Those which touched me

 

Those of you who have read me for a while will know I listen to a great deal of music. My tastes are broad, from rock to jazz, hip hop to blues, R&B to classical, opera to indie, and many genres in between. And I enjoy music from all over the world.

I listen to a lot of new albums and these are my fifteen favourites from those released in 2021 that came to my attention. Each one, in its own way, excited, moved, touched, impressed and delighted me.

They are not in any particular order:

Sons of Kemet – Black to the Future

Wolf Alice – Blue Weekend

Little Simz – Sometimes I might be Introvert

Arooj Aftab – Vulture Prince

Lana Del Rey – Chemtrails over the Country Club

Nubya Garcia – Source + We Move

St. Vincent – Daddy’s Home

Swindle – The New World

The Killers – Pressure Machine

Mdou Moctar – Afrique Victime

Lana Del Rey – Blue Banisters

Nick Cave & Warren Ellis – Carnage

Arab Strap – As Days Get Dark

London Grammar – Californian Soil

Self Esteem – Prioritise Pleasure

 

If you ever get a chance to listen to any of them, I hope you enjoy.

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© the author writing as Romantic Dominant/Faded Romantic

Photograph found on the web, source unknown. If yours, please advise and I will remove or give credit.

 

 

Big Picture

 

Some songs haunt me beautifully.

This one, by the English band London Grammar, is one of them. It is ethereal and yet raw. It touches me deeply.

And it is not a one-off. Their music has an extraordinary elegaic quality, owing much to Hannah Reid’s gorgeous voice, but also to the compostion, creativity and talent of the other two members.

This song, off their album ‘Truth is a Beautiful Thing’, released last year, has the power to make me sigh deeply and remember, sadly, so many things that have happened, and some that have not.

This has been another of my ‘songs I like but you might not know’ series of blog posts.

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‘Big Picture’ written by © Dominic Ashley Ronald Major, Hannah Felicity May Reid, and Daniel Harry Joseph Rothman, and performed by London Grammar

© this post the author writing as Romantic Dominant

Big Picture

Love, what did you do to me?
My only hope is to let life stretch out before me
And break me on this lonely road
I’m made of many things, but I’m not what you are made of

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Only now do I see the big picture
But I swear that these scars are fine
Only you could’ve hurt me in this perfect way tonight
I might be blind, but you’ve told me the difference
Between mistakes and what you just meant for me

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Don’t say you ever loved me
Don’t say you ever cared
My darkest friend was

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Have you forgotten all the lies you left there so fresh
Turning old in the air
And now, you have no weapons
You can try to get close to those I love
Do you really think they don’t know what you’re made of

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Only now do I see the big picture
But I swear that these scars are fine
Only you could’ve hurt me in this perfect way tonight
I might be blind but you’ve told me the difference
Between mistakes and what you just meant for me

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Someone say you ever loved me
Don’t say you ever cared
My darkest friend was

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