The albums that resonated most with me in 2022 all conveyed a sense of honesty. By that, I mean they felt like genuine expressions of feeling — love, loss, anger, determination, whatever — rather than showy displays of playacting geared toward acquiring some mass-culture buzz. In other words, though the musicians who made these albums performed the songs, they were not performative. Here, then, are my 10 favorite albums of 2022:
Al Olender, Easy Crier — By turns wrenching and wry, Olender’s first album shows that she has a writer’s eye for detail, and a sense of melody that sets her apart. Her songs have a folk-pop sensibility, but her approach is unique, and she has a winning charisma, especially onstage. As I wrote here, “Olender has said her starting point for these 10 songs was the idea that she would be fully honest with herself. Not only did she summon the courage to probe the dark corners of her psyche, she had the wherewithal to write it down, and the humor and grace to make it all so beautifully tuneful.”
Alvvays, Blue Rev — Like shoegazers who are staring off at the horizon, rather than down at their feet, Alvvays tends to situate turbulent emotions within sweeping pop soundscapes marked by velvety fuzztone guitars and enveloping synthesizers. Though both of the band’s previous albums are excellent, the Toronto group reaches new heights on Blue Rev, a collection of songs packed with hooks and sharp, incisive lyrics from singer Molly Rankin.
Wet Leg, Wet Leg — Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers do such a masterful job entertaining each other on their first album that it’s fun to witness is happening. On songs including “Chaise Longue,” “Wet Dream,” “Angelica” and “Ur Mom,” they are relatable and droll on songs full of hooks. As I wrote for Paste, Wet Leg is “a gleefully bawdy, often adrenalizing exploration of ennui, lust and catharsis.”
Bonny Light Horseman, Rolling Golden Holy — As on Bonny Light Horseman’s first album, many of the songs on Rolling Golden Holy are about finding the sublimity in tumult, often in the context of love and loss brought about through war. It lends a elegiac feel to these songs, especially “Someone to Weep for Me” and “Comrade Sweetheart” that is at once mournful and deeply compelling. As I wrote for Paste, Bonny Light Horseman’s second LP is “an ageless album for the modern age.”
Silvana Estrada, Marchita — A folk singer from Veracruz, Mexico, Estrada immerses herself in sorrow on her spellbinding solo debut. Her expressive voice is the centerpiece here, and as I wrote here, “she’s capable of singing with great power, yet she uses it with judicious restraint and a dazzling sense of control.” Her lyrics are searing and poetic, and the accompaniment on Venezuelan cuatro or piano is subdued, making you want to lean in lest you miss a word. As I wrote for Spin, “If sorrow was her starting point, she reaches a clarity of vision that borders on rapturous.”
Archers of Loaf, Reason in Decline — In their original ’90s incarnation, Archers of Loaf took pleasure in embedding melodic hooks in noisy, truly abrasive musical arrangements. They strike a more equitable balance on their first new album in nearly 25 years. Reason in Decline is still noisy, but it’s also the band’s catchiest work as singer Eric Bachmann parses strong feelings about politics, the pandemic and a troubling cultural climate. Songs including “In the Surface Noise” and “Saturation and Light” throw showers of sparks, while slow jams like “Aimee” show a side of Bachmann that was more visible in work with Crooked Fingers and as a solo artist. As I wrote in this feature for Inside Hook, Reason in Decline “swaps out much of the cynical disaffection of their earlier music for something grown-up and thoughtful — but still palpably angry.”
Angel Olsen, Big Time — To be honest, the buzz around Olsen’s earlier work often left me cold. Not this time. Big Time is a quietly forceful album stuffed full of powerful emotions and wrapped in vintage country packaging. What often struck me in the past as a certain distance or reserve is gone here, and Olsen sounds as if she’s living every note of these songs in real time. The mix of subtle organ, horns and punchy backing vocals turn opener “All the Good Times” into a flat-out stunner, but these songs as a whole represent Olsen’s strongest body of work so far.
Sharon Van Etten, We've Been Going About This All Wrong — Van Etten has long brought an emotional intensity to her work — her 2014 album Are Were There remains one of my all-time favorites — and her latest is no exception. This time out, she’s exploring what it means to be a mother, a wife and a singer at a moment when pretty much everything feels unsettled. The 10 songs here (on the original, non-deluxe edtion) show the range of her abilities, from the quiet, mournful opener “Darkness Fades” to the noisy tumult of “Headspace” to the pulsing rocker “Mistakes.” As I wrote for Paste, “The combination of her voice, her ever-deepening talent as a songwriter and musical arrangements that are well thought out but not fussed over makes We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong a potent addition to Van Etten’s catalog.”
Craig Finn, A Legacy of Rentals — Finn has written a lot about survivors, often those who make their own hard luck, but he’s interested here in the idea of memory: remembering the ones who didn’t make it, comparing divergent recollections of the same events, or cataloging the memories we want to remember, or simply can’t forget. It’s an elegant album, often somber, but as lyrically deft as anything Finn has written — and that’s saying something. as I wrote for Paste, “few lyricists can match his talent for sketching such fully realized characters within the confines of a four- or five-minute song. He’s a master of oblique references, casual asides and offhanded observations that add up to complex people with complicated inner lives.”
Nilufer Yanya, Painless — A varied and eclectic album cycling through a range of emotion, Yanya’s second LP balances indie rock and futuristic R&B on songs exploring notions of vulnerability. Her voice finds the middle ground between drowsy and anguished, and when coupled with taut coils of guitar, electronic beats and textured synthesizers, the effect is hypnotic.