It’s been a whole year since the start of our collective solitude, but the best sounds from March 2021 have been (mostly) collaborative. Whether the inspiration has been found in Lebanese torch songs or Monty Don, whether its creators are a songwriter inspired by his local waterfowl or the best tenor sax in the world, here are ten favourites records ready to usher in another spring.
Artist: Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The LSO Title: Promises Label: Luaka Bop What is it? A remarkable collaboration between a calmer-by-the-minute electronic producer and a free jazz luminary, championing melody and texture. L&Q says: “From the point of view of how much can be done with such sparse foundations, how to bring together fairly disparate musical worlds, and how captivating a recording can be, Promises is astonishing.”
Artist: Genesis Owusu Title: Smiling With No Teeth Label: House Anxiety What is it? An early contender for debut album of the year with an uncategorisable blend of pop, R&B, industrial music and more. L&Q says: “Wildly ambitious in scope, there are moments where it snaps into industrial grooves worthy of Trent Reznor, and others where Owusu transforms into an Aussie D’Angelo.”
Artist: William Doyle Title: Great Spans of Muddy Time Label: Tough Love What is it? The result of a hard-drive failure and locked down days watching Gardener’s World from the man formerly known as East India Youth. L&Q says: “Foraging further into the wilderness, Doyle has uncovered a maximalist Lynchian heaven from the undergrowth.”
Artist: G. S. Schray Title: The Changing Account Label: Last Resort What is it? All soft-focus arrangements, floating percussion and Durutti Column guitars, the new one from G.S. Schray melds ambient, jazz and experimental music with subtlety and charm. L&Q says: “This is an album to savour and replay on the heavy, claggy days.”
Artist: Lady Blackbird Title: Black Acid Soul Label: Foundation What is it? A timeless debut album and powerful new voice capable of conveying century-old pain and struggle. L&Q says: “Coming nominally from a jazz background, this album does not belong to a genre, but to a singer with the scope to oversee where different genres meet.”
Artist: Matthew E. White & Lonnie Holley Title: Broken Mirror: A Selfie Reflection Label: Spacebomb What is it? A discarded set of dust-gathering demos and sketches by White, revitalised by the feeling-driven work of experimental artist Holley. L&Q says: “the collaborative partnership between Matthew E. White and Lonnie Holley is a natural one – a case of the right place at the right time leading to the creation of the right songs for this moment.”
Artist: YUNGMORPHEUS Title: Thumbing Thru Foliage Label: Bad Taste What is it? Like the Greek mythological figure from whom he draws his name, YUNGMORPHEUS has an uncanny ability to make sense of chaos through a simple line or quip. L&Q says: “His smoky boom-bap is a tonic for our confused times.”
Artist: Hannah Peel Title: Fir Wave Label: My Own Pleasure What is it? An uncompromising collage of submerged ambient synths and up-tempo beats in artistic dialogue with Delia Derbyshire and the radiophonic workshop. L&Q says: “More powerful than lyrics, each track communicates its own panorama.”
Artist: Serpentwithfeet Title: DEACON Label: Secretly Canadian What is it? The latest from Josiah Wise is sparse, vulnerable, and frequently gorgeous. It casts its stylistic net wide, taking in a host of genres, but at heart, it’s a soul record, in the truest sense. L&Q says: “In general, the compositions here are by a distance the lightest and airiest that Wise has yet put forward.”
Artist: For Those I Love Title: For Those I Love Label: September What is it? An intensely rich and moving account of friendship, love loss, confusion and pain from Dublin spoken word poet David Balfe. L&Q says: “Rolling up and down on emotional highs and lows that feel somewhat like being at the mercy of an expanding and raging ocean tide, Balfe’s record resuscitates listeners.”