Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion (January 12th 2009, Domino Records)
With Merriweather Post Pavilion, it finally became easy to love Animal Collective as they finally produced an accessible album which showed off their truly captivating and innovative approach. This album feels like a showcase of the very best of any number of genres – guilty-pleasure, roof-raising pop on My Girls, the neo-baroque flourishes at the start of Daily Routine, Taste’s enticing reggae-meets-Sega-Megadrive mashup, No More Running’s woozy, piano-led lullaby and the light afrobeat stylings of Brother Sport make this a work of sheer genius.
Best track – My Girls
Sky Larkin – The Golden Spike (February 9th 2009, Wichita Records)
An early contender for album of the year upon its release, The Golden Spike easily makes this this decade’s top 50 because of its infectious nature and Katie Harkin’s remarkable voice. A loving tribute to the height of 90s indiepop, it’s chocabloc with bouncy instant classics like the lead single Beeline (released as a limited-edition watch at the start of the year), the soaring Antibodies and the fairground-style melodies of Keepsakes. It’s one of the best debuts of recent times, and you get the sense there’s more of the same quality to come in the future.
Best track – Matador
Florence and the Machine – Lungs (July 7th 2009, Island Records)
It’s always nice when something lives up to the hype. The Florence publicity machine was heading towards choppier waters before the album was released – you know, those that usually bring on a Terribly British Backlash from the press at the faintest hint of any bright young thing achieving success. But Florence Welch’s combination of despair (lyrically) and joy (musically) proves so refreshing that any sense of melodrama can easily be excused. In fact, Lungs would lose a lot of its brilliance without its theatrical air.
Best track – Hurricane Drunk
Liam Frost – We Ain’t Got No Money, Honey, But We Got Rain (September 28th 2009, Emperor Records/PIAS)
On his second album, Liam Frost switches his genre of choice from introspective acoustica to classic pop, but his delightful confessional air remains. Frost’s sense of lyrical prowess offers another constant between his two albums. It reminds these ears of Idlewild’s Roddy Woomble – especially in the way which he plays with the speed of words – the refrain of Good Things… is a perfect example. There’s a charming duet with Martha Wainwright, released as a free download earlier in the year, and moody, piano-led ballads like Shipwrecks to contrast jolly singalong numbers likethe album’s swing-tinged closing track Orchestra Of Love. In short, there’s everything you’d ever want from an album.
Best track – Skylark Avenue
words: Kate Goodacre
The Fugitive Motel Review Of The Year 2009 is out this week.
Kate Goodacre is a freelance writer and photographer, and the founding editor of The Fugitive Motel. Her taste in music has been broadened greatly by her co-contributors over the years that the site and the Motel collective has been in business. Kate likes pink lady apples, recycling, open-wheeled motorsport, the smell of a well-kept park, the Today Programme and that strangely invigorating stillness you get in a city early on any weekend morning.