Here we go....
20. Meursault - All Creatures Will Make Merry
The Edinburgh folktronica band's second full-length was fuzzy yet beautifully crafted. The album was a blanket of lo-fi mist, cut through by band linchpin Neil Pennycook's anguished bleating, delivering the usual miserabilist kitchen-sink drama ("I got drunk on New Years Day/ I mixed my drinks and I lost my way") we've come to expect from Scottish indie bands since day zero. But few could argue that the propulsive shifts of pace and the orchestration, by turns forlorn and optimisitc, don't touch a nerve, and at its most bare, like on Sleet,
All Creatures is nothing short of devestating.
19. Emeralds - Does It Look Like I'm Here?
Sounding like a 2010 version of Tangerine Dream, the serene
Does It Look Like I'm Here? was one of the year's most immersive headphones albums. Whilst a tad overlong, the rippling electronic waves of
Does It Look Like I'm Here? can't help but sooth as they wash over you. Guitars are applied sparingly but effectively, adding just enough variety, as well as providing the cross-over appeal to fans of ambient electronic, drone, post-rock and retro computer games alike. Should there ever be another
Ecco the Dolphin game, this would surely be its perfect soundtrack.
18. Menomena - Mines
The recording of
Mines was reportedly a turbulent period for the Portland, Oregon trio, and to some extent that comes through on the record. Whilst 2007's
Friend & Foe was letting off fireworks at every available opportunity,
Mines just broods and simmers; just compare their respective openers Muscle'n'Flo and Queen Black Acid if you need proof. Yet with its intricate and nuanced arrangements (which, thanks to their own programming language Deeler somehow depicts every minute detail), and the contrasting vocal contributions of each member, this was unmistakenably a Menonema album, and
Mines was the sound of a band forging their distinctive sound into new and darker territory.
17. The Walkmen - Lisbon
If
Bows and Arrows was the staggering out of the bar emotional and bleary-eyed, and
You & Me was getting home and reminiscing in front of the fire, then
Lisbon was the journey home on a starlit night.
Lisbon didn't stray too far from the Walkmen's well-beaten track, but he likes of Angela Surf City and Woe Is Me demonstrated that few other bands can kick up so much dust in the process. It was the sound of a band full of confidence and completely comfortable in their own shoes; "well they say you can't please everyone / but I'm stuck on a winning streak" coos Hamilton Leithauser on While I Shovel The Snow, and he's half-right at least.
16. Beach House - Teen Dream
In hindsight,
Teen Dream was make-or-break for Beach House;
Devotion was a fine sophomore effort, but did little to dispel the notion that this was a band destined to make the same (admittedly lovely) record over and over again. Yet in spite of that non-descript album cover, by the time the opening salvo of Zebra, Silver Soul and Norway - far and away the most dynamic and assertive songs they've ever written - are over, it's remarkable just how deftly Beach House had leapt out from the pigeonhole many (myself included) had put them in. The rest of
Teen Dream was a more relaxed, loungey affair, but no matter, as Beach House had made their point; this is a band with the legs to carry them for a good while yet.
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