Top Ten Albums of 2013 - #2
Hey Marseilles' Lines We Trace
Editor's Note: This is the 9th in a quasi-weekly series of reviews marking my favorite ten albums of 2013. The 10th edition is wrapped into the larger year-end post I call "The Ho Media Awards", which will be published just after the new year. Stay tuned!
It was a vicious fight between #1 and #2 this year, which has been raging for the better part of 8 months in my brain. It came down to a really, really picky detail to make my choice: that X-factor we call "The Closer." LWT stumbles just a little with the instrumental at the very end, only because before it's halfway over, we've already achieved the chilled out, post-album mindset that it aims to achieve (except that now we still have over a minute to go).
But forget about that. If I were a co-awarding sort of guy, this would share the title with this year's winner. "Tides" is a stunning and enveloping opener that pairs well with the song that follows, "Heart Beats." "Dead of Night" keeps the blades off our wrists by introducing a livelier piano line before we waltz into "Elegy," a much more upbeat song than you might otherwise have guessed. "Bright Stars Burning" has all the earmarks of a single, and indeed it was the first single from this album back in March or April. "Building Glare," the instrumental "Madrona," and the "Tides"-throwback "Hold Your Head" are the most straightforward songs on the album, insofar as orchestral indie tunes can be straightforward. "Rainfall" strips the instrumentation back gorgeously before the rocking "Looking Back" kicks in. "Cafe Lights" is a great closer...except that it's not over yet! "Demian" is another pretty little instrumental that somehow throws off the album's end for me.
Note that nowhere in there did I complain about a track. Every single one is a winner.
You can watch the well-done video for "Bright Stars Burning" here:
Album Highlights: Tides, Rainfall, Looking Back
Editor's Note: This is the 9th in a quasi-weekly series of reviews marking my favorite ten albums of 2013. The 10th edition is wrapped into the larger year-end post I call "The Ho Media Awards", which will be published just after the new year. Stay tuned!It was a vicious fight between #1 and #2 this year, which has been raging for the better part of 8 months in my brain. It came down to a really, really picky detail to make my choice: that X-factor we call "The Closer." LWT stumbles just a little with the instrumental at the very end, only because before it's halfway over, we've already achieved the chilled out, post-album mindset that it aims to achieve (except that now we still have over a minute to go).
But forget about that. If I were a co-awarding sort of guy, this would share the title with this year's winner. "Tides" is a stunning and enveloping opener that pairs well with the song that follows, "Heart Beats." "Dead of Night" keeps the blades off our wrists by introducing a livelier piano line before we waltz into "Elegy," a much more upbeat song than you might otherwise have guessed. "Bright Stars Burning" has all the earmarks of a single, and indeed it was the first single from this album back in March or April. "Building Glare," the instrumental "Madrona," and the "Tides"-throwback "Hold Your Head" are the most straightforward songs on the album, insofar as orchestral indie tunes can be straightforward. "Rainfall" strips the instrumentation back gorgeously before the rocking "Looking Back" kicks in. "Cafe Lights" is a great closer...except that it's not over yet! "Demian" is another pretty little instrumental that somehow throws off the album's end for me.
Note that nowhere in there did I complain about a track. Every single one is a winner.
You can watch the well-done video for "Bright Stars Burning" here:
Album Highlights: Tides, Rainfall, Looking Back
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