The best pop CDs of 2015
Here are our top ten pop CDs of the year, voted for by Readings’ staff. Displayed in no particular order.
I Love You, Honeybear by Father John Misty
J. Tillman’s newest album has emotion writ large enough to fill every corner of the room, and broad, gorgeous music to match. Shot through with his merry-peculiar tales, shucked off his shoulders like a jacket with pockets full of stories for us to sort through, aided by his ethereal voice, fuzzed-out synths, or romantic strings – anything to keep us interested, and in love.
Sometimes I Sit And Think And Sometimes I Just Sit by Courtney Barnett
Intensely Melburnian, yet striking enough to be adored worldwide, Barnett’s almost spoken-word alt-folk is a revelation of tight guitars, melodies to hear through every open townhouse door, heart-close personal stories and universal themes of home ownership, unlovable suburbia, tedious jobs and other everyday moments that need a soundtrack just as much as the flush of first love or final death.
Carrie & Lowell by Sufjan Stevens
Nothing breaks your heart quite like Stevens’ relentless quest to make songs that appear tiny but fill you right to the brim. With a few picked out notes on the piano and plucked out notes on the guitar, he turns this album into high-rotation heartbreak. Listen once, delirious with the thrill, for the music, then again for what he has to tell you.
Kill It Yourself by Jess Ribeiro
Instore favourite of many Readings staff, and a supplier of melancholic stretches of sound right from the album into your veins, Ribeiro’s scratchy, soulful album is full of dark nights and lost roads. Mick Harvey’s deft touch adds to Ribeiro’s already powerful talents, as she unleashes sparks of cymbal between thumping piano, gentle brass over soft guitar, and gritty splendour into song.
Something More Than Free by Jason Isbell
Isbell’s complete control of the guitar and his ripe-peach vocals delivers American life in 4.75 square inches, each song a complete story elbow-deep in emotion and lyrical care. In this, his fifth release, he continues to ply his award-winning Southern rock sound, detouring occasionally via country and, without fail, finding new musical places to mine for pure audio gold.
Slow Gum by Fraser A Gorman
Gorman hails from Torquay, and his bluesy, folk-country album debut isn’t too far sonically from what Bob Dylan might sound like if only he had a refreshing visit down the coast for a while. A powerful line-up of bandmates help coax gentle tunes from guitars, and soaring choral effects from the menagerie of instruments at their fingertips in this excellent, rocking debut.
Short Movie by Laura Marling
Haunting, dark and rough, Marling’s guitar is like a character racing alongside you, following the journey she has written for this, her fifth studio album. Marling is a revelation and every time one of her albums is released it is played by Readings staff on high rotation. This one is no exception: folk-rock as atmospheric as dark woods and filled with profound yearning.
Something In The Water by Pokey Lafarge
The surprisingly youthful LaFarge’s magical, updated throwback to barbershop, ragtime, blues and roots has enough twenties to roar right out of your speakers. Between the shimmering vocals, eloquent guitar and sharp trumpets, this is for anyone who has always known that the jazz age is gone but never forgotten, and anyone who likes their music as jaunty as the angle of their hat.
Sound & Color by Alabama Shakes
This Alabama five-piece, headed by Brittany Howard’s powerhouse vocals, have been glorious enough to shake their hometown right off the map since 2012’s bestselling Boys & Girls. Sound & Color is a cruisy blues and stadium-shredding roots-rock album for this and every summer, for extended afternoons full of cold beer and long, hot evenings.
Nashville Obsolete by Dave Rawlings Machine
With Rawlings, Gillian Welch and a wealth of other bluegrass musicians making up the cogs of the Dave Rawlings Machine, it was always going to run smoothly. Beautifully orchestrated and produced, this album remains loose enough to allow for moments of eccentric beauty. Nashville Obsolete is a journey through Americana that you won’t regret taking.
