Welcome to The Song Bar’s favourite albums of 2024 Part 1. As ever, all the usual disclaimers - there’s no such thing as ‘best of the year’, and it’s all highly subjective, but all LPs in the appearing in the Albums section are chosen because they and the artists being them, contain many elements of interest and originality. Shown here in no particular order, there is a mixture of very established musicians, but also many debutants and new voices, particularly among female artists pushing the boundaries of creativity. Feel free to dip into the original reviews, but please also peruse everything else rest of the section, and if you see glaring omissions, as there may well be, also add your own suggestions in comments below. Part 2 will also follow soon.
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: Wild God
The 18th studio LP by the messianic Australian and band, first since 2019’s Ghosteen, is perhaps the best for some time – grandiose, passionate, powerful, using deity, religion, myth and narrative, and despite all the tragedy and loss in Cave’s family, somehow flows with rapturous hope
Julia Holter: Something In The Room She Moves
One of the most inventive, experimental musicians around, the Los Angeles artist returns with dream-like songs of gentle pitter-patter percussion, woozy bass, flute, whispered vocals, atmospheric, tinkling synths, and twittering woodwind summoning a surreal, twilight feel
Bill Ryder-Jones: lechyd Da
Merseyside’s former Coral guitarist and founder returns with a peach of an LP – a warm, musical embrace of and melancholy, opulently produced in his Yawn studio in West Kirby with piano, orchestral strings and a touch of brass
Gruff Rhys: Sadness Sets Me Free
The effortlessly talented Welshman, former Super Furry Animals frontman and all round nice guy returns with a gorgeously bittersweet album of wry humour and fabulous tunes inspired by the joys of writing about sad subjects
Grace Cummings: Ramona
Slow, inexorable, compelling beauty in the powerful voice of the Melbourne singer-songwriter and actor, here, following 2022’s extraordinary Storm Queen, with a less raw, more lavishly orchestrated sound and grandeur, to express themes such as grief and self-destruction and emotional violence
Future Islands: People Who Aren't There Anymore
A decade after that sensational breakthrough performance on David Letterman, the Baltimore synthpop quartet release their best since – songs of thrumming melodies and heart-on-sleeve, passionate delivery by frontman Samuel T Herring
Jack White: No Name
This surprise, initially vinyl-only limited release by the US star, handed out on 19th July as a freebie to customers at his Third Man Records label in Detroit, Nashville and London, grew into a superbly satisfyingly Led Zeppelin-esque rock release also reminiscent of his original White Stripes band sound
The Smile: Wall of Eyes
Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood join again with jazz drummer Tom Skinner for a second LP of cerebrally inventive, dark tracks, tinged with ghostly melancholy, at times almost more Radiohead than Radiohead
Conchúr White: Swirling Violets
Gorgeously sensitive, intimate, uplifting, grounded but dream-like folk-pop debut by the singer-songwriter from County Armagh, with blissful but pointed songs of a mystical, spiritual, existential and relatable nature
Clairo: Charm
Deliciously understated, intimate, warm folk-pop with a strong Laurel Canyon flavour by the Boston, Mass. artist Claire Cottrill with songs about different sides of charm, platonically, romantically, but also not knowing how long it will last
Waxahatchee: Tigers Blood
Following 2020’s acclaimed album Saint Cloud, Alabama-raised, Kansas City-based singer-songwriter Katie Crutchfield’s next is a very strong, solid, steady release that sits comfortably in the middle ground of Americana, pop and country
Clarissa Connelly: World of Work
Originally released in April, this beautiful, sensual, mysterious, mystical alt-folk release by the Scotland-born, Denmark-raised and Copenhagen-based composer and singer is filled with long, rapturous notes, piano, strings, church bells, and themes of solitude and death, and evocative of sparse Scandinavian landscapes
Father John Misty: Mahashmashana
The king of killer opening lines Josh Tillman returns with another majestic, beautifully melodic, grandiose, playfully clever, darkly humorous and philosophical set of eight epic songs fuelled by a sense of mortality and enduring irony
Haley Heynderickx: Seed of a Seed
Delicious, intelligent, playful, gorgeous, witty folk with a country flavour by the honey-voiced Oregon singer-songwriter, packed with lyrically vivid images and perceptive, humorous lyrics, with fabulous finger-picking guitar, with added cello and trombone
Tyler, the Creator: Chromakopia
American rapper and producer Tyler Okonma’s eighth LP is an eclectic, electric, eccentric creation featuring his oddball masked persona, and addresses subjects such as fame, getting old, and with several songs featuring his mother Bonita Smith
The Cure: Songs of a Lost World
Powerful, moving and dark, on grief, loss and the passing of time, this milestone release by the British cult band of Robert Smith is their first LP of new songs for 16 years, but is worth the wait with its emotional depth and strength
Michael Kiwanuka: Small Changes
A fourth album by the Mercury prize-winner, another gorgeously crafted and performed set of songs drawing on 70s soul and slowly simmering psychedelic rock, and the third produced by Danger Mouse and Inflo
Kim Deal: Nobody Loves You More
After various singles over the years, the former Pixies member, and Breeders musician finally releases her first full solo album, a truly fabulous execution of superb songwriting, sharp, heartbreak lyrics, diverse musical styles and instruments across indie, rock and pop, all performed with beautiful tenderness, grit and gusto
Black Grape: Orange Head
Salford’s Shaun Ryder and Manchester’s Paul ‘Kermit’ Leveridge return with their first LP since 2017’s Pop Voodoo, and their fourth overall together, with an especially funk-filled laced with their classic banter, wit and talent for cleverly daft, surreal and addictive lyrics
Amyl and The Sniffers: Cartoon Darkness
The Australian punk band fronted by the electric personality of irrepressible singer Amy Taylor return with another set of fabulous songs, with some new musical dynamic variation, plenty of humour, swearing, exposed flesh, but also self-aware, kick-ass feminism driven by great riffs and melodies
Nilüfer Yanya: My Method Actor
Classy, effortlessly cool, experimental indie-folk-pop in this third LP the London singer-songwriter, again joined by producer and co-writer Wilma Archer in an album about identity, relationships and self-control
English Teacher: This Could Be Texas
An outstanding debut LP that eventually became the Mercury Prize winner – subtle, original and experimental – by the Leeds quartet of Lily Fontaine, Douglas Frost, Nicholas Eden and Lewis Whiting, packed with intelligent, tender, rich, thoughtful, observational metaphor, and broad, inventive instrumentation
SPRINTS: Letter To Self
After many strong singles and EPs, another great debut – bold, dynamic, blistering punk and post-punk by the Dublin four-piece, tackling turbulent existential crises with dark passion and wit
Lucy Rose: This Ain't The Way You Go Out
The English singer-songwriter’s fifth LP, following 2019’s No Words Left, with a triumph-against-personal-adversity comeback of beautiful piano-based songs fuelled by health difficulty and yet also hope
Charli XCX: BRAT
The Essex-raised, hugely successful star Charlotte Emma Aitchison’s sixth album became a huge hit and a catchphrase. More nuanced than her last, 2022’s Crash, it embraces mainstream pop and dance, but also with ironic twists, sleazy fun, humour, and a dirtier, more underground sound of her more experimental past
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