Favorite Albums 2022

For me, this year was full of great songs, but not so much great albums. Nevertheless, the first three picks were easy. 

• Julia Jacklin, Pre Pleasure: I fell completely in love with this album almost the first time I heard it (OK, I'd heard the singles already). Yes, this one is at the bullseye of my "sad girls" wheelhouse, but in a year with lots of albums by talented women song-writers (Tomberlin, Florist, Skullcrusher, Ethel Cain, Grace Ives, Warpaint), Jacklin's writing stands out like a lighthouse. She would be worthy addition to boygenius, and that's the highest compliment I can give. :-)
• Beth Orton, Weather Alive: This one took more time to grow on me, but in the end, I kept coming back to it. It rewards careful, repeat listening. I'm also a big fan of Beth Orton's late-90s/early-2000s albums, but this is a completely different experience. Her voice is weakened by age, but somehow more compelling for it. This is a record by a grown up, for grown-ups, all about loneliness, everyday beauty, and a spirit that perseveres. 
• Wet Leg, Wet Leg: a blast of fresh indie rock energy from two women. The videos are also great. Just when you think there's no life left in the indie rock idiom, this album comes around to renew the faith. In stark contrast to Beth Orton's Weather Alive, this is the music of youth, uncertain, snarky, yet full of joy and energy. 

After that, the contenders were harder to sort. 

• Kevin Morby, This is a Picture: In the vein of Jason Isbell and early Wilco, this is Americana indie rock. The title track is probably my favorite song of the year. He opened with that song at The Fillmore, and it was perhaps the best set opener I've ever seen. I love about half the songs on the album, and don't dislike any of them.  
• Automatic, Excess: Take late-70s synths to eleven? Add vaguely disenchanted, disengaged female vocals? Yes! If there weren't so much sexism in music back in the early 80s, we would have had much more of this music back then. I'm glad Automatic are filling in some of that better alternate history. 
• Meute, Taumel: A 13-piece German brass band that does electronica covers? Why yes. I love how this ensemble makes electronic music sound fresh by using analog instruments. (This would rank higher, except for the couple of tracks with vocals, which I don't think work nearly so well.) 

When it comes to reissues, my runaway favorite was PJ Harvey's 59-track, 3-disc set, B-Sides, Demos, and Rarities, a collection that concludes the PJ Harvey archival release series that started during the pandemic. Yes, I had most of these tracks already, having been a PJ Harvey fan and collector for 30+ years now, but it's great to have them all collected in one release, covering three decades Polly Jean's evolution.