My favourite music (2018 edition)

scheduleDecember 31, 2018

One thing that sort of passed me by this year was music. We were so busy with the process of moving to Liverpool that I didn’t listen to anything when it actually came out. Some stuff made it through the mess, though.

My favourite song of the year

This year seemed to be the year that singles were released instead of albums and the one that ended up becoming a sort of theme for us as we went through the moving and downsizing process was none other than New Light by John Mayer. We made a point of listening to it every time we got into the car and it never got old.

My favourite albums

Three albums that were released this year ended up staying in rotation and basically not leaving.

Middle Kids - Lost Friends

While sitting in a Starbucks one morning waiting for a support raising meeting to begin, I heard a song that was so good I had to ask Siri to tell me who it was. On the drive to work, I ended up listening through Lost Friends all the way through over and over again.

There was something about the fact that it was new, guitar-based music in the era of the synthesiser. And we don’t even need to get started on Hannah Joy’s voice.

Tracyanne & Danny - self-titled

I was fortunate enough to see Camera Obscura before Carey Lander passed away in 2015. While the band has been quiet since then, Tracyanne managed to write some songs with Danny Coughlan and the pair released them on a self-titled album that became my summer soundtrack.

Natalie Evans - Better At Night

I first learned about Natalie Evans a few years ago when I was trying to make a go at music blogging. In the time since, she’s released a self-titled EP as 1/3 of the band YOU COULD BE A COP and a couple of short EPs on her own. This year, however, she finally released her full-length album Better At Night. While some of the tracks are tunes from earlier releases, the album’s strongest points for me were the opening title track and closing Postscript tracks. I’ve probably ended up listening to this album more than the other two combined because it has been a perfect writing companion.

Runners up

  • Gwenno - Le Kov (especially the single Tir Ha Mor)
  • The Innocence Mission - Sun On The Square
  • David Bazan - Yellow Bike (This is technically not a 2018 release but the single was released in 2018 so I’m counting it.)