Top 3 Albums I Reviewed in 2018

Let's start 2018 year end lists with the easiest one to put together, her are my three favourite albums that I covered on this blog during the year.


2018 has been my most successful year in terms of covering albums on this blog, covering over twenty in the year. I am aiming for at least fifty in 2019, that way I should be able to expand this list to ten rather than three. But the rules are simple: I must have reviewed it in 2018. Let's get on with the list.


3. MØ - Forever Neverland


This sophomore album by the 'Final Song' singer and songwriter was a force to reckoned with in 2018. The kind of album filled with the kind of youthful exuberance that I found infectious from the start and refused to let go. If there's one thing I learned about myself over the course of the year, it was that I love music that focusses on a longing for youth that is framed self-awarely, and there's so many underrated layers to this album that fill into that category that work for me on so many levels. From songs about the stupidity at the core of the glorification of depression ('Blur'), to more conversationally written songs filled with detail about teenage love ('Nostalgia').


The amount of tiny nuances that fill up this album is amazing, and it's all combined with some of the most intricate pop production that puts Chvrches's 'Love Is Dead' to shame. From outstanding pre choruses on songs like 'I Want You', the intriguingly disjoined vibe that 'If It's Over' and 'Imaginary Friend' offer, to the gorgeous vocal production on 'Blur' and 'Beautiful Wreck'. All of these are amazing moments and the album is a fascinating case study on teenage attitudes in today's world. In other words, one of the best albums I covered this year.


2. With Confidence - Love And Loathing


I had no idea I needed this album until I got it. I was hoping after 'Better Weather' that With Confidence would understand their strengths as a band and put together a heavier, more brutal pop rock album that took more risks instrumentally. Quite literally the last thing I would have wanted from them to do was put together a frailer, overall less abrasive and poppier album. I have no idea who suggested this would be an even remotely good idea, but, whoever they are, they are a total genius.


In no way should this album work, but the detailed authentic storytelling goes so far beyond what I could have possibly expected. Jayden Seely paints an emotional picture of the girl that meant everything to him leaving his life and the rush of conflicting emotions that comes with such a revelation. He spends the album confused. Emotional, but having no clear idea what to channel those emotions into. He blames himself for what happened on 'Better', before channelling those same emotions into raw hatred and disgust for the girl in question on 'Icarus'. But then the album pulls an 'Astoria'. The moment that Seely tries to commit to getting over her on 'The Turnaround', she comes back into his life, just as emotional, lost and confused as our protagonist. 'Spinning' is the turning point where an overjoyed Jayden Seely thinks his dreams have just come true (again).


But one song later on 'Bruise' you understand that the girl didn't come back in search of love, just somewhere to numb her own pain. Or, as Seely sings himself, 'pressing on a bruise just to feel something', leaving them both lonely once more as Seely regrets letting his emotion get the better of him.


All of this builds to an emotional climax on 'Dopamine', but then you get the stunning final song 'Tails'. The emotions have settled and Seely clearly knows that his emotions will linger, but after two failed relationships with one girl, instead of chasing his tail and trying desperately to make it work, he is focussed on setting his sights forward, and focussing on other challenges life will throw at him.


And that's all without discussing Mike Green's production on these twelve tracks, which is great. Green has this talent and production instinct, particularly around the bass, that is unparalleled by most working in his lane. What. An. Album.


1. Lori McKenna - The Tree


There was no other album this year. It might not have been the album I listened to most this year, and it's certainly not the easiest album to listen to, but Lori McKenna and Dave Cobb put together yet another masterpiece with the follow up to their collaboration 'The Bird And The Rifle', 'The Tree'. Not only is the production as rich and organic as ever courtesy of Dave Cobb, but McKenna is on another level in terms of her writing.


'The Fixer' is the first real sign that McKenna has lost none of her natural talent as she paints a picture of a title character who seems to have all the means to fix whatever you throw at him, but he can't fix his broken relationship, and has no cure for the heartbreak. But that does not prepare you for the quite incredible album centrepiece 'You Won't Even Know I'm Gone'. The song tells the story of a breakup where the girl is trying to make it go down as easy as possible for a nameless guy as she moves out, emphasising all the mundane details as she prepares to leave the house for the last time.


And, just like MØ, McKenna reflects on her teenage years on 'The Lot Behind St. Mary's' to amazing results, before 'Like Patsy Would' ends the album on a tear inducing note. It's amazing how little there is to say about this album, and yet it's the best I have ever covered on this blog.


Let's hope 2019 can measure up. More year end lists on the way.