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.
Sometimes a chorus just hits you, melody and words. This one does it for me.
The song is by St. Vincent, which is the stage name for Anne Erin Clark. She is a highly talented and distinctive American singer, multi-intrumentalist and performer. I have admired her for some time but her latest album, Masseducation (released 2017) , has really struck a chord with me. I struggled to choose a track as one ‘ of my songs I like but you might not have heard’ blog posts. But the chorus on this clinched it.
How can anybody have you? How can anybody have you and lose you? How can anybody have you and lose you And not lose their minds, too?
She might have been writing about Los Angeles, but for me it has a much more personal note.
St. Vincent is a unique talent. Well worth a listen.
In Los Ageless, the winter never comes
In Los Ageless, the mothers milk their young
But I can keep running
No, I can keep running
The Los Ageless hang out by the bar
Burn the pages of unwritten memoirs
But I can keep running
No, I can keep running
.
How can anybody have you?
How can anybody have you and lose you?
How can anybody have you and lose you
And not lose their minds, too?
How can anybody have you?
How can anybody have you and lose you?
How can anybody have you and lose you
And not lose their minds, too?
.
The last days of the sunset superstars
Girls in cages playing their guitars
But how can I leave?
I just follow the hood of my car
In Los Ageless, the waves they never break
They build and build until you don’t have no escape
But how can I leave?
I just follow my hood to the sea, go to sleep
.
How can anybody have you?
How can anybody have you and lose you?
How can anybody have you and lose you
And not lose their minds, too?
How can anybody have you?
How can anybody have you and lose you?
How can anybody have you and lose you
.
And not lose their minds, too?
Oh my Lord, oh, we really did it now
I’m a monster and you’re my sacred cow
But I can keep running
No, I can keep on running
.
How can anybody have you?
How can anybody have you and lose you?
How can anybody have you and lose you
And not lose their minds, too?
How can anybody have you?
How can anybody have you and lose you?
How can anybody have you and lose you
And not lose their minds?
.
I guess that’s just me, honey, I guess that’s how I’m built
I try to tell you I love you and it comes out all sick
I guess that’s just me, honey, I guess that’s how I’m built
I try to write you a love song but it comes out a lament
I guess that’s just me, honey, I guess that’s how I’m built
I try to tell you I love you but it comes out all sick
I guess that’s just me, honey, I guess that’s how I’m built
I try to write you a love song but it comes out a lament
I try to write you a love song but it comes out a lament
I try to write you a love song but it comes out a lament
A Faded Romantic's Notebook 
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