Stormzy – Superheroes

Torres – Wandering Star

And the link to playlist – Wildfires (Best of 2020)

Favourite songs of 2019

1 Julia Jacklin – Don't Know How to Keep Loving You

2 Sharon Van Etten – Seventeen

3 Floodlights – Nullarbor

4 Quinn Christopherson – Raedeen

5 Briggs – Life is Incredible (feat. Greg Holden)

6 Billie Eilish – everything i wanted

7 Gus Seyffert – Hold On

8 Freya Riding – Castles

9 Illy – Then What

10 Stormzy – Vossi Bop

Honourable mentions

Clairo – Bags
Richard Dawson – Jogging
Charles Bradley – Lucifer
Michael Kiwanuka – I've Been Dazed
Big Thief – Not
Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber – I Don't Care
Bob Mould – What Do You Want Me To Do
Amy Shark – Mess Her Up
Lucy Dacus – Dancing in the Dark
Tones and I – Dance Monkey

Books of 2012

Been thinking about my favourite books of the year (and records, but more of that later) and realised that I never made a list for 2012. I don't think I did one for 2011 either, but that seems like an eternity away, and for some reason 2012 feels like it just finished. Probably something to do with the speed that 2013 seems to have passed by at.

Anyway, here is the top ten, with basic statistics underneath. Apparent again is a heavy bias towards fiction, male authors and books published in the last three years; although with an interesting peak from the early noughties mainly due to my Russell Hoban obsession.

Top 10
1 That Summer – Andrew Greig
2 Sightlines – Kathleen Jamie
3 Open City – Teju Cole
4 Gods Without Men – Hari Kunzru
5 Hawthorn and Child – Keith Ridgway
6 The Emperor of All Maladies – Siddhartha Mukherjee
7 The Gone-Away World – Nick Harkaway
8 Not the Last Goodbye – David Servan-Schreiber
9 The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared – Jonas Jonasson
10 Backroom Boys – Francis Spufford

Statistics
Total: 41 books
Fiction: 29 titles
Non-fiction: 12 titles
Number of authors: 36
Male authors: 31
Female authors: 5
Published in 2012: 6
Published in 2011: 16
Published in 2010: 4
Published in 2009: 2
Published in 2008: 0
Published in 2007: 1
Published in 2006: 1
Published in 2005: 0
Published 2000-04: 8
Published 1990-99: 2
Published 1980-89: 1
Published before 1980: 0

And because I love a good graph, or three, here is the last three year's reading broken down month-by-month:

Which looks all right, not hitting my target of 52 books a year, but still not too bad for someone at my stage of life, with a heavy iPad Scrabble habit.

However, things start to look a little less rosy when you compare this to the number of books acquired over the same timeframe (noting the different scale on the y-axis of course):

And then the really scary one:

Assuming I manage to survive for another 30 years what this tells me is that I need to stop buying any books (or asking for them as Christmas presents) in about 10 years. Either that or start to read quicker.

Best albums of 2012: 10 to 6

10 Lana Del Rey – Born to Die

Mannered, manufactured(?), but soaring, glorious pop melodies. I don't read enough about music anymore to know where Lana came from or how this album came into existence. I watched Video Games on YouTube and as I went to buy it as a single thought I should have a listen to the album just in case there was anything else even close to its sublime, irresistible pure pop hit. Of course the whole album isn't quite that good, but there are another three or four tracks that are close and the rest is pretty wonderful too. Perfectly modern but beautifully timeless, this is the sort of album that burrows deep into your brain with melodies that are all but impossible to dislodge.

9 Human Don't Be Angry – Human Don't Be Angry

Malcolm Middleton's side project may not have the emotional impact of his usual work, but it sounds like he is having a lot of fun here. And if anyone deserves a bit of fun you would hope that Malcolm would be near the top of the list. The last track, Getting Better (At Feeling Like Shit), is the only clue that this record is from the man whose attempt at a Christmas number one was called We're All Going to Die. Highlighting his hitherto unknown love of 80s pop, synthesisers and drum machines it is a wonderful showcase of another side of his amazing talents. 

8 Ghost Society – The Back of His Hands, Then the Palms


If you were going to put together a band designed to cater purely for my tastes you would probably come up with something pretty close to Ghost Society – dreamy female/male vocals, distorted My Bloody Valentine-esque washes of guitar, left field melodies from Scandinavia. The shoegaze inspirations can be picked out if you are looking hard, but the sublime vocals are more Cocteau Twins than Ride. Sparkling and shimmering this is a beautiful collection of songs to lose yourself in.

7 Mystery Jets – Radlands


Earnest indie-boys and their guitars make up surprisingly little of my current listening, but I have made an exception for Radlands. There are one or two cheesy moments, try Greatest Hits for a prime example, but overall this is a good selection of well-written, intelligent and mostly jangly songs that stand up to repeated listening. There is a bit of variety, with the rather lovely ballad Take Me Where the Roses Grow and the lo-fi Luminescence rounding things out and providing a counterpoint to the simpler pleasures.

6 Best Coast – The Only Place
Low slung guitars, songs three minutes or less. Like an Elastica for 2012, only better.

Best albums of 2012: the near misses

Very late, almost embarrasingly so, and slightly less detailed than usual, but for the record here are the Geography of Hope albums of 2012. Starting with the near misses, the top 10 will follow as quickly as I can manage.

Saint Etienne – Words and Music

It doesn't have the subtlety or the charm of earlier albums, but there are still some flashes of brilliance to remind me of the glory days. Lots of shiny big pop numbers, chiming piano chords and pumping drum beats, but Sarah Cracknell's vocals always seem to have an edge of melancholy and Words and Music seems especially nostalgic for those teenage/early adult years of mix-tapes, a music press that mattered and when music was an essential part of defining who you are.

Richard Hawley – Standing at the Sky's Edge

His vocal delivery and guitar histrionics remind me a bit of Eric Clapton and that would normally be enough to have me running screaming from the room, but somehow he turns it into something resembling a mythical lost Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood album. Full of swirling, menacing harmonies, the languid vocals are mostly undecipherable and when you can hear them you realise that is probably a good thing. Even so this is a gloriously uplifting and out of time album that sounds immediately recognisable and also like nothing else you have ever heard before.

2011 music by numbers

According to last year's post my last.fm play count was sitting at 92,378 on the thirteenth day of January 2011. As of today I am up to 137,233 or 44,855 songs played in the last year. Or approximately 863 songs a week or 123 a day. Sounds like quite a lot to me, but given that I tend to have music going all the time at work that I don't have to be in a meeting or on the phone (and often it is on if the meeting isn't in my office) it could be feasible.

Anyway, probably of no interest to anyone but myself, here are the lists for the top 50 artists and songs for 2011.

Artists/bands
1 Mogwai (1,386)

2 The National (1,207)

3 Bruce Springsteen (1,033)

4 British Sea Power (834)

5 Malcolm Middleton (829)

6 R.E.M. (699)

7 Frightened Rabbit (551)

8 Idlewild (541)

9 Sigur Rós (533)

10 Saint Etienne (520)

11 Radiohead (517)

12 Tindersticks (501)

13 All India Radio (453)

14 Glasvegas (438)

15 M83 (428)

16 Big Country (396)

17 The Rural Alberta Advantage (390)

18 U2 (377)

19 Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu (361)

20 Burial (356)

21 Manic Street Preachers (325)

22 Holly Throsby (324)

23 Low (306)

24 Lucinda Williams (304)

25 Arcade Fire (300)

26 Placebo (290)

27 Suede (280)

27 Dead Letter Chorus (280)

29 Belle and Sebastian (276)

30 Trembling Blue Stars (265)

31 Art of Fighting (264)

32 David Bowie (263)

33 Tanya Donelly (253)

34 Moby (252)

35 For a Minor Reflection (246)

36 Zomby (244)

37 Runrig (237)

38 Portishead (224)

38 Marillion (224)

40 Gorillaz (223)

41 Dot Allison (221)

41 The Blue Aeroplanes (221)

43 Camera Obscura (214)

44 The Cure (211)

45 ABBA (206)

45 Girls (206)

47 Billy Bragg (197)

48 The Very Best (194)

49 The Breeders (192)

50 Gersey (191)

Tracks

1 Mogwai – George Square Thatcher Death Party (113)

2 Frightened Rabbit – Heads Roll Off (108)

3 Big Country – Chance (106)

4 Mogwai – How to Be a Werewolf (103)

5 The National – Terrible Love (97)

6 Mogwai – Death Rays (88)

7 Mogwai – Rano Pano (81)

8 The House Of Love – I Don't Know Why I Love You (76)

9 The Rural Alberta Advantage – Stamp (74)

10 On Volcano – Acceleration of Heartbeat (72)

11 Robyn – Be Mine (Ballad Version) (68)

11 British Sea Power – We Are Sound (68)

13 All India Radio – Rippled (66)

14 Bent – So Long Without You (63)

15 Mogwai – Mexican Grand Prix (62)

16 Dot Allison – Message Personnel (56)

17 Phosphorescent – I Don't Care If There's Cursing (54)

18 Frightened Rabbit – Head Rolls Off (52)

18 The Airborne Toxic Event – This Is Nowhere (52)

18 Forest City Lovers – Light You Up (52)

18 British Sea Power – Living Is So Easy (52)

18 Dead Letter Chorus – Yellow House (52)

23 Malcolm Middleton – Choir (51)

23 Frightened Rabbit – Fast Blood (51)

25 Holly Throsby – What I Thought Of You (49)

26 Röyksopp – Someone Like Me (48)

27 Mogwai – White Noise (46)

27 Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx – I’ll Take Care Of U (46)

29 The Concretes – Lovin' Kind (45)

29 Fulton Lights – Healing Waters (45)

29 Wye Oak – Civilian (45)

29 British Sea Power – Who's In Control? (45)

33 Mogwai – 2 Rights Make 1 Wrong (44)

33 Mogwai – Letters to the Metro (44)

35 Malcolm Middleton – A Brighter Beat (42)

35 Glasvegas – Euphoria, Take My Hand (42)

35 Lowtide – Underneath Tonight (42)

38 Mogwai – Cody (41)

38 Malcolm Middleton – Love Comes in Waves (41)

40 MGMT – Time To Pretend (40)

40 British Sea Power – Cleaning Out The Rooms (40)

40 For a Minor Reflection – Recite (40)

43 Burial – Distant Lights (39)

43 Gil Scott-Heron – I'm New Here (39)

43 Cat's Eyes – Not A Friend (39)

46 Beth Orton – Stolen Car (38)

47 Maxïmo Park – Limassol (37)

47 Mogwai – San Pedro (37)

49 Suede – Animal Nitrate (36)

49 Ash – Uncle Pat (36)

Best albums of 2011

1 Mogwai – Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will

In the past, when people have asked me who my favourite band is they would get a long and quite possibly boring disquisition covering a number of candidates for this honour, but also the difficulties of making a definitive judgement due to variations dependant on mood, selection criteria and associated weighting and how much I am trying to impress the person who asked the question.

But from now on I am just going to say Mogwai.

I can still clearly remember my first encounter with their singular genius in the Virgin Megastore on Oxford Street. They had Ten Rapid on a listening post on the first floor and something about the striking cover design featuring a small square photo of a freeway bridge with railway lines underneath and a large white m drew me to pick up the headphones. About twenty minutes later my then girlfriend eventually found me and insisted that it was time to leave. Unfortunately there was still another thirteen minutes of the album to go, so she ended up leaving on her own. I am not saying this was the main reason, but the relationship ended quite soon after.

Luckily Mogwai have been a lot more understanding and our relationship is still going strong fourteen years later.

Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will is their seventh album proper (not counting live albums, EPs and compilations) and it is, it has to be said, a triumph. For a band that deliberately limits their sonic palette they still manage to make the most bold and adventurous music.

From the opening delicate arpeggiated guitar of White Noise to the dying chords of You're Lionel Ritchie every single track is a glorious demonstration of their vision and power as a band. White Noise builds from the delicate beginnings to a swirling crescendo, underpinned by some lovely piano and Martin Bulloch's solid drumming.

Mexican Grand Prix is as close to pop as they are going to get with its hazy vocals, shimmering organ riffs and pumping beat. Back to more familiar Mogwai territory for Rano Pano and its monster distorted guitars and driving percussion.

The delicate and beautiful Letters to the Metro opens out onto the joyous and bouncy George Square Thatcher Death Party. The vocals make a reappearance here and although you can't comprehend the lyrics the sentiments are clear from the title. In my alternative world this would be the Christmas number one this year.

How to be a Werewolf takes a while to get going, but when the drums kick in and the warm tender bass line comes to the front of the mix it irresistibly draws you in and, although joined by a bit of searing guitar and crashing cymbals they remain constant under it all, to be revealed again as the rest of the instrumentation fades away at the end.

The final track, You're Lionel Ritchie, references the classic Mogwai template with almost silent quiet passages interspersed by some of the heaviest and lumbering guitar lines, before dying away in a cloud of distorted chords.

Valhalla Dancehall gave this a good run for their money, but for the sheer exuberance and enjoyment the band have for their music, the way they manage to keep refining and honing their sound to push their boundaries and for their singular vision it had to be Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will.

Best albums of 2011: competition!

Numbers ten to two have been unveiled, almost time to reveal what my favourite album of 2011 is, but first it is time for everyone to take a guess what it might be. Anyone that gets it right will be rewarded with a copy of said album, or if (as is highly likely) you happen to already own a copy, any other album of your choice on the list.

And I know you are all waiting to hear what number one is before weighing in with your own personal top tens, but I still want to know what is on everyone else's lists.

Best albums of 2011

2 British Sea Power – Valhalla Dancehall

Over the last five or six years British Sea Power have gradually become one of my favourite bands. I had heard a bit about them earlier than that, but 2005's Open Season was their first album I bought, beguiled by song titles like North Hanging Rock, Victorian Ice and Oh Larsen B combined with a fiercely intelligent indie rock backing.

Third album Do You Like Rock Music? continued the trajectory with songs about The Great Skua, Canvey Island and eastern European immigration. The music was still loaded with tuneful, catchy indie rock, reproducing all the best bits of their legendary live shows in the studio, but with a bit more light and shade than on Open Season.

In Valhalla Dancehall they tackle the current state of British politics and society. Released in February the first song Who's in Control sounds eerily prescient about the summer riots, decimation of public services and occupy movement:

Were you not told?
Did you not know?
Everything around you's being sold
Do you not care?
Were you not there?
Everybody else was going spare
What's yours and mine?
Does this escape you all the time?
Sometimes I wish protesting was sexy on a Saturday night

It is also a superbly exhilarating bit of crunching, jump around rock music with a nod to 70s punk like the Clash. Second song, We are Sound, ups the energy even further before winding it back a little on the slow building Georgie Ray. Another furious charge through Stunde Null and Mongk II, before another respite on the sparkling Luna and soothing Baby. Living is so Easy's scathing commentary on rampant consumerism and its corresponding apathy brings us back to the state of British society.

A couple of more abstract songs, one angry burst of sub-two minute punk and we hit the twelve minute epic Once More Now which builds gently for about seven minutes, before collapsing under its own weight and then gently dissipates over the remaining four minutes. Album closer Heavy Water has an elegiac, melancholy feel, but is oddly uplifting with its worries about being on the wrong side. Valhalla Dancehall certainly proves that they should have no worries on that count.

Best albums of 2011

3 M83 – Hurry Up, We're Dreaming

A huge great sprawling double album with everything and the kitchen sink thrown in, made by one man. There are saxophones and slapped basses, walls of synths and I wouldn't be surprised if there was a key-tar in there somewhere. All things I normally hate and the opposite of most of the albums I have loved this year. And he is French. (I am not one to disparage a whole nation, but it is a truism – the French and pop music don't mix. How many great French rock stars or albums can you name?)

However, this is amazing: 22 tracks and not one dud. Quite an achievement. It is so improbable that I keep disbelieving it myself, but every time I put it on I am totally transfixed. I suspect it is a good old-fashioned concept album, only I have no idea what the concept is. The music moves from thumping, big synth-dominated dancefloor fillers to delicate acoustic lullabies and stories about frogs.

The first and last tracks are labelled intro and outro and that seems exactly right. You enter this extraordinary different world, travelling through this incredible imagination, before gently returning to reality. I find it almost impossible to explain why it is so good, so I will just recommend that you get a copy and lose yourself in this alternative world for an hour and a quarter.

Best albums of 2011

4 Gil Scott-Heron – I'm New Here/Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie xx – We're New Here

I know, I know I'm New Here was actually released in 2010, but I didn't find it until well into this year. And I can justify including it here by pairing it with his collaboration with Jamie xx We're New Here which was released this year and offers a brilliant counterpoint to the original. I still prefer the original version, but the updated record offers some fascinating different angles on these songs.

I want to make this a special tribute
to a family that contradicts the concepts
heard the rules, but wouldn't accept
and womenfolk raised me and I was full grown
before I knew I came from a broken home

Bookended by On Coming From a Broken Home parts 1 and 2 these two tracks sketch out a wonderfully vivid picture of Scott-Heron's upbringing and the early influences that shaped his life. Part 1 lays out the facts and from there we move straight into the next phase of his life with the ominous Me and the Devil. With a minimal backing of clanking percussion, handclaps and a supremely unsettling, needling synth he takes you right into the head of that young man struggling with and not making the best decisions.

The soothing acoustic guitar of I'm New Here provides a welcome change of perspective and has one of the best lyrics I have heard for a long time, including the wonderful line:

I'm the closest thing I have to a voice of reason

Your Soul and Mine steps back into the darkness again, but like a story that you would tell a child to keep them out of mischief, and there is a sense here that there may be a way out, some way to resist. This is reinforced with the short spoken word interlude about descendants and into the next track I'll Take Care of You. Beginning on a pure string note, backed up with chiming piano chords and its lovely protective promise to look after the unnamed lover or child. 

The demons return on Where Did the Night Go and New York is Killing Me, which sound like the descendants of those old Delta Blues songs, with their simple sparse backings and tales of sleepless nights and yearning for the Deep South.

Running sounds like a funeral procession and at this point the hard-won wisdom has been gained, but also knowing that time is running out. Nowhere left to run, running out of time, no point in running for cover. Turning even deeper into the dark The Crutch builds from a lone heartbeat into a swirling, desperate final reckoning.

And then we are back, full circle to his mother and part 2 of On Coming from a Broken Home. Only, as he says:

I came from what they called a broken home
But if they ever really called at our house
they would have known how wrong they were
We were working on our lives and our homes
Dealing with what we had
Not what we didn't have
My life has been guided by women
But because of them I am a man

And you understand that he has made sense of a chaotic and eventful life, gaining true wisdom, resolving and reconciling his past and heritage.

Best albums of 2011

5 Dead Letter Chorus – Yearlings

This was released back in August in the depths of the Australian winter, not that the depths are really that deep (even down at 37°47' S), which is strange because it is one of the sunniest, happiest albums I have heard in a while.

Opening with a delicate acoustic guitar and intertwined male and female vocals Covered by Snow quickly builds into a pounding joyous plea to a potential lover, fading back to almost nothing before winding it all up again. It's the well worn Nirvana quiet verse/loud chorus dynamic, but channeled through this wonderful backing it sounds fresh all over again. Both vocalists – Cameron Potts and Gabrielle Huber – are equally strong and I love the contrast their different voices bring to these songs, sometimes working together other times taking turns.

In Yellow House they share the vocal equally and it is stunning the way various words and phrases bring out one or the other. The acoustic guitars are high in the mix and there is beautifully straightforward electric guitar run in the background that burrows deep into your conscience and has you humming along for hours. Either that or pressing the back button to play it again. Three minutes thirteen seconds of perfection.

There are ups and downs in this set of songs, it would be a bit too sacharine if there wasn't, but their blend of delicate, catchy indie-pop is overwhelmingly upbeat and affirming. There are tinges of folk around the edges and this gives the songs a slightly out of time feel – they don't feel entirely rooted in this second decade of the twenty first century. Not escapist or a retreat from the world of 2011, but a welcome respite from some of its more draining complications.