Delicate Steve – “I Can Fly Away”
Steve’s breezy and virtuosic playing has only gotten better, and his ability to captivate with these guitar-driven instrumental jams should have the same hold on the public as Khruangbin, or at least the same hold on college kids cramming for finals. The difference might be that Delicate Steve succeeds more than most instrumental acts at treating the guitar as the lead melody, and simply letting everything else fall into place. “I Can Fly Away” isn’t built on vibey, background music, it’s as emotionally driven and conceptual as it would be with vocals, and often, like most of After Hours, even more so.
Katy J Pearson – “Willow’s Song”
Return was one of 2020’s most overlooked debuts. A canny and homespun record that spanned the soft, Laurel Canyon tendencies Pearson’s voice seemed destined for, and the bouncy pop numbers that were such a surprise. For how much bigger the arrangements are on Howl though, the songs themselves are slightly more insular, harder to grab on to at first lesson. That is of course, not a detriment, and Pearson to her credit, finds a way to combine everything – all the excess, all the melody and all the drama – into something big and purposeful; into a closing track that shakes the foundation her debut was built on.
Burna Boy – “Glory”
As Burna Boy’s afrobeat roots align themselves closer with modern pop, and his features grow to include the likes of Ed Sheeran and Khalid, it would be easy for him to lose touch of his purpose. Yes, those tracks are easily the weakest on his newest outing, but elsewhere Burna Boy is pushing his sound in surprising and effective new ways. Ladysmith Black Mambazo may not sound as left field of a collaboration on paper as it really is, but Burna Boy doubles down, bookending Love, Damini with their appearances. “Glory” is excessive in the best way possible. As the tracks runs the gamut through a “Happy Birthday” interpolation and swells with orchestration and choral refrains, it sets the stage for its album well as an opener can and successfully harkens back to classics like “Gone till November”.
Spiral Stairs – “Slipped Away”
Scott Kannberg’s solo work outside of Pavement heavily pales in comparison to Stephen Malkmus’, but avoiding those predilections, you can make the case that Medley Attack!! is very enjoyable. This is not a profound, or especially important release, but it never aims to be, and Spiral Stairs is straightforward and effective in the sincerity of its sound, a sound I find very enjoyable. Kannberg does come close to transcending to greatness on a few tracks here though, most notably on “Slipped Away”. For all its clunky and expository dialogue, Kannberg keeps the track upbeat and carefree, evoking a wistful dichotomy that his old band used to do so well.
Laura Veirs – “Winter Windows”
For an artist as consistently arresting as Laura Veirs, a divorce album is the kind of songwriting fodder fans dream of. Couple that with the fact that the man she was divorcing, Tucker Martine, was her longtime producer as well, and you get Found Light, one of Veirs’ best albums – a real compliment considering her high watermark and her recent cutbacks. Veirs exudes confidence and melancholy and is unrestrained throughout, determined to create palettes and production quirks that would sound alien on her previous work. As the final moment from Found Light, “Winter Windows” is pure catharsis, a track, both punky and biting in a way that Veirs has seldom appeared before. What’s more is that she pulls it off.
Wu-Lu – “Times”
The complexity of Wu-Lu is clear from the outset, Miles Romans-Hopcraft’s blend of Warp-friendly textures weaves through hardcore, hip hop, breakbeats and industrial in ways that are clear just from the initial tone of the production. Layering so many contrasting elements is a lofty goal in itself, but a gem like “Times” tells another story. Like a lot of the album, it focuses on youth and coming of age, but it also finds the right tone to conveys anger and bitterness along with nostalgia and acceptance. Romans-Hopcraft helped right the impetus for this track with Morgan Simpson of black midi and you can tell, but its success lies in just how much it sounds like a Wu-Lu cut.
