Listening Clark :: Class Of 2023 :: Module Twenty-One
Ahoy! Avast!
Need to start things with a quick confession…
My proud proclamation of advancing past the 1,000 album yardstick in terms of my listening schedule for 2023 in my last entry may have been a little premature. You see, that tally was including compilations, extended plays and live recordings, not stand alone pieces of work that comfortably fulfil the content remit of what one calls, “an album”.
Which means, for the pedantic fascists out there at least, I actually still have a little over forty albums to get through before I can attain the dubious badge of honour that is the 1,000 Albums Listened, which I’m assuming is a bush-baby wearing headphones or something.
So with that in mind, let’s crack on with what should be the penultimate module of 2023, before that compilation-crunch can finally begin in earnest.
Listening Clark :: Class Of 2023 :: Module Twenty One
Aux étoiles: French Symphonic Poems – Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider & Orchestre National de Lyon
To kick things off something extra wintry, we have this sumptuous double-disc compilation courtesy of the Lyon National Orchestra, delivering an at-times spellbinding set of romantic classical standards, both familiar and obscure, that always succeeds in evoking that awe-inspiring majesty reserved for gazing at the stars.
Bolted – Forest Swords
One of 2023’s most welcome returns to the musical fray is that of electronic wunderkind Matthew Barnes, whose third album comes with a more industrial bent than his previous works, but nevertheless manages to find that poignant throughline of ravaged hope and resilience that has always characterised his formidable soundscaping.
Census Designated – Jane Remover
Jane Remover’s evolution from bedroom-EDM producer to full-blown iconoclastic rock star is soundly ratified with her second album, a sustained, anguished cry of pain charting their transition across both physical and sonic realms that nevertheless finds enough arresting beauty in the breakdown to truly galvanising effect.
Eulo Cramps – Call Super
On album number four, DJ and producer Joseph Richmond Seaton continues to confound and beguile their listeners, this time with an arch blend of freeform jazz, improvisation and exotica lounge music that is synthesized into an enjoyably demented electronic playland, notably featuring a star turn from fellow electronic-esotericanista Julia Holter.
Lahai – Sampha
Another much-anticipated comeback enters the 2023 pantheon now courtesy of the honey-voiced singer/songwriter/producer Sampha’s second album, which consists of bittersweet missives inspired by his newfound fatherhood that imbue a more mature shade to the artist’s sonic palette, which is still as gossamer-light-yet-insidiously-swoonsome as before.
Madres – Sofia Kourtesis
Given the state of the world right now, most are rightly looking for anything to uplift them enough just to keep going, and you probably could not find a better pick-me-up than DJ and producer Sofia Kourtesis’ debut album, a gorgeous slice of homemade-house music that beautifully exemplifies the emotional solace that can be found in the diaspora of international dance music.
Polygon – Galya Bisengalieva
Its title referring to the stretch of land in Kazakhstan that was both a wellspring of indigenous culture and intellect and used for a quarter of the world’s nuclear testing, Galya Bisengalieva’s latest album is a formidable contemporary-classical mini-marvel, utilising electronic beat signatures and sequences to punctuate the classical sturm-und-drang into something truly stirring.
Revanchist – Evian Christ
Eleven years after his first mixtape, Joshua Leary’s long-overdue debut finds the beatmaker celebrating his love of trance music at full force, taking inspiration from vantage points as varied as Laibach and Madonna to conceive a longform that offers fans of both pummelling carnage and poignant reflection a helluva-lot to enjoy.
Selvutsletter – Lost Girls
Jenny Hval and Håvard Volden’s collaboration project’s second album hasn’t quite enjoyed the same rapturous reception as their premiere release due to its more esoteric feel for plaintive indie-pop/rock rather than avant-Scandi-dance percolations… which is the cognoscenti’s loss honestly, not least because this album boasts Hval’s finest vocal performances ever in particular.
Spike Field – Maria BC
And now we finish up this round with the second album from songwriter/composer Maria BC, a tormented reconstitution of fractured memories and ambivalent predictions that is vividly brought to life with discordant splendour via BC’s inspired arrangements, which includes the prominent feature of an out-of-tune baby piano for the utmost in sweet-yet-disturbing feels.
And that’s your proverbial lot for this time around. Keep well and safe until the next one, wherever you are.
xxxo
