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25: Anna von Hausswolff • Ceremony
The stark cover of this brave second album from Gothenburg-born Anna von Hausswolff is a detail of the mighty church organ belonging to her home city’s enormous Annedalkyrkan, and gives you some clue of what to expect from the record: a filmic, complex sequence of uncompromising music that plays in the shadows but is never quite fully engulfed by the darkness. “Ceremony is a celebration of life and everything that it contains,” Anna told Scheune.org, “especially death, because in death we will be truly one with nature again.” (Alan Pedder)
Released on Kning Disk, July 2012
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24: Frida Hyvönen • To The Soul
Anyone coming to Frida Hyvönen’s third album purely off the back of dancey lead single ‘Terribly Dark’ might be disappointed to find that most of the record doesn’t follow suit. To The Soul might not be a feelgood romp, but it is easily Hyvönen’s best album yet: bold and emotional, it’s a sophisticated, smart release that knows enough not to entirely discard the frank, naïve charm that drew us to the Swede in the first place. (Alan Pedder)
Released on RMV Grammofon, April 2012
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23: Kathleen Edwards • Voyageur
This Justin Vernon-produced fourth album from Canada’s Kathleen Edwards is rich with the affable sound of gentle guitars, the occasional mandolin and swathes of elegiac, empathetic piano, occasionally raunched up with a little slide guitar or synth. With a wise, warm vocal, and an air of just having been there, Edwards spins ten tales, mostly gripping, of relationships good and bad. “For the record, I only wanted to sing songs,” she declares without a hint of stiffness on the album’s closing track. It’s entirely to her credit that, with Voyageur, she has chased that simple desire and come out on top. (Jude Clarke)
Released on Rounder Records, January 2012
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22: Dark Dark Dark • Who Needs Who
Charting the breakdown of the relationship between the core duo of Nona Marie Invie and Marshall LaCount, Dark Dark Dark’s third full-length is an impressive distillation of their distinctive sound. Although lacking some of the rawness that made its predecessor Wild Go so engaging, Who Needs Who displays a new focus and maturity, resulting in some exceptional songwriting. (Odhran O’Donoghue)
Released on Melodic Records, October 2012
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21: Grass Widow • Internal Logic
Internal Logic represents a giant step forward for San Francisco trio Grass Widow – and given that both of their previous albums were pretty damn great, that’s really saying something. Every aspect of the trio’s sound has been honed: the harmonies are more unexpected and ephemeral, the instrumentation tightened, but what truly sets the record apart from the pack is its sparseness. Anything even remotely extraneous has been discarded, allowing the beauty and originality of Grass Widow’s songs to shine through. (Odhran O’Donoghue)
Released on HLR Records, May 2012
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20: Cold Specks • I Predict A Graceful Expulsion
This debut album from Canada’s Al Spx deals in songs of hard-won wisdom and profoundly considered existential struggles. It takes a few listens to really get inside the record, the surface sameyness eventually cracking to reveal a richly produced, intriguing collection that heralds the arrival of an exciting new songwriting talent. That Spx is blessed with an unforgettably warm, raspy voice makes I Predict A Graceful Expulsion all the more affecting. (Alan Pedder)
Released on Mute/Broken Hertz Records, May 2012
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19: First Aid Kit • The Lion’s Roar
First Aid Kit made good on their enormous potential with this strong second showing, scoring their first Swedish #1 and a massive radio hit with ‘Emmylou’ in the process. The Lion’s Roar is a success on every level, teaming the Söderberg sisters with producer Mike Mogis and their childhood hero Conor Oberst for a varied, slick but still immensely personable record. (Alan Pedder)
Released on Wichita Recordings, January 2012
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18: Neneh Cherry & The Thing • The Cherry Thing
Sixteen years on from her last solo album, Man, Swedish singer/rapper Neneh Cherry teamed up with free-jazz trio The Thing to produce one of the most exhilarating, accessible fusion records in recent memory. It helps slightly that the tracklist is mostly made up of covers, but what could easily have been a messy, confounding release wound up being a towering achievement of avant-garde collaboration. (Alan Pedder)
Released on Smalltown Supersound, June 2012
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17: Trophy Wife • Sing What Scares You
Not to be confused with the Oxford indie-pop trio or the Vancouver prog band of the same name, Trophy Wife are a hard-rock duo from Philadelphia. Sing What Scares You, the pair’s second record, dazzles with a breath-taking ferociousness that might just knock you over. Their beats and melodies evolve and shift, and songs end in very different places from where they began. What’s constant is the sense of cathartic, all-encompassing power that emanates from just about every aspect of their sound. (Odhran O’Donoghue)
Released on 307Knox/Meet Your Adversary Records, June 2012
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16: Cat Power • Sun
Chan Marshall’s ninth album signifies something of a fresh start. Instead of the bare piano chords of her early days, or the wistful horn sections of The Greatest, there’s a pleasing electronica influence and a fair amount of studio trickery on display. There are even moments that could be considered even jaunty – the irresistible, hypnotic piano riff looped through ‘Ruin’ and the impossibly catchy ’3,6,9′ are about the closest Marshall has come to making commercial pop music. Sun may take a few plays to reveal its subtleties but it certainly stands up there with Marshall’s best work. (John Murphy)
Released on Matador Records, September 2012
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15: Holly Herndon • Movement
Studying for a PhD in music composition at Stanford and inspired by Donna Haraway’s A Cyborg Manifesto, Holly Herndon’s approach to electronic music is perhaps more cerebral than that of her fellow laptop acolytes. Her debut album Movement is an entrancing mix of avant-garde experimentalism, vocal distortion and piercing beats that packs a sufficiently emotive punch to refute the notion that electronically derived pieces are in some way impersonal or inhuman. (Odhran O’Donoghue)
Released on RVNG Intl., November 2012
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14: Beth Orton • Sugaring Season
It had been six years since Beth Orton’s last long-player, but Sugaring Season was well worth the wait. Rich in melodic know-how, with shimmering orchestrations and delicately brittle vocals, it’s her most assured album to date and one that benefits from the wealth of knowing maturity and experience that Orton brings to this release. Sublime in its yearning, raw-nerve atmosphere, Sugaring Season deserves to go down as a modern classic. (Adrian Balston)
Released on Anti– Records, October 2012
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13: Beach House • Bloom
Following up the near-perfection of Teen Dream was always going to be hard. However, in many ways, it doesn’t sound like that’s what Beach House were trying to do. Sounding more like an alternative development route from Devotion than a further step in the direction of its predecessor, Bloom never quite reaches the same highs, but should by no means be discounted. Often moving, always beautiful and, on occasion, completely stunning, it serves as further proof of Beach House’s deserved place in indie’s upper echelons. (Odhran O’Donoghue)
Released on Bella Union, May 2012
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12: Chromatics • Kill For Love
Stuffed full of insidious, half-hidden delights, Chromatics’ long-awaited second album is unafraid of asserting – nay, demanding – that quite significant amounts of time be paid to getting underneath its skin. An underlying sadness pervades much of the album, and indeed lends it much of its distinctive character. This is music that yearns, from the post-rave melancholy of the title track to the stylish ennui of ‘Lady’; even the vigorous, disco-inflected ‘These Streets Will Never Look The Same’ is regretful rather than celebratory in tone. Taken as a whole (which is undoubtedly the way that it ought to be consumed), Kill For Love is a subtly brilliant, gently moreish album that reveals the true depth of its allure with each listen. (Jude Clarke)
Released on Republic Of Music, May 2012
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11: Purity Ring • Shrines
Purity Ring were responsible for three of 2011 best songs. While the stuttering bubblegum of ‘Ungirthed’, the foreboding shudder of ‘Lofticries’ and the insidious, miasmic ‘Belispeak’ were of unquestionable calibre, whether Megan James and Corin Roddick’s idiosyncratic electro-pop could be maintained over an entire album was not so certain. Carefully crafted and perfectly sequenced, Shrines showcased a vision and maturity that proved that they’re more than three-trick ponies and, most excitingly, hints at far greater things to come. (Odhran O’Donoghue)
Released on 4AD, July 2012
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10: Susanne Sundfør • The Silicone Veil
Having set out her intention to become an indispensable artist with 2010’s staggeringly good The Brothel, Susanne Sundfør continued to impress with this even more staggering fourth album. The Silicone Veil is by some degrees her most ambitious work. Where its predecessor was (loosely) a concept piece with claustrophobia and darkness at its core, this time Sundfør is steelier, unwavering and wily, taking the listener on an unpredictable ride through complex, layered electronics and challenging vocals. (Alan Pedder)
Released on Sonnet Sounds, October 2012
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9: Lower Dens • Nootropics
The term nootropics refers to substances that, through enhancing memory and cognitive performance, improve mental function. While listeners might have needed to indulge in some of the eponymous pharmaceuticals to grasp some of the more phrenic conceits that inspired Lower Dens’ second album, on just about every other level its appeal is very easy to appreciate. Nootropics is a crucible of moody rock experimentation, prog and electronica that is as enthralling and interesting as it is sonically stunning and evocative. (Odhran O’Donoghue)
Released on Ribbon Music, April 2012
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8: THEESatisfaction • awE naturalE
That Stasia Irons and Catherine Harris-White are romantically as well as musically involved should come as no surprise after listening to awE naturalE. That is not to say that the songs contained therein are inherently romantic (far from it, in fact), but rather that the intimate, almost intuitive synergy that coalesces their heady blend of hip-hop, soul, R&B and funk could only result from a deep personal connection. The record is unashamedly political (questions of race, gender and sexuality, however obliquely, are never far off), but expends its rhetoric through effortless dance grooves rather than dogmatic tedium, underscoring that getting “the message” across need not come at the expense of fun. (Odhran O’Donoghue)
Released on Sub Pop Records, April 2012
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7: David Byrne & St. Vincent • Love This Giant
If the alternative music scene of New York has a matchmaker, then she pulled off a dynastic coup worthy of the royal marriages of medieval Europe when she paired David Byrne with Annie Clark. As the more established artist, Byrne has less to prove and uses this situation to his advantage. These are songs which please rather than surprise; sketches for a future, unwritten masterpiece perhaps. If this double headliner has a true star, though, it’s the supporting cast: the nine brass musicians whose orchestrations, by turns warm, funky and jarring, knit together this collection – though credit must certainly go to Clark for writing the arrangements. Love This Giant may not be a classic, but as an example of how two artists can explore the same idea in different ways its fascinating flourishes and fanfares are well worth exploring. (Chris McCrudden)
Released on 4AD, September 2012
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6: Laurel Halo • Quarantine
The incredible cover art alone merits the inclusion of Quarantine on this list, but even more so than most other releases, Laurel Halo’s full-length debut is the kind of record that needs more than a surface listen. Synths and melodies are treated and refracted half-beyond recognition, and vocals are far more prominent than they were in any previous releases. Sonically expansive and at times disarmingly beautiful, Quarantine resides on a tangential plane quite separate from most electronic music. (Odhran O’Donoghue)
Released on Hyperdub, May 2012
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5: Sharon Van Etten • Tramp
Recorded during snatched moments over the course of a busy and dislocated period, Sharon Van Etten’s third album transformed her from a best-kept secret into a bona fide star on both sides of the Atlantic. Tramp may benefit from the input of a number of other indie-rock luminaries, but it is Van Etten’s own, quite unique talents that give this wonderful record its shape and character. At its finest, Tramp is strewn with music that is so fabulously emotive and crushingly delivered that any minor quibbles about the flow of the record, etc., fade into insignificance. Enormously bewitching. (Jude Clarke)
Released on Jagjaguwar, January 2012
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4: Julia Holter • Ekstasis
Julia Holter’s debut full-length Tragedy found its way into our top 20 albums of 2011, but Ekstasis goes some way better. While it lacks its predecessor’s artful core concept, Holter delivered a more loosely-connected sequence of songs that highlights a softer side to her fiercely creative vision – for a start, the glorious, often near-angelic qualities of her singing are more obviously to the fore – once again showing us that music can be artistic and abstract without sacrificing any of its allure or inclusivity. The result is simply a delight to the ear. (Jude Clarke)
Released on RVNG Intl., March 2012
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3: Angel Olsen • Half Way Home
Regardless of its painful melancholy, if one thing is for certain about Half Way Home it is that, from the opening romantic plea to the ultimate reflection on death, we are transported into an arena of powerful intrapersonal thought, both of Angel Olsen’s and our own. “I want to be a bit like you” she croons in the opening track – a confession that encapsulates the mood of this stunning full-length debut and belies the prevailing and unusual presence of desperation (to be someone else, to be loved, to feel differently) that runs through its core. Targeting the core of human empathy, Olsen has delivered a very special album that seamlessly hybridises her universally anecdotal lyrical mode and raw musical passion (Johanna Mackin).
Released on Bathetic Records, September 2012
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2: Grimes • Visions
Having watched Claire Boucher play to a half-empty room less than eighteen months ago, the breadth of Grimes’ 2012 breakthrough is astonishing, and yet in some ways makes perfect sense. Visions was composed in a amphetamine-induced fervor when Boucher cloistered herself in a darkened, locked room, and indeed its touchstones of bubblegum, K-pop, and dance sound as if they’ve consumed a mountain of speed, fizzing and thumping with an impassioned, almost primal energy that thrills and surprises at almost every turn. But what sets the record apart from the herd is that, more than any other musician out there, Boucher truly understands her art, the potency of visual and filmic explorations thereof and, importantly, how her craft is consumed and experienced, making her chosen album title all the more apt. (Odhran O’Donoghue)
Released on 4AD, January 2012
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1: Fiona Apple • The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than The Driver Of The Screw & Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do
What is there left to say about this record? 2012 was the year of the Fiona Apple thinkpiece, giving even Lana Del Rey a run for her column inches. If Apple has previously been painted as a fragile yet uncompromising figure, The Idler Wheel… provided ample opportunity for further amateur psychoanalysis. That this seemingly gave carte blanche to the ‘crazy lady’ crowd is unfortunate (and don’t even get me started on the idle gossip about her weight), but strip it of all context but its musical integrity and Apple’s fourth album remains a rough, unpolished diamond of a record. Whether or not it is more intensely personal than her very intense and very personal back catalogue is a matter of debate, but Apple’s use of space, emotionally grounding samples and spare, unconventional percussion makes it feel extraordinarily naked and exposed. Quite how it became cool again to like Fiona Apple (some of us never stopped) is still a bit of a mystery, but by whatever machinations it occurred we should be thankful that a record so raw and bracingly unfashionable became so widely embraced as a true work of art. (Alan Pedder)
Released on Epic Records, June 2012