Ignoring that I haven’t written a blog post in a year despite my best intentions, I return here to share a few thoughts about the music I liked in 2021. The first thing to say, of course, is that 2021 was a really hard and terrible year for just about everyone. My own year is hard to describe. It started terribly, got better, got terrible again, got much better, and had ups and downs. A few people know pieces of the story. For the purposes of this moment, however, it’s useful to know that there were reasons that my music listening was the way it was, and I found it an essential way to process all the emotions of the year. Does that make this year different from any other? I have to let myself assume that this year was one of especial personal growth.
This playlist contains my whole list of favorites for the year. As with last year, I put certain releases on here immediately upon listening, and others later in the year as I kept returning to them. Notably TORRES’s Thirstier I didn’t get when it first came out, but later made much more sense. One that is premonitory is Beach House’s Once Twice Melody, which technically doesn’t come out until 2022, but this is the two EPs that have come out so far. A few things I listened to a lot are missing, but I struggled with loving the entire album and have the songs I liked on other playlists that chart my year. I put a few of my favorite singles at the end, of which Chaise Longue is clearly the most important, unless it’s Rumors.
Concerts came back, eventually. My first post-pandemic show was Mannequin Pussy on the first night of their dramatic US tour. I also saw Lala Lala and Adrianne Lenker. Will concerts actually return in 2022? I hope.
Some favorites, all in the female singer/songwriter vein because this is kind of my thing. Of course a very limited selection from the whole list.
Echo, Indigo Sparke
An early favorite of the year, this took on new meaning later in the year, and I don’t think I will ever think of this summer without “Colourblind” floating through my head.
Planet (i), Squirrel Flower
A sort of dystopian concept album, but described exactly how I felt in the current dystopia.
I Want the Door to Open, Lala Lala
I saw the record release show, and loved every moment, and DIVER was an essential song for the year.
Things Take Time, Take Time; Courtney Barnett
Captures the pandemic feeling, but in a very hopeful way.
I don’t want to live a year quite like 2021 again. Once in lifetime was enough, but we don’t exactly get to choose. The joy that I found late in 2021 year is following me into 2022, and what more can I ask for?