The year I came back, heck, we all came back from the dead even if the pandemic wasn’t technically over. Still, with such irrevocable change, all we could do was go forward. In that regard, Jessie Ware’s “Free Yourself” best summed up 2022: an invitation to the dancefloor (among other activities), a commandment more than a request, it pleaded for renewal, self-expression and cathartic release. An advance preview of her 2023 album That! Feels Good!, it was also a natural progression from 2021’s best song, “Like I Used To”: “Keep on moving up that mountaintop,” indeed.
Even if their albums didn’t crack my top ten, a number of veteran acts put out exceptional singles this year: Beach House fine-tuning their dream-pop gauze with “Superstar”, Alison Goldfrapp returning as a guest on Royksopp’s burbling epic “Impossible”, Hurray For The Riff Raff’s searing, anthemic “Pierced Arrows”, Regina Spektor still a delightful weirdo on the tip-top whimsy of “Up The Mountain”, even The Dream Syndicate, having now released as many albums in the past decade as in their original 1980s incarnation proving their continued worth with “Damian”—as brisk and cool as an evening wind.
Among artists new to me in 2022: Hatchie, whose “Quicksand” pays homage to late Cocteau Twins and gets away with it for being as precise and pleasurable as late Siouxsie and the Banshees; Alex G, an indie weirdo crafting jingle-worthy jangle pop on “Runner” while managing to turn the lyric, “Load it up, know your trigger like the back of my hand” into a sing-along hook; Anais Mitchell, composer of Broadway smash Hadestown returning to her roots as an incisive yet ethereal folk-pop singer-songwriter, and The xx’s Oliver Sim in his solo debut, a sly, queer commentary too jaunty and droll to fit in his band’s discography (and presented to best effect in Yann Gonzalez’s short film Hideous.)
Also: Tears For Fears reunited and made an album that didn’t suck, Yeah Yeah Yeahs reunited and made an album that was at best inconsequential save for the dramatic, searing “Burning”, Junior Boys returned with Waiting Game which lacked actual tunes expect for the evocative closer of a title track and First Aid Kit showed they’re ready for world domination even if the Fleetwood Mac-worthy “Out of My Head” wouldn’t actually accomplish it. Both venerable Canadians (Alvvays, Stars, Destroyer) and Australians (Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Darren Hayes) alike contributed solid additions to their catalogues, as did American Father John Misty whose “The Next 20th Century” posited the flipside of Ware’s rejuvenation—a quietly sinister, panoramic and prescient view of a radically changed world.
2022: Extraordinary Colors
- Jessie Ware, “Free Yourself”
- Hurray For The Riff Raff, “Pierced Arrows”
- The Dream Syndicate, “Damian”
- First Aid Kit, “Out of My Head”
- Alvvays, “Belinda Says”
- Hatchie, “Quicksand”
- Beth Orton, “Fractals”
- Destroyer, “June”
- Beabadoobee, “Talk”
- Andrew Bird, “Inside Problems”
- Stars, “Capelton Hill”
- Big Thief, “Simulation Swarm”
- Alex G, “Runner”
- Cate Le Bon, “Remembering Me”
- Regina Spektor, “Up The Mountain”
- Arctic Monkeys, “Body Paint”
- Jenny Hval, “Year of Love”
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs, “Burning”
- Orville Peck, “C’mon Baby, Cry”
- Carly Rae Jepsen, “Talking To Yourself”
- Tears For Fears, “The Tipping Point”
- Calexico, “Harness The Wind”
- Hot Chip, “Guilty”
- FKA Twigs, “Killer”
- Wet Leg, “Wet Dream”
- Sylvan Esso, “Alarm”
- Sharon Van Etten, “Mistakes”
- Royksopp/Alison Goldfrapp, “Impossible”
- Angel Olsen, “Go Home”
- Father John Misty, “The Next 20th Century”
- Steve Lacy, “Bad Habit”
- Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, “Bounce Off The Bottom”
- Florence + The Machine, “My Love”
- Beach House, “Superstar”
- Junior Boys, “Waiting Game”
- Spoon, “Lucifer On The Sofa”
- Darren Hayes, “Let’s Try Being In Love”
- Metric, “All Comes Crashing”
- Anais Mitchell, “Brooklyn Bridge”
- Oliver Sim, “Run The Credits”
Haunted Jukebox 