7: Real Estate — In Mind
Real Estate covers no new ground on its fourth album—pun intended, I’m afraid—but the New Jersey fivesome’s brand of smart, mellow indie-pop is such a winning formula, it doesn’t need to…yet. Internally, the group suffered a seismic upheaval in 2017 when it lost founding member Matt Mondanile, who left to concentrate on his solo project Ducktails. But judging from this fine first post-split effort, Mondanile’s departure has barely caused a ripple in the band’s placid sound. The jangly melodies still recall soft-boiled R.E.M.—think “So. Central Rain,” not “Finest Worksong,” etc. And co-founder and head songsmith Martin Courtney’s lyrics remain genial, daydreamy musings cut with a dash of suburban dread. The lovely “Holding Pattern” chronicles a predictable day in the life of its author, who flirts with existential angst (“It’s just this game/Makes me insane/I wonder where we’re going”) before succumbing to the comforting numbness of sleep (“Someone pressed pause/Wrapped me in gauze/And turned the lights off”). In my universally adored half-year roundup, I predicted that In Mind would likely be the album I listened to the most in 2017. A few picks to come on my year-end list have challenged that bold claim, but I do still play it quite often. And if it’s frequently just as background music to various chores, well, a guy’s got to have pleasant, easy-peasy tunes going while he’s scrubbing the dinner dishes, don’t he?
- 10: Grizzly Bear — Painted Ruins
- 9: Moses Sumney — Aromanticism
- 8: The xx — I See You
- The Top 10 Albums of 2016
With its seductive melodies and pillow-talk interplay between vocalists Romy Madly-Croft and Oliver Sim, xx, the 2009 debut album by this London trio, was the sultriest British export to come along since Sade. After the mild sophomore slump of 2012’s Coexist, which sounded like a paler copy of the original, the xx pumps up the volume a smidge on this outing. The brassy synth notes and insistent beats that introduce the lead-off track, “Dangerous,” promise a more club-ready sound, and I See You does indeed deliver a few danceable numbers, most notably “On Hold,” the band’s catchiest tune to date. But fans of the hushed intimacy of the first two albums shouldn’t fret too much. The grooves here stay at the techno-lite simmer of, say, “Missing” by Everything but the Girl. And there are still plenty of slow burners like “Replica” that allow Sim and Madly-Croft to wrap their sexy, simpatico voices in an aural embrace. One or two disposable cuts keep this from placing higher on my list, but all in all it’s a sure-footed attempt at expanding the group’s very identifiable sound.
The eerie headless and floating figure, photographed from behind, on the cover of this soulful L.A. up-and-comer’s debut album is unnerving at first glance. Let your mind’s eye adjust and a new image takes shape: The artist gazing very determinedly at his own navel. It’s an apt visual to accompany the themes of solitude and self-reflection that Sumney explores in this lush song cycle. The album’s title, a trendy buzzword for the inability to feel romantic attraction, suggests Sumney’s no fan of happy loving couples. “You need a solid, but I’m made of liquid,” he warns on “Don’t Bother Calling,” one of 11 exquisitely produced tracks here. But he’s savvy enough to know that romantic reclusiveness comes with a price. “Am I vital if my heart is idle?” he wonders on “Doomed.” If the album is introspective to a fault—the languid rhythms and Sumney’s delicate falsetto grow a little snoozy at times—it is nevertheless an impressively ambitious artistic statement by the most promising newbie of the year.
Critics have called this brainy Brooklyn combo’s latest album, its first after an extended hiatus, “elegantly layered” and “immersive.” Non-fans might interpret those accolades as code for “boring.” And to be honest, it took five or six listens for Painted Ruins to click with me as a whole. As usual, the band eschews easy hooks in favour of complex song structures with protean melodies, although the moderately propulsive “Mourning Sound” is one of its most accessible compositions yet. And while the 11 tracks here do allow for the occasional burst of drama, such as the emphatic organ flourishes on “Aquarian,” the overall tone of the album is restrained. Patient listeners will be drawn in by the always-stellar harmonies, virtuoso playing—Daniel Rossen’s guitar work is the standout—and off-kilter lyrics. (The opener, “Wasted Acres,” is a playful ode to a DRX-250 motorcycle.) It’s no party record, to be sure. But if you don’t mind the wait, Painted Ruins will eventually reveal its quiet beauty.
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