So, it’s the beginning of January — and once again I’m in my parent’s house in my childhood bed about to head back to Los Angeles. That may be the same as this time last year, but what I’m heading back to is a very different circumstance.
The last year has been hard (I’m sure many of you can relate) but it has also yielded some incredible things. I’ve made a lot of new friends, started a new job, and seen a lot of new places. I’ve also lost touch with a few people and let go of things that were holding me down. I’ve become more aware of my personal health and even started to train for the LA Marathon this March. I started a project with my friend Erica that I’m proud of, I started writing about how I feel, and allowed myself to get close to someone. OH AND, this is my favorite part — I became the first female to have a show on Idobi Radio that I host and produce live from my apartment.
It’s interesting to think back at how defeated I felt this time a year ago. I spent a lot of 2014 feeling like a loser. Like I had made mistakes and that I didn’t have anything to be proud of. I hid for a while. I hid in my room and felt ashamed. In the spring I became close to a new friend that turned things around. I’m not sure he realizes what he did for me — but he truly helped me gain my confidence back.
Anyway, the point of this post is to tell you what albums I fell in love with this year, and I believe the albums you love have are reflection of the year you had. So, that’s the year I had. It was emotional, stressful, heartbreaking — but also triumphant and felt like a resurgence in my conviction of who I am. This may all be an overshare, but why stop now.
So, here are the albums I truly fell in love with in 2014. The ones I listened to over and over and over. The ones that made me cry, made me dance and were a source of some sort of inspiration. Anger, love, loss — whatever. They all were there for me, and I’m incredibly thankful for them.
The Hotelier - Home, Like No Place Is There
I’d say this album was my most trusted companion when I needed to drive and let someone else do the thinking for me. When I was at a loss and needed to scream and sing. I can’t tell you how may times I’ve screamed along to “Your Deep Rest” in my car driving around. I love the way some of the lines of the album are unveiled.
you said “remember me for me”. I watched you set your spirit free.
Manchester Orchestra - Cope & Hope
I’m only listing these together because it’s the only way I can really express why they mean so much to me. When Cope came out I had just made a trip to Orlando to visit two of my friends who love this band. While helping out with a project my buddy was working on, all we did was listen to this album. When it was 4 am and we were filling order and we were too tired to talk, Andy Hull sang to us. We all were totally zoned out, and zoned into him. It was an interesting way to take in an album first time. Then, I got to see them live a few weeks later in LA — and that’s a show I’ll never forget for a few reasons. Then, when I got my hands on Hope it was such a treat. Hearing all of these songs I’d come to love rearranged and stripped down. They had taken on an angelic sound and it was the soft side to Cope, and that I needed. I love where some of the lyrics were swapped out and how they were able to truly give me a new version of the album I already loved. I also got to hear this album live and it was memorizing.
And I hope if there is one thing I let go it is the way that we cope.
From Indian Lakes - Absent Sounds
All I can really say is that it’s beautiful. I love every inch of this album. The artwork, the lyrics, the soft sounds, the loud sounds — all of it. “Runner” always makes me want to cry. I’m getting emotional even trying to write how I feel about it.
and I had a few questions I never got to ask you in time, ’cause you’d already gone.
Gosh, I just love Lynn’s voice. Pvris is a really exciting band for me. This album has a lot going on. You can listen to a song to make you dance with your friends, make you feel haunted — and has some of the catchiest hooks I’ve heard in a long time. It can help you get angry and give you comfort.
I swear that I’ll be fine, I’ll be fine in the daylight.
Margot & The Nuclear So And So’s - Slingshot To Heaven
Honestly, this is an album I didn’t expect to love as much as I do. There isn’t anything aggressive about it — or particularly bitting, which are things i’m most attracted to in music. I remember hearing a few songs off the album for the fist time driving around with a friend while he was looking for a parking space. I could tell he was assuming I wouldn’t like it either when he put it on, but when I got home I listened to it more and more. “Flying Saucer Blues” was instantly my favorite song. It’s so sad and honest. And really, the entire album feels that way to me. There is a lot of care in how the songs are structured and the guitars, gah.
until the day I want to stay closer to you, love closer to you, love
So, there are the 5* albums I fell in love with this year. Don’t get me wrong there are TONS of other albums i got into. I just had a special connection to these 5. Hope everyone had a good new year, and I look forward to what 2015 has for all of us.
*it’s really 6, but I put both MO albums together.
