Previously,
The Best 20 Albums of 2021: My Picks #20-16
The Best 20 Albums of 2021: My Picks #15-11
10.
Lucy Dacus, ‘Home Video’
Sedentary secrets like peach pits in your gut
Locked away like jam jars in the cellar of your heart
Waiting to be tasted and ultimately wasted
You were gonna win me over from the start
Lucy Dacus’ Home Video feels like a much-anticipated memoir of adolescence, framed through the hazy lens of nostalgia and matured reflection. Home Video derives its essence from Dacus’ childhood diaries, chronicling her years growing up in Richmond, Virginia. The album’s conception was spurred by Dacus’ revisit to her hometown after an extensive touring period. This return prompted her to dive into old journals, transforming the memories documented there into songs that either faithfully recount these experiences or analyze them with the clarity of adulthood. The album is built around themes of nostalgia, personal growth, and the bittersweet nature of revisiting the past. As Dacus navigates through her adolescence, she revels in the awkwardness, pain, and fleeting joy that characterize those years. Home Video avoids the trap of viewing the past through rose-colored glasses. Instead, it presents a candid, sometimes unflattering, look at youth, adding a layer of authenticity that resonates deeply with listeners. Dacus’ lyrics are simultaneously evocative and precise, capturing vignettes of her teenage years with an almost novelistic quality. Songs like VBS (Vacation Bible School) bring to life the idiosyncrasies of a Christian summer camp, complete with a first boyfriend who paradoxically listens to Slayer while reciting his own subpar poetry. Thumbs, one of the most moving tracks on the album, addresses a confrontation with a friend’s estranged father, a moment so tense and powerful it inspired a cult-like anticipation among her fans. Sonically, Dacus remains rooted in rock, unafraid to crank up the distortion and embrace polyrhythmic complexity. The album strikes a balance between spare, plaintive ballads, and more densely orchestrated rock arrangements. Tracks like Hot & Heavy exemplify this approach, pairing layered guitars with a steady, propulsive melody that builds tension and release.
When I went away it was the only option
Couldn’t trust myself to proceed with caution
The most that I could give to you is nothing at all
The best that I could offer was to miss your calls
9.
Floating Points, London Symphony Orchestra, and Pharoah Sanders, ‘Promises’
Promises is an audacious exploration of the dialogues between jazz, electronica, and classical music, stitched together by producer Sam Shepherd, also known as Floating Points. Promises is a fearless deep dive into the boundless potentials of music, defying genre classification and unfolding as a continuous, immersive suite. Divided into nine movements but best understood as a singular, cohesive composition, the album encapsulates a serene, almost spiritual experience that invites listeners to a contemplative journey. This project started as a stripped-down improvisation in Los Angeles, eventually blossoming into a richly textured piece featuring a plethora of vintage acoustic and electronic instruments along with the luxurious string arrangements provided by the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO). The compositional nucleus of Promises revolves around a minimalist leitmotif—a short, cyclic seven-note arpeggio—performed by Shepherd on synthesizers, piano, and harpsichord. This hypnotic sequence serves as the album’s spine, threading through its varying movements and providing a metronomic grounding for the experimental improvisations and string embellishments that define its character. The album is structured to be experienced in a single sitting, ideally on state-of-the-art auditory equipment. The textures of the recording—whether the breathy, intimate saxophone of Sanders, the analog warmth of Shepherd’s synths, or the lush string sections of the LSO—demand an environment conducive to unbroken attention. Production-wise, Shepherd has ensured that each instrumental layer complements rather than competes. Even though the LSO never overwhelms the sonic space, their role is critical—they subtly underpin the core motif with elaborate tonal textures that infuse the work with emotional depth and auditory breadth. This careful calibration is indicative of a producer deeply attuned to the capacities and limitations of each constituent element.
8.
Wolf Alice, ‘Blue Weekend’
When Wolf Alice first erupted onto the scene with 2015’s My Love Is Cool, their youthful vigor and genre-blending alchemy made an immediate mark. By 2017, with Visions of a Life, they solidified their place in the pantheon of modern rock, snagging a Mercury Prize in the process. Fast forward to 2021’s Blue Weekend, and the London quartet finds itself at a critical juncture, delicately toeing the line between the vestiges of its raw beginnings and a more refined sonic identity. Blue Weekend encapsulates a time of transition and self-exploration. Ellie Rowsell’s narratives unfold like poetic soliloquies, set against a backdrop of sweeping instrumentals. The juxtaposition of personal vulnerability and outward resilience is the album’s core, providing a multidimensional narrative that traverses the gamut of human emotions: love, loss, defiance, and, most poignantly, self-discovery. Blue Weekend is an expansive odyssey, taking cues from various genres and amalgamating them into a cohesive soundscape that feels both intimate and grandiose. The choice to work with renowned producer Markus Dravs (Arcade Fire, Coldplay) has paid dividends, rendering the album’s sound both lush and meticulously layered. The album opens and closes with The Beach and The Beach II, respectively, creating a cyclical sense of resolution and continuity. This bookending technique establishes a sense of thematic unity, resonating like chapters of a novel. Feeling Myself and How Can I Make It OK? oscillate between introspective and anthemic, with the former meticulously juxtaposing celestial strings against Rowsell’s whispered yet potent lyrics. One of the standout features of Blue Weekend is its textural diversity. Tracks like Lipstick on the Glass showcase Rowsell’s vocal agility, evoking echoes of both Donna Summer and Elizabeth Fraser of Cocteau Twins fame.
Yeah I know it seems surprising
When there’s lipstick still on the glass
And the full moon rising
But it’s me who makes myself mad
7.
Jazmine Sullivan, ‘Heaux Tales’
Heaux Tales is a concept album, a rarity in modern mainstream R&B, framing its narrative around the ideas of sexual freedom and financial autonomy for women. Jazmine Sullivan utilizes six spoken-word interludes to provide context for the album’s eight primary tracks, creating an interwoven tapestry of individual experiences. These interludes feature voices from different women, enriching the album’s thematic depth by presenting varying perspectives on relationships, societal expectations, and self-empowerment. One of the album’s central themes is the reclamation of power. Sullivan dives deep into the interplay between sexual freedom and societal judgment. As she herself articulates, Heaux Tales is about “ownership and confidence and also about vulnerability and self-reflection.” Whether it’s examining the repercussions of heartbreak in Lost One or boasting about financial independence in Price tags, the album explores the range of experiences women encounter in their quest for autonomy and self-validation. Heaux Tales stands out for its raw honesty and conversational tone. Through frank discussions of sex, betrayal, and emotional insecurity, Sullivan strips away any veneer of glamour to present a stark portrayal of love and its complications. Musically, Heaux Tales combines minimalist production with deeply emotional vocal performances. The instrumentation often leans towards the sparse, using simple synths, guitar lines, and light percussion to foreground Sullivan’s commanding voice, which alternates between soulful crooning and almost spoken-word delivery. This is vividly apparent on tracks like Lost One, which blend poignant guitar strums with Sullivan’s hauntingly raw vocals, resulting in an almost cathartic listening experience. Sullivan doesn’t overindulge in complex beats or elaborate arrangements, opting instead for an intimate atmosphere that fits the confessional tone of the album. The restrained production not only highlights her vocal agility but also ensures that the narrative remains front and center.
6.
Cassandra Jenkins, ‘An Overview On Phenomenal Nature’
I ran into Perry at Lowell’s place
Her gemstone eyes caught my gaze
She said, “Oh, dear, I can see you’ve had a rough few months
But this year, it’s gonna be a good one
To listen to Cassandra Jenkins’ An Overview on Phenomenal Nature is to step into a world where the sacred and the mundane coexist, forming a tapestry of reflective melodies and evocative storytelling. An Overview is deeply intertwined with themes of loss and reconstruction, notably influenced by the suicide of David Berman, for whom Jenkins was supposed to tour as part of his project Purple Mountains. The album’s overarching narrative is one of navigating grief while finding solace in the rhythms and textures of the natural world. Jenkins collects stories and fragments of conversations, weaving them into an intricate mosaic that reflects both a personal journey and broader human experiences. The album’s thematic core lies in its exploration of the everyday and its capacity for transformation. Jenkins’ goal as a writer appears to be staying present amid the stream of consciousness that life offers, capturing moments of clarity and emotional depth that provide solace or provoke thought. This is encapsulated in songs like New Bikini, where Jenkins reflects on advice to “go get in the ocean” as a metaphor for renewal and the journey from despair to a tentative sense of hope. Lyricism is where Jenkins truly excels, often employing direct quotes, snippets of dialogue, and references to real-life characters. This documentary-like approach imbues the album with a raw, unfiltered warmth. In Hard Drive, Jenkins introduces a psychic at a birthday party who offers words of wisdom and shares a transformative breathing exercise, blending the factual with the metaphysical. The album balances between chamber pop, ambient jazz, and indie folk. The initial recording sessions were spontaneous, lasting only a week, yet the result is a coherent and exuberantly rich soundscape. Jenkins’ voice floats through minimalist arrangements, at times underpinned by lush saxophone lines courtesy of Stuart Bogie, playful drum loops, and serene field recordings. Ultimately, An Overview amplifies mundane moments into poignant reflections and captures an ephemeral beauty, offering listeners a meditative exploration of what it means to be present.
All I want is to fall apart
in the arms of someone entirely strange to me
In your eyes I see the panoply
of the people inside me
Continue Reading:
The Best 20 Albums of 2021: My Picks #5-1