Listening Clark :: Class Of 2023 :: Module Eighteen
Ahoy there!
Well, here we are in the last quarter of 2023 already, hurtling into darker times both literally and figuratively.
Firstly, to celebrate said passage of time, I’ve put together a playlist highlighting the best of my listenings from the last three months, a bumper revision guide ahead of more serious collation that will likely happen to cram for the final exam in December.
But before then, we have more contenders to get through, so let’s get to it, shall we?
Listening Clark :: Class Of 2023 :: Module Eighteen
An Ever Changing View – Matthew Halsall
First up, some sonic soul-nourishment courtesy of spiritual jazz wunderkind Matthew Halsall, casting more plaintive spells in audio on his seventh album in an effort to capture an openness and escapism that provides enough succour to quell even the most world-wary of psyches.
Beam – Tammo Hesselink
Next, we have some ambient broken-techno from Rotterdam, courtesy of venerable DJ and producer Tammo Hesselink’s debut album of deep cuts that alternates between tender passages and spacey propulsions with consummate skill that baits decks all over the world for more to come.
Black Classical Music – Yussef Dayes
After spending over a decade honing his composition skills collaborating with the likes of Tom Misch and Kamaal Williams among an avalanche of others on the jazz scene, Mr Dayes finally arrives with his debut solo album proper, featuring collaborations with the likes of previous entrants Shabaka Hutchings and Masego.
Galargan – The Gentle Good
The fifth album from multi-instrumentalist Gareth Bonello is as beguiling as it is almost infuriatingly simple, its frontman using little more than guitar, cello and vocals to create a moving tribute to Welsh folk music that could only fail to melt the hearts of those who are ultimately without.
Gentle Confrontation – Loraine James
There is a case to be made as to whether it is the consistent genre-blurring assuredness of Loraine James’ work that is the most impressive facet, or the speediness with which she works, this being her fifth full-length album in four years, but honestly, after a couple of minutes you are likely to already be too lost in her involving soundscapes to care.
Infinite Voyage – Emerson String Quartet
One of the first contemporary classical acts to embrace the digital age by releasing their performances on the cutting edge Compact Disc technology in the early 1980s, the Grammy-winning quartet bid the world adieu on this final collection of orchestral journey-making alongside frequent collaborator and close friend Barbara Hannigan.
No Joy – Spanish Love Songs
Despite the title, the fourth album from the LA-forged indie-punk noiseniks is full to the brim of unlikely uplift, a feel-good album for these most emotionally desolate of times that somehow finds the sweet spot between nihilism and compassion to deliver some of the best rock music of 2023.
softscars – yeule
A little over a year later, we have the return of Nat Ćmiel’s electronic music project with their third album, which sees them embracing a more punk-pop-rock aesthetic that somewhat improbably has only helped enhance the iconoclastic, future-forward nature of their sound rather than diluting it.
Sorry I Haven’t Called – Vagabon
Album three from Laetitia Tamko comes via a turbulent production due to the death of one of her trusted collaborators, though given the bounce and sassiness that radiates throughout, Tamko does right by her friend to celebrate rather than commiserate, thereby making it all the more moving.
Strange Disciple – Nation Of Language
Finishing up with some New Wave ferventness courtesy indie-synthpop trio Nation of Language, an indie-pop group borne from lead singer Ian Devaney’s childhood obsession with Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark and whose third album is produced by Nick Millhiser of Holy Ghost!, which if you are familiar with both of those acts makes absolutely perfect sense.
And there we have it; anyhoo, I’d better dash. As I say, lots of collation to be done, both in the end-of-year and holiday-theme veins. But until then…
xxxo
