January 2022

Every year, I attempt to put together a list of my favorite albums from the year. And with each year it's become more and more of a struggle. 2021 has been especially challenging because although I've listened to as much new music as ever, I've often needed the comfort of more familiar records to get me through the depressing slog that has been the second year of the pandemic. More often than not, all I wanted to listen to was old records by the Innocence Mission, Beach House, and The Amazing. That being said, there's a load of albums that were released this year that sunk their hooks into me, resulting in countless plays—none more than Low's HEY WHAT. In typical fashion, year end lists from friends, The Quietus, Aquarium Drunkard, and Bandcamp loaded my queue, and I've been trying to cram in a bunch of listening over the past few weeks. I've had to resign myself to the fact that there's no way I'll get through it all anytime soon, so I'm just gonna get it over with and share this random number of records that left a sizable impression on my in the past year. Invisible Cities by