2019: Albums & Conclusions

Originally posted Sept 2025

Albums

Marking key at bottom

Lewis Capaldi “Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent”

I think he's a much more than just a passable song-writer. There are also some very good tracks indeed. An obvious one is “Someone You Loved”. I also really like “Maybe” in its simplicity. However, for me there's nothing (in the music) that makes him standout from his contemporaries. In terms of an ‘album’ there's also far too much reliance on solo vocal accompanied by solo instrument (usually either piano or guitar). Despite a few cracking tracks in isolation I can only give it the mark I’ve given it. 5

Heilung “Futha”

I coincidentally heard their 2022 album “Drif” very recently and absolutely loved it. I would probably give it an 8. They're an experimental outfit that are often described as experimental-folk. But I think that’s gives you the wrong impression. If its folk - then its ancient folk. Their music is based on texts and inscriptions from the Iron and Viking Ages, often about the Jǫtnar and Valkyries. According to an interview around the time of this album, the instruments they use include a rattles, Hindu ritual bells, cups, whistles, antiques from temples (....bit concerning that one), reconstructions of instruments from the Iron and Viking Ages, ancient Indian instruments such as the ravanathatha, and a variety of percussion. This is enhanced vocally by singing, spoken word, chanting, throat singing, and using the voice in ways we would now consider unconventional (and perhaps always were). Given the (at times) repetitive nature of the set up, things can go on a little long. It probably all works better with the visual aspect – apparently they wear elaborate costumes at live performances. This record is 75 mins long. That’s my criticism and why this one gets a...... 7.

The Foals “Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost (Part 1)

So there is another album – Part 2 – I am probably only going to listen to 1. I’m having difficulty getting all my listening in as it is.

This is not ‘ground-breaking’ work or anything. But it IS brilliant. It roots itself in a fairly standard rock format, and the song-writing is very strong, but then it incorporates modern styles, textures, sounds etc., with a little splash of experimentation to just give it that perfect edge. The lyrics tend to be quite bleak - focusing on the state of the world, mental health, and even contemplation of suicide. I think its best heard as an album. But, “On The Luna” and “White Onions” are particularly good. 7

Billie Eilish “When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go?”

So, the time came for me to listen to this. I really wanted to listen to it before but struggled to find a time slot. I knew about 8 of the 14 tracks from listening regularly to an Eilish Playlist I had made, and really liked them all. But, you know what happens when you build up your expectations don’t you? Here we go.......

After a little intro it starts with the familiar “bad guy”. Its not one of the very most unusual tracks, but also not the most conventional. Its sort of ‘mid-way Eilish’. Its a good energetic start though, with its thudding bass drum (only), distorted bass, sparse musical arrangement and intricate vocal organisation. Then, it holts and completely changes for the last minute. Its kinda of fun but dark. So, its a sign of the best of Eilish to come. (I said more about this track in part 1 – as I placed it as my 2^nd favourite single of the year).

‘xanny’ showcases her vocals a little more. Its mainly vocals and a single bass line, although there’s a piano (very jazz-like) at certain points, and a drum kit at others. There’s layered vocals here and there, solo voices elsewhere, and a capella at the end. All these elements enter and leave the mix as we go through. Its a very interesting arrangement and this demonstrates Eilish’s trait of long silent pauses.

“you should see me in a crown” gets a bit hip hop-y at one point- but not throughout. This is an example of the ‘genre-bending’ that is present through the album. By the time we get to “when the party’s over” we have somehow been taken through a variety of influences and this is like an interlude sung by a choir – but with some intriguing (slightly disturbing) effects. And, if that track wasn’t disturbing enough, “8” with its ukulele and child’s voice........ well!

“my strange addiction” begins and is interjected with a quotes from “The US Office” (the episode where Michael Scott shows everyone the movie he’s been making). I’m not sure how I feel about that – it sort of drags the album away from being escapism....... or does it? I’m not sure, because a Sitcom is escapism too, right? Anyway, I think that’s going to be my only criticism. Because my favourite track “bury your friend” is next. Its vocal arrangement is incredible and its minimalist musical style is intriguing. The lyric, as the title, is more than a little dark.

The short finale “goodbye” really acts as a summary, both musically and lyrically, with a number of quotations from the album..... which is a great way to end.

I really like the fact that, although production has clearly been focused on, they’ve opted for a minimalist approach rather than a real sense of over-production you so often get (if in doubt add strings, and all that). Of course, I was always going to like this. It perfectly blends a sense of fun with real musicianship and dark subject matter. That’s probably why I’m giving it this mark. This is the first time I’ve given this mark during the GWIM project. That’s partly because I don’t usually give albums this mark right off the bat. I usually cautiously go for a mark lower then promote them after a few years of listening. So, round of applause. 9

black midi “Schlagenheim”

I’d describe it as ‘a heavy, guitar riff version of progressive rock’ – and it certainly works well for me. Its like its got the best bits of progressive rock going on but stays away from the pretension. So, they experiment with the standard formats of rock to various degrees, from pushing the boundaries slightly to going completely avant-garde. That’s probably my only criticism. The avant-garde sections seem to come from nowhere and go nowhere. Its almost as if they’ve struggled to come up with an idea to bridge one section to another and decided ‘let’s just all of us play anything for 20 seconds. That’s ‘experimental’, right?’ However, an example of where that’s NOT the case is the end of “...953” where they suddenly burst into a random frenzy. But, the guitar slowly starts getting back to the riff it was playing, then gradually decelerates as the bass joins in, then other instruments, then finally the drums get back to it - and then the track concludes with a bang. That one is done very well. There’s some interjection of humour. “Western” had me fooled it was a more gentle and conventional offering, until it suddenly jumps off into another direction and announces it so loudly that I jumped out my skin! I think the best track is “Of Schlagenheim” although there’s something about the more conventional but melodic-less “bmbmbm” that’s very attractive. In summary, its a pretty virtuosic and technically proficient performance of a work that pushes boundaries and is very interesting to listen to. 8

Tom Walker “What A Time To Be Alive”

He’s a good singer but I’m not sure what he’s offering that isn’t done better than Rag ‘n’ Bone Man and George Ezra, for example. He’s not a bad song-writer but I’m not sure what he’s offering us that isn't done better than........... Rag ‘n’ Bone Man and George Ezra. Its that familiar singer/song-writer style where they use their own life experiences and there’s a fine line between ‘authenticity’ and ‘self-indulgence’. Its good enough. He does put his own stamp on a couple of tracks – wobbly keyboard sounds, arpeggio vocal figures etc. But you are left kinda thinking .... ‘yea. and?’  6

Cate Le Bon “Reward”

This is an occasion where I would describe something as ‘quietly brilliant’. Its very understated. But excellent. A great atmosphere is created using keyboards and saxophones and what sounds like make-shift percussion. The melodies are simple but strong, the music is understated yet complex and innovative, and the lyrics are subtle yet steeped with humour, irony etc. There’s a definite calm seriousness to it, yet my favourite tracks are the slightly less serious ones – “Mother’s Mother’s Magazines”, “Magnificent Gestures” and “Meet The Man”. I think its the innovative musical arrangements that top it all off so well for me. 7

Post Malone “Hollywood’s Bleeding”

When I was first listening to Post Malone about 18 months ago I was aware of his massive popularity...... and didn’t get it. After I heard the album he released  last year and a few tracks from recent years, I understood it more. But, I wasn’t armed with all the information. I was listening to an OK country/soft rock artist. I was unaware that Malone has changed his musical direction over time and began quite firmly in the rap/hip hop area. This made him much more interesting to me.

This album feels somewhat transitional. There’s quite a bit of both going on. This makes it compelling listening. The problem is, its a very mixed bag. When I review his 2024 album “F-1 Trillion” I concluded that the quality went right across the spectrum from poor to excellent depending on the individual track. Its turning out that this is a Malone trait. A track like “Die For Me” passes by uneventfully where as “Take What You Want” (which features the late Ozzy Osbourne) is a killer of a track. 6

seed. (AKA SEED Ensemble) “Driftglass”

I vaguely remember some reviews of this album referring to it as ‘pushing the boundaries of jazz’ which was curious to me because if there’s a genre that doesn’t really have any boundaries its jazz, no? Anyway, there’s certainly a collective array of influences – soul, R&B, hip hop, African and Caribbean influences etc. It suffers from problems arising with jazz records that I have mentioned before. The live experience of jazz is significantly better than what can be captured on record. This is no different here. Its very rare I ‘switch off’ when listening to music but I think I did a couple of times here. Long improvised passages work well live while being able to watch the performers and soloists but it never quite translates on record. Here, there are 4-5 minutes passages where the same message could have been delivered in 1 or 2.

That said, of the 8 tracks, none of which are bad, 3 are excellent. “The Dream Keeper” and the closing track “Interplanetary Migration” are highlights. The peak of the album is “WAKE (For Grenfell)” with its persistent and forthright lyric ‘tell all my mourners to mourn in red, ‘cause there ain’t no sense in my being dead’. 6

slowthai “Nothing Great About Britain”

The fact that I really like the politics of this album could be blindsiding me a bit - but I do have other points. I always prefer the vernacular-style rapping. The tracks contrast each other well – the music/style but also the way they are rapped. One track has a ‘lazy’ style where the rapping falls just behind the beat where as others are punchier and more disciplined. The tone of the voice changes from track to track with some aggressive, others lighter, some deep and bass-y, others using a softer and higher register. I really liked this. 7

Taylor Swift “Lover”

And here we go. I was wondering if it was going to happen at any point. This is the 1^st time I’ve REALLY enjoyed a Swift album. It still lacks a few elements to put her up their with the true greats of all time - the most notable point being the melodic construction. While being a solid song-writer, Swift does tend to suffer from static melodic writing that is usually the outcome of a ‘lyrics first’ approach to composition. This is where melodies meander somewhat and rely on natural speech inflections that result in a very heavy use of just a few notes (usually notes 1 2 & 3 of the tonic scale). This album is no exception to the rule.

That said, its a great pop album. As I’ve mentioned, Swift is a solid songwriter despite my noted criticism. Check out “Cruel Summer” (one of my most favourite Swift numbers), “The Archer”, & “Soon You’ll Get Better” for the best examples of this here. There’s a mix of sonic landscapes. We have the ‘cool’ light minimalist pop/R&B of the opening “I Forgot That You Existed” (a lesser-known Swift favourite of mine). In contrast we have the full-textured slow bass-y synth-driven electro-pop of “Cruel Summer”. We have the folksy power-ballad of “Lover”. In contrast we have the fast-paced lively and energetic pop track “Paper Rings”. We have the very busy percussion of the infectious “ME!” which contrasts with the single bass beat of “The Archer”. We have the heart-rending subject matter of the lyric in “Soon You’ll Be Better” contrasting the more playful “London Boy”. I've not given a Swift album higher than a 6 yet. This only just about scrapes it. But it scrapes it nonetheless. 7

Liam Gallagher “Why Me? Why Not”

To be fair, its good strong rock song-writing and with a good balance of styles across the rock spectrum. I lacks anything particularly interesting, original, or innovative. But, Gallagher himself has often commented that’s exactly how he assesses himself. He just carries on that classic rock tradition. So fair play, I guess. The unfortunately thing about this album is that the very 1^st track “Shockwave” is probably the best. 6

SWMRS “Berkeley’s On Fire”

Its rock. Its good. That about sums it up. It starts off better than the album ends up. The opening title track is a great track and has an interesting riff where the top note seems to aim for a flattened-7^th but not quite make it. So, the sound we get in somewhere between a 6^th which would give things a jazz feel, and a b7^th  which would be more bluesy. There are other interesting things such as a chromatic arpeggio bass guitar pattern in “April In Houston”. The final track,  is by far the best “Steve Got Robbed” with its interesting raw bluesy harmonies, 2 note chromatic melody of the verses and its mashing of blues, punk, grunge, and a flavour of hip-hop. Aside from these points its fairly standard rock but the band do put their own stamp on it. There is the monotonic or melodically-limited chant like passages that can be heard best in “Berkeley’s On Fire” and “Lose Lose Lose” and the fact that it sounds like the band share the role of lead vocalist. 6

Stormzy “Heavy Is The Head”

I like Stormzy – although its my most difficult genre, I like the music – and I like the politics. I don’t think this is ground-breaking in anyway at all but its quite innovative and diverse – it explores different genres and styles. I’m on board. 7

Psallos “Jude”

This act makes records that depict books from the Bible. Its intriguing. They do what they need to do at any given moment to depict what they want. In a sense, its sort of like a ‘musical’. But its even more musically incoherent than that. I’ve struggled to work our whether its a bit TOO all over the place...... or if there’s brilliance in it being a bit too all over the place. I’m leaning towards the latter. 7

Albums I already knew

Coldplay “Everyday Life” 8

The Specials “Encore” 6

CONCLUSIONS

We can’t conclude this yet but I believe my theory that a Covid has a negative impact on popular music is looking more likely. Going backwards through the years, this is definitely the best year by far since 2023 (although 2023 remains my favourite so far). I am enjoying this part of the project again!

Marking key (in a nutshell)

10 – Perfect (only 3 albums in history)

9 – Basically 10/10 (I just don’t quite view them in the same way as the 3 albums)

8 – Outstanding (possible nit-picking criticisms)

7 – Brilliant

6 – Good

5 – Average

4 – Has potential but below average

3 – Some good points but not very good overall

2 – Poor (possibly a few good points)

1 – Abysmal