New music part 3/Music roundup.

Lots to cover!

Joseph. Discovered via Pandora. This trio of sisters from Joseph, Oregon is rooted in folk sensibility but also manages to defy description over the course of three albums; if I were to try I'd call it neo-alt-folk. Their first album, Native Dreamer Kin, is firmly three-part harmony swelling over acoustic accompaniment, with gorgeous standout "Tell Me There's a Garden"; the second, I'm Alone No You're Not, was produced by Mike Mogis and joins the strengths of their harmonies and songwriting with modern accoutrements. Tracks like "Planets" and "Sweet Dreams" bring the neo-folk; "S.O.S." and "Blood and Tears" sound like chart-toppers from the early 90s; and "More Alive Than Dead" is just insanely beautiful, evoking the quiet, mystical forests of the northwest with just a muted piano, that harmony, and a soft river of synths.

Their most recent album, Stay Awake, is a short seven tracks which sounds frankly like the sisters singing whatever the hell they please. There's a cover of "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," a stripped down, folksier cover of their own song "Planets," and a synthesized, beat-heavy version of, again, their own track "Lifted Away" from Native Dreamer Kin. It also features one of my newest favorite jams, "Moonlight Mile." These sisters are mega-talented and their music is endlessly listenable; check 'em out!

Haim. Yes, I know I'm late to the Haim party, and here's why: back in 2014 when their debut album came out, I swear they were described as a folk trio. I swear. But they're not, they just are again a trio of sisters who sing in perfect harmony - over perfectly produced pop. That wasn't my bag at the time so I let it go, and gave them another chance this summer with their newest, Something to Tell You. It's still perfectly produced pop, but so dang catchy.

I don't require that singers also be songwriters and instrumentalists, but I love when young talented women go all in, as Haim does (and Joseph, and First Aid Kit, and...). They have an inherent sense of rhythm which they display in an impressive use of percussion, and they also know their influences inside and out - you can attach almost every song to not just a genre or era but a specific act. Throughout the album you'll hear Prince, George Michael, TLC, MJ, Florence + the Machine, Phil Collins, etc. Something to Tell You is impeccably produced and a ton of fun; go listen!

The year of music.

Every now and then a bunch of my favorite artists will come out with new albums all within the same calendar year, which is obviously awesome, so I've cobbled together a rundown of each from this richly musical 2015. Keeping my 'analysis' to one paragraph apiece is almost heartbreaking, but I must.

Kelly Clarkson, Piece by Piece
Release date: March 3

Though her last album, Stronger, won her her second Best Pop Album Grammy award, I feel this is the, er, stronger album - more variety, more vivid production, even if she doesn't break any molds. It's shocking but her American Idol contract had her locked in for SEVEN albums, and with this release she is finally free. Seriously, OMG. Here's hoping with her next one she can really try something new. Side note: Piece by Piece was just nominated for Best Pop Album for 2016.

Best song: "Good Goes the Bye"
Her best album: Piece by Piece

Mumford and Sons, Wilder Mind
Release date: May 4

Their latest release is a sad study in the bullshit way nobody is ever happy with anything. If M&S had put out another acoustic album everyone would have allegedly been bored, but they did a 180 and went 'electric' and everybody was all omg, whaaat, I don't get it, who do they think they are, Coldplay, omgaaah... Objectively Wilder Mind is a perfectly solid rock album that is very charming and would have been the darling of worthless overpaid music critics everywhere had this been their debut. As with some of the best things, the more you spend time with this album, the more you understand it, and the more brilliant it becomes.

Best song: "Tompkins Square Park"
Their best album: Babel

Florence + and the Machine, How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful
Release date: June 1

See here.

Best song: "Long and Lost"
Their best album: How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful

Lana del Ray, Honeymoon
Release date: September 18

A gentle recap: Born to Die was a huge breath of fresh air; Paradise is stunningly beautiful and dark. We'll forgive her Ultraviolence since apparently Dan Auerbach knows hypnosis. Honeymoon is a true return to form - yes, she seems to be singing even slower, yes, somehow she's even more tortured - but that's why we listen. The first four songs come off a bit disappointing at first, because an entire album along their lines would sink like a stone, but everything picks up with "High By the Beach" and doesn't let up till we've floated past "Swan Song." LDR has a funny way of setting up a song's core melody, and then hitting the bridge and spinning a whole new soundscape; the effect is just subtle enough to make you lose yourself for a moment.

Best song: "Blackest Day"
Her best album: Born to Die

Carrie Underwood, Storyteller
Release date: October 23

Carrie can do no wrong, let's just get that out of the way. But her last album, Blown Away, was a bit underwhelming. She has new producers for Storyteller and it definitely shows - she's got some blues, some 80s, and - some R&B, which I think is fantastic. It shows in her inflections in the song "Heartbeat" and the structure of the chorus of "Clock Don't Stop." While rap-country may never take off (sad! just kidding), I'm a huge fan of musical acculteration and think there's so much potential in marrying country and R&B, and frankly it should be the direction of Kelly Clarkson's next album. Just sayin'. The only negative I have for this album is it's missing a really beautiful ballad in the vein of "Someday When I Stop Loving You" and "Wine After Whiskey." I was so looking forward to a new one.

Best song: "Clock Don't Stop"
Her best album: Play On

Ellie Goulding, Delirium
Release date: November 6

Ho-kay. Halcyon is my favorite album of the decade. She killed me and raised me from the dead with that one. I needed more of that. And...she went in a completely different direction and I KNOW, I just defended Mumford & Sons, but come on. Like 98 dance tracks, seriously. Beneficent critics have tried to point out 'ballads' - that's a joke, there ain't one damn slow song. Anyway, there are a couple of quality tracks but I'm so let down with this...plus, ok, she's in a relationship, fine, whatever, but of course that means she has lost the ability to write some real-ass lyrics. Amid the ridiculously overproduced beats scientifically designed to induce people to dance in da club, there's no way she could fit in a line like 'I think of dying all the time.' Tsk, tsk!!

Best song: "Army"
Her best album: Halcyon

Adele, 25
Release date: November 20

So there's this British singer who puts out some good songs, don't know if you've heard of her, but I'm sure one day she'll get her due. Anyway. I think 25 is legitimately better than 21 - 21 had some highest highs ("Hiding My Heart Away") but also several tracks I would regularly skip. The only track on 25 I find myself zoning out on is "River Lea." She's keeping up with the times by having fresh backing beats, and yes, her voice sounds stronger; let me give you a little tip. A person's voice doesn't fully mature until their early 30s. So...expect her voice to continue to get stronger. Be 'in the know' at your next party. Side note: I don't get the high praise for the Smeezingtons' production of the track "All I Ask." How hard is it to produce a vocal over a piano. Geez, people.

Best song: "Water Under the Bridge"
Her best album: 25

Well that was fun. Maybe next year my dudes can come out with new stuff? Ray LaMontagne, Kings of Leon, Gavin deGraw, Jonny Lang, Casey James? Etc. etc.? Please and thank you. :)

Review: How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful

It's safe to say that all three of Florence + the Machine's albums have been radically different from each other. The first, Lungs, contains three styles: torch songs, 'big' songs, and girl group pop songs. Weighted, there are more of the first two styles, and to me only 'Dog Days Are Over' and 'Between Two Lungs' fall into the third category, but taken as a whole it feels nicely balanced stylistically.

Their second album, Ceremonials, pointedly favors 'big' songs. This was cool with me because I had loved 'Cosmic Love' and 'Blinding' so much, and now I had even more in 'Seven Devils,' 'Heartlines,' 'No Light, No Light,' 'Spectrum' - wait, actually, the entire second half of the album. Which in hindsight, was not the best choice. (Dudes, it was nominated for Best Pop Album at the Grammy's and lost to Kelly Clarkson. Whom I love, BUT STILL) Ultimately the album felt bogged down in the heaviness, and this was pointed out a lot by fans who were hoping for an album that contained torch songs in the vein of 'Girl With One Eye' from Lungs. They could see what I couldn't because I'd gotten what I wanted. Ha.

Now, with How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful, F+TM have refocused again, this time favoring the girl group pop. If this was a conscious decision, it makes sense - moving away from the mistakes of the previous album but still mining the potential in a style not unprecedented for Flo. It also made it easier, I think, to introduce a much wider range of dynamics and expression with the several moodier, rock-influenced songs on the album. There are no highs higher than anything in their catalogue, but there are much lower lows and it is fantastic.

There is also a noticeable difference in the songwriting. The lyrics finally sound like they come directly from her experiences, instead of consisting mostly of literary enigmas which, while interesting, ultimately can prevent one from fully immersing in a song. 'Various Storms and Saints' is a great example of a track which might be tossed aside as initially uninteresting, except the words and the way she owns them turn it into a performance that gets more urgent and beautiful the longer she sings. Those words are raw, too: "I don't know how I don't just stand outside and scream."