Something You Said’s top ten albums of 2019
It’s been another great year for music, hasn’t it? Here are our best albums of 2019…
1. FAYE WEBSTER – ATLANTA MILLIONAIRES CLUB
Faye Webster’s third studio album offers the juxtaposition of a dreamy ambience with everyday stories of heartbreak and humdrum melancholy, “My dog is my best friend, and he doesn’t even know what my name is,” she laments. This is a folk-soul gem of a record… wise, honest and beautiful.
2. STELLA DONNELLY – BEWARE OF THE DOGS
As well as illustrating that the Western Australian is not here to take any of your shit, thank you very much, the songs on Beware of the Dogs are excellently-observed, everyday tales to which anyone with a heart and a soul will surely relate. Sure, these are Stella’s stories, but they feel like yours and mine too.
3. CASSELS – THE PERFECT ENDING
The second album by the London/Oxford duo tackles heavy subject matter, from sexual assault to environmental catastrophe and does so with fire in its belly. This is a powerful, smart record that packs a punch.
4. JULIA JACKLIN – CRUSHING
Julia Jacklin makes music for “used to”s – she sings of places we used to live, people we used to love, people we used to be. Her sophomore album Crushing delivers a blunt exploration of the emotional arc of a breakup. Like its subject matter, Crushing’s production forsakes polish for exposure, allowing us to hear the full texture of Jacklin’s voice. Every waver, rasp, and most importantly, breath, is audible.
5. HOLIDAY SIDEWINDER – FOREVER, WHATEVER
Of her debut solo album, Holiday told us, “The songwriting process was cyclonic and stupidly fun. The one rule we had was “if it makes us laugh, it stays”. So wherever you hear a disgusting bass lick or a ridiculous lyric, that’s why it’s in there. It started off with one song every few months, and then they just came flooding in… but I really made sure it felt cohesive, and there was a story to follow, like each song is an episode in a series.”
6. BILLIE EILISH – WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?
7. NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS – GHOSTEEN
8. ANGIE MCMAHON – SALT
9. SHARON VAN ETTEN – REMIND ME TOMORROW
10. KATE TEMPEST – THE BOOK OF TRAPS AND LESSONS
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Previous winners:
2018: SHAME – SONGS OF PRAISE
2017: LCD SOUNDSYSTEM – AMERICAN DREAM
2016: DAVID BOWIE – BLACKSTAR
2015: SUFJAN STEVENS – CARRIE & LOWELL
2014: FIRST AID KIT – STAY GOLD
2013: KIRIN J CALLINAN – EMBRACISM
