The Best Albums of 2022 (So Far)
With a plethora of incredible releases, 2022 has shaped up to be a hell of a year for music. Here we share 16 albums in no specific order that we have been enjoying at Still Listening.
We’re already over half a year through 2022 and what a year it’s been. Artists throughout the world are finally free from the limitations of the pandemic and are back with fresh ideas and new enthusiasm. If you're still listening, you can feel it in the air: it's in the heartbreaking pull of Black Country New Road's second album; it's woven throughout the indulgent Mr Morale & The Big Steppers; we dare to say that each and every album featured in this article is proving to be a strong candidate for our end of year list. With half of this year's music already out, here are sixteen of our favourite albums from 2022.
Charli XCX - Crash
Rip hyperpop? This was the question on the minds of Charli XCX’s fans during her rollout for CRASH. For the past 6 years, Charli had refined her experimental pop sound to what is now referred to by many as hyperpop. Charli’s unique ear for pop, her catchy hooks, and experimentation ranging from fun to downright twisted on albums like Pop 2, her self-titled, and quarantine anthem, how i’m feeling now, took hyperpop from an internet cult to a genre with a mainstream stage.
MUNA - MUNA
Who is MUNA? The queer band of our dreams. Self-proclaimed creators of “sad soft pop songs for sissies angry girls emo queers and crybabies.” The iconic trio is back with their third record to whip us into a dance-pop frenzy. Hot on the heels of viral hit ‘Silk Chiffon’ featuring Phoebe Bridgers, MUNA shared a succession of equally impressive and punchy tracks in anticipation of MUNA’s release.
The Smile - A Light For Attracting Attention
The Smile was born out of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood’s desire to make music over the lockdown, and they appeared on the scene playing Glastonbury’s Live at Worthy Farm with Son’s of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner. Their first album, A Light for Attracting Attention, produced by long-time Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, is not an album that shies away from the fuckery of recent times but jumps right into the doom pool to find the cracks where the light can seep in.
Pusha T - It’s Almost Dry
Four years since Kanye produced instant classic Daytona; Pusha T returns with It’s Almost Dry his strongest release to date. The album comes off the back of a time in which Pusha T was, like many of us, isolated from the world, writing the album whilst the streets were closed. What results is an album of refinement. With the rapper honing in on a more concentrated sound compared to his earlier work. The rapper went back to Ye for production on the album but with added involvement from Pharrell and a plethora of talented features including: Jay Z, Lil Uzi Vert and the “final” joint performance from Ye and Kid Cudi. More than anything though it’s Pusha T’s voice that shines through on this project, and that’s impressive considering the potential for show-stealing features.
Kendrick Lamar - Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers
Thematically, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers depicts Kendrick turning his sights inwards and his journey navigating trauma, which is done through a myriad of deeply personal and introspective songs. This is accomplished with the structure of a double-sided album, with side A being the Steppers side, and side B being the Morale side. While there is no definitive explanation, there is something to be said about the parallels between the two sides.
Wet Leg - Wet Leg
Wet Leg is a band we didn’t know we desperately needed. A duo from the Isle of Wight, singers and guitarists Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers, grew so much hype around their cottagecore seeds planted last year that when the harvest of was about, there was doubt if they’d be able to live up to the expectations. Wet Leg is a band that exists in a self-created fairy tale where two Cinderellas get drunk with evil sisters to curse their godmother with a ghosting tendency and manipulative prince/ss charming. Luckily, as every tale hosts at least one miracle, Wet Leg was no exception. Their debut album not only silenced any sceptics but scored well-beyond any expectations. It’s a modern indie classic.
Big Thief - Dragon Warm Mountain I Believe in You
Left to their own devices, Big Thief collect like rainwater. The music of Adrianne Lenker, Max Oleartchik, Buck Meek, and James Krivchenia gathers strength in time, the band itself growing more resilient and complex the more they write together. Tightening while feeling loose, yet always with a lightness. In late 2019, the band was touring in Europe for their two albums released that year, the mythic twins, U.F.O.F. and Two Hands. Krivechnia proposed the idea of writing the follow-up record. This prolific tilt is natural with the band’s current momentum, combined with a simmering curiosity, but it was led by a central question: “How do we encapsulate the different aspects of Adrianne’s songwriting as well as the different aspects of the band onto a single record?”
Cate Le Bon - Pompeii
“Pompeii” Cate Le Bon’s sixth album released via Mexican Summer on Friday 4th February sees the Welsh multi-musician offer up a record crafted during the height of lockdown that is heavily laden with a claggy, subdued, melancholic claustrophobia, leaving the listener with vast amounts to uncover, much like excavating through the ashy weight of destruction that shrouds the Roman city that it shares its name.
Black Country, New Road - Ants From Up There
On their magnificent sophomore LP, Black Country, New Road soar high, smashing through the barriers of their previously acclaimed songwriting capabilities. ‘Ants From Up There’ is a drastic shift in sound for the band. Replacing volatile and vicious soundscapes with a subtly harrowing beauty that inescapably infects the soul. The album is a heart-wrenching opus, delving into topics of relationships, escapism and fame. Made ever more painful with the departure of lead vocalist Isaac Wood just days before the release of the album, Black Country, New Road have released an album so truly unique and momentous for the UK alternative scene.
Mitski - Laurel Hell
Cult indie singer-songwriter Mitski has resurfaced from her three-year hiatus with the epic album Laurel Hell. Her break from the music industry was announced back in 2019, much to her fans’ dismay, but Mitski’s insular era has made way for one of her most exciting projects yet. Laurel Hell is a power and exhilarating listening experience, invoking raw emotion through vivid storytelling and visceral production.
FKA twigs - CAPRISONGS
When FKA Twigs says ‘hey I made you a mixtape’ at the beginning of ‘ride the dragon’, we take her words straight to heart, as her inviting voice echoes to the sounds of a cassette player. After the high conceptual storm of ‘MAGDALENE’, she invites us to move a little closer as she’s shedding previous albums’ extravagant skin to show new shape. It looks like human who’s been hurt and found their way back with help of friends, R&B beats and helluva strength.
Eve Adams - Metal Bird
Originally released just over a year ago, Metal Bird received little fanfare. However, the story goes that a chance listen by UK label Basin Rock was met with such enthusiasm it prompted a full remaster and re-release of Eve Adams third album. And this time it appears Metal Bird is finally getting the acclaim that it deserves. Metal Bird is far and away Adams’s most accomplished work to date. The fact it was very nearly lost in time only adds to the heartbreak and loss that is imbibed into every moment. Here's to second chances.
Beach House - Once Twice Melody
Once Twice Melody is Beach House’s most ambitious project. 18 tracks of glistening dream pop transcend the listener to a blissful state of euphoria. Whether that’s with the 7 minute epic Over and Over, the acoustic ballad Sunset or the magnificent title track, this new album is Beach House at the peak of their creativity and experimentation. The album manages to feel experimental whilst warmly nostalgic towards their previous albums, especially the creativity of their earlier work.
Yeule - Glitch Princess
With headquarters online, Yeule doesn’t want to hide behind the screen. The imminent wish is for us to see inside their core. Access the hard drive to where they’ve exported the most authentic parts of themselves. In the end, they’ve released them into the ether. Not everything real is physical. Most important things live in abstract spaces. That’s where yeule wants us to enter. It doesn’t mean they’re free of pain. Quite the opposite. But while hacking the system, they wrote the code to crack in-between the solid reality to create their own in the crevice. We bow to that.
Ethel Cain - Preacher’s Daughter
Ethel Cain aka Hayden Anhedönia delivers sublime storytelling, punctuating the 76 minute runtime to unravel the lackluster (and in this case, fatal) reality of the American dream over 13 ethereal tracks. Preacher’s Daughter is without a doubt a top contender for album of the year. It’s a true masterpiece, a melting pot of macabre storytelling and ambient music. No one is doing it quite like Ethel Cain.
black midi - Hellfire
Hellfire is a masterwork of confusion and creation. A cold world that affects everyone. In it, the sinners are heroes, and the saints are snakes. black midi have taken their talents as musicians and lyricists to a new level that begs us to question what music is supposed to be. This album is not so much post-punk as it is post-normality. Black midi have taken Hellfire and proven that nothing is sacred. There is no other, and there may never be again. But today, we have black midi.
