2017 editor album picks 

From our latest issue, Hearing Aid's editorial team pick out their album highlights of 2017

Snow by Angus and Julia Stone

Jess Morgan

The Australian sibling duo’s latest project is this elemental album full of conversations between the siblings as their call and response style echoes throughout the tracks. Undoubtedly the best track on Snow is Chateau; it is rolling and catchy, you travel with the song as it cascades over harmonious chords and as the plucking violin evokes beams of sunlight dappling the skin. As if we were winding up mountains and taking in the view, Chateau feels atmospheric; the contrast of electric guitar and smoky vocals somehow make it a song to travel with.  Angus’ vocals are lazy, conversational, and reminiscent of Lou Reed in Make It Out Alive; there is something lethargic about the ending of the lines; his voice drops off its laid-back confabulations into the stream of violin and guitar chords, with Julia not far behind him.
All the tracks are full; guitar, violin, Angus’ gravelly voice, accompanied sporadically by Julia’s velvety rasp. Compared with Chocolates and Cigarettes and Choking on their 2011 album Memories of an Old Friend, their sound is busy but still makes for easy listening. This is not to say that progress should be discouraged; on the other hand, Snow sounds mature and more complex; listening to the album is an exercise in charting the development of their style as it fills out and treads new ground. That said, the electronic tweaking of Julia’s vocals in Sleep Alone scrapes uncomfortably with woody guitar and soft base of the main tune, although not detracting too much from the highlight of the track: delicate, wandering instrumentals.

Wallflower by Jordan Rakei

Annabel MacLean

Wallflower, as the title suggests, explores the life of an introvert. This second album from Jordan Rakei is a powerfully introspective work. The New Zealand born, Australian raised and now current London resident explains how he has always been an observer of life, struggling to voice his own opinion, “I wanted to write a whole album about how in different moments anxiety can manifest.” The album is experimental, working through different textures and a multitude of sounds. Opening with Eye to Eye, his soft, lilting voice glides effortlessly over the top of his mellow guitar inflections. Nerve continues to exhibit Rakei’s self-awareness and is certainly the best track on the album, while Goodbyes explores the vulnerability of unrequited love. His final track Wallflower, focuses on the central subject of the album, and features Kaya Thomas-Dyke. It has an almost ethereal quality to it, expressing with haunting lyricism the penalties of anxiety in a definite exhibition of the self. There is something very beautiful in the album’s rawness and Rakei’s ability to evoke such sensitivity will certainly lead him to great success.

The OOZ by King Krule 

Sarah Jack

I tried some of that new stuff last night. I’ll warn you now, The OOZ is pretty strong. But what a trip. It took me straight out of my crummy East London red-brick tenement and teleported me back to a time that never existed, clouding my thoughts with jazz-infused smoke as I sink lower into Biscuit Town’s dingiest bar. My head is throbbing with the steady beat of this Locomotive train crash of disjointed guitar melodies and tambourine rattle, with deep growling vocals intercepting like an overhead announcement.
By the time the Slush Puppy’s hit, I’m already seeing the walls move. Honeyed vocals slowly drip down from the ceiling, melting into Marshall’s gravelly roar of Nothing is working with me! He seems permanently lost in a state of reverie.
The OOZ gives you serious mood swings, pushing aggression as the tempo quickens an Emergency Blip of angry rock. I’m still feeling the effects by the time Sublunary night falls, but by now I’ve slipped into a Lonely Blue state of melancholy.
What’s that French girl saying to me? I can barely hear her through the synthetic fuzz of The Ooz. It doesn’t matter, I’m too relaxed after the brass bath of Czech One. I should warn you, be careful not to lose yourself in OOZ, this substance is high in saxophone content. My ears are still ringing from the undercurrent of distorted sound waves.
The sun rises as my head clears, but I’m not yet ready to say goodbye to the dwindling mellow riffs of La Lune.

I’m in paradise… parasites… paradise… ?