QE2021 Bulletin :: Part Three
Welp, summer is over, everyone! I hope you have made the most of it while it lasted…
Though I’m still very much in the getting-my-shit-together mode prompted by a busy month, I’ve still been able to cobble together my quarterly chart of album-format-sponsored goodness to display on the Internet despite myself. So here are ten very good albums that made me feel something other than despair.
QE2021: Part Three
The Welsh wunderkind delivers his debut long-form ten years after his debut single and the resultant mix of IDM, folk, techno, house and future-pop collage is quite the potent headturner.
Simultaneously working as a tribute to their late father and an exploration of how heritage and discovery can cohere with thrilling results, Nene H’s debut set at is never less than transcendental.
Laura Marling and Tunng’s Mike Lindsay’s curious side-project returns curiouser still, shedding the more innocuous freak-folk-pop mane of its debut set for something more direct and funky.
Boy From Michigan – John Grant
The soft-voiced giant comes back full-epic for a backhanded treatise on American life, his doleful delivery given extra heft by chilly synths as they parlay tales of smalltown minutiae into galvanising sagas.
Album four charts a more melodically meditative path than previously explored by the Californian black-metal/shoegazers, which is a minor source of consternation for some (not I though, obvs).
Nocturnes: Music For 2 Pianos – Craig Armstrong
The Scottish composer and arranger’s penchant for lush melodies and beauteous emotionality are given a more streamlined outing on this piano-led collection, and often all the more poignant for being so.
Maintaining an agreeable ebb throughout, De Casier’s second album is reminiscent of the guitar-led R&B pop of the 2000s, the singer holding court with her effortlessly charismatic and pristine intonations.
SINNER GET READY – Lingua Ignota
Kristin Hayter continues her excoriating musical journey, her tortured take on American folk music evoking an emotional battleground of scorched earth that bewitched and bedevils in equal measure.
Sometimes I Might Be Introvert – Little Simz
Don’t be fooled by the title, as Simz’ latest LP finds her sound at its most opulently realised, with as many orchestras and choirs providing backing for her razor-sharp bars as there are propulsive beats.
Where The Streets Lead – Slowly Rolling Camera
Finishing this cadre back in Wales for a ruminatively funky fusion of contemporary classical jazz, band leader David Stapleton inviting a myriad of label mates to jam a brilliant bevy of cinematic slow-burns.
And there you have it; another three months of 2021 condensed into ten highly listenable albums; did I miss anything by your estimation though, feel free to comment below if I did?
In the meantime, wrap up warm and stay safe… The next round up will arrive just before the holiday season, and then a whole years worth of retrospection shortly thereafter, because this year couldn’t have evaporated away any faster apparently.
xxxo
