Scroll down for my top 10 singles of 2022!
But first: a special award for Epic Banger Of The Year, to Metric's 'Doomscroller', a 10-minute track which truly deserves the often overused label of "awesome". I previously wrote: "It takes a certain kind of brilliance to create an epic, progressive but listenable track which twists and turns, rises and falls, surprises and engages from start to end ... It's a piece of music which feels like a voyage, through space rather than across seas. It's a song showcasing some high-level skills, both in the song-writing and in the interpretation and performance. It's well-judged, too, without any sense of time-wasting or unnecessary padding. This song needs 10 minutes."
As well as opening the band's latest album 'Formentera' - one of my "honourable mentions" in this year's album run-down - 'Doomscroller' was released as a single in May. [Listen here]
THE MUSIC OBSERVER 10: SINGLES
This year, I'm again picking the 10 singles which have most impacted me over the past 12 months. It's been an incredible pleasure and honour to hear so much good music this year. Here are the first five of my choices - be sure to look out for the final five in the next few days ... (Note: As with my album selection, these are not ranked, but are in alphabetical order by artist name.)
Rabbit Hole - Blue Violet Blue Violet are wife and husband duo Sarah and Sam Gotley. They were a new band to me this year (hard to believe!), and one which I instantly fell in love with. This song - probably - remains my favourite of all their material.
The first piano note tells you so much about what's coming next: you know it's going to be an emotional ride. 'Rabbit Hole' is an exceptionally well-written ballad based around a beautiful piano-chord progression with rhythmically strummed guitar, and overlaid with a spot-on melody. The main vocals from Sarah are gorgeous - she has a great touch, quite straightforward but displaying a really skilled balance, too. The harmonies provide a firm base, present but never overbearing. Thanks to this song, I even managed to get into the Guardian this year! [Listen here.]
Alone - Chloe Lorentzen Chloe is in my top 10 again, despite having a slightly quieter year on the release front, following her Herculean efforts in 2021. I've chosen this song as it's one I've adored hearing live a number of times and had been looking forward to hearing translated to studio-format.
I've previously described it as "a bit of an epic piece, with a catchy main melodic theme which emerges cleverly near the start and develops subtly as the song goes on". It opens with an extended acapella section, before guitar and drums come in to introduce one of the song's main motifs. Coming in at well over 6 minutes, the song nevertheless holds your attention throughout, with plenty of rising and falling, giving and taking. It's a song full of emotion, but also confidence and a sense of self-assured presence.
[Listen here. Read more of my thoughts on Chloe's music, here]
Synergy - Death Of The High Street This band slammed into my consciousness in March when they released this song. I loved it right from the moment I heard that confident rhythmical intro - it's a subtle yet attention-grabbing start. The band uses that opening to draw you in, a bass guitar laying down an irresistible riff, and by the time Scott Baxter's voice arrives you're hooked.
The central guitar riff is so perfectly infectious - a masterpiece of crunchy, post-grunge, post-punk, post-everything writing. As is that key lyric "My band's better than me: that's synergy". I really enjoyed sing-shouting it along with the band when I saw DOTHS perform live in Stamford earlier this year, and I was thrilled when I heard that they had signed to Jersey-based indie label Bubblebrain Records (a venture of fellow-Songbird Jim Dolan. [Listen here.]
Rubik's Cube - Dictator I can't help myself - they've worked so hard for it that it's hard to deny Dictator the accolade of a top single as well as a top album this year. This single - also the title track from their album - makes my list because of its refusal to fit any pigeonhole. At its heart, 'Rubik's Cube' is a brilliant, three-minute, radio-friendly song. But it's not like most of the others you'll hear out there. It's both funky and chilled; poppy and determinedly alternative; catchy and different.
Featuring a sample of Hungarian professor, Ernõ Rubik, the song is also a reflection on love and obsession - I mean, what band chooses a mathematical object/children's toy for that? Dictator, that's who. [Listen here. Read more of my thoughts on the band here]
The best bit, though, is found at the centre of the track - a hugely satisfying drop going into the chorus. As I wrote previously, "There's a slight lift away from the verse, followed by a rapid crescendo and then a sense of absolutely everything being let loose, the biggest thundercloud bursting, sweeping you over and away in a deluge of sound."
[Listen here. Read more of my thoughts on this song here]
The Enemy - Lizzie Esau A song which remains in my view one of the absolute best of the year - I stand by my comments in May that it is quite simply superb. It's awesomely punchy, interesting, engaging, fun, challenging ... all of that, and more.
It begins with a very well-judged, brief intro, which has nothing more than exactly what's needed. Then: "Jangly guitars beckon you into the Lizzie Esau world, where you're welcomed with open arms and then subtly hit around the face with musical boxing gloves."
The song features a brilliant chorus - perfectly set-up for a singalong, well designed for a live performance, but delivered with those alt elements which make Lizzie a really intriguing artist. There's also a great section where everything drops away and falls back, leaving us floating for a while over a misty landscape of wailing distorted guitar notes, reverbed rimshots and subtle, low-down piano chords. This is all preparing us for a build into a climactic ending. Image credit: @takenbystorm_photography [Listen here. Read my previous thoughts on the single here]
Something Strange - Minerva Daisy This was a release which appeared early in the year, but one that's remained in my mind since. That's because the artist has demonstrated a lot of skill to capture a feeling - a sense, through her music. I remember hearing the "slightly tinny and deceptively cheerful piano riff" which opens the song for the first time, and almost turning away from it - I am very glad I didn't, because that lighter feel only continues for a few fleeting seconds before a change of pace and Minerva's vocals appear. The song makes great use of production techniques, lyrics and musical touches - the various parts really coming together, coherently, to create a very clever musical metaphor which leads the listener through a story.
"Listening to this, you get a great image of Minerva really laying it out on the line, not holding back, standing up and calling out this unidentified person for what they've done", I wrote back in February.
[Listen here. Read my previous thoughts on the single here]
Corona - Nice Guy This band released a number of singles in 2022, two of which I got quite obsessed with: both real ear-worms, superbly well written and very attention-grabbing. The first was 'Tonight' which I posted about at the time; the second was 'Corona' which has (by a whisker) won a spot in my top 10.
It's a really well put together track, which opens with a mysterious, careful start. As it opens, you realise how much care has been poured into it, in all areas. As I previously wrote, "The lyrics are beautifully straightforward but written with a very adept pen; and the music is crafted in a way which really tells the story. There's an ebb and flow to it which supports and reflects the path of the song's narrator". There's a superb variation in the musical styles, a number of false peaks, keeping you hooked and listening closely, before finally the song takes off - more than minutes in. "I can't get you out of my head, Corona", lead singer Michael McCluskey sings with honest passion. It's fantastic, full-blown but sensitive work - the stuff that sets this band apart from many of their indie-scene compatriots. An incredible ride.
[Listen here. Read my previous thoughts on the single here]
Nothing's What It Seems - Serotones A "beautifully paced, and exquisitely produced track" from Serotones. What really stood out to me the first time - and on each repeat play - was the solid, foundational beats which underpin the irresistible yearning vocals.
Another "delicious" element about this song is the switch of timing from 4/4 to 2/2 for the chorus, and then back again. As I said previously, "It's a great approach, more subtle than a simple speed change, and it gives a great sense of acceleration while somehow retaining that lovely languid feel which pervades the whole track. That carefully judged adjustment also happens with the breakdown and extra guitar noodling which comes in during the last minute or so of the track, merging into an extended outro and then a fade out." The fade is all too rare these days, but it's a device which is gorgeous and satisfying when done well.
vienna - Ten Hands High An awesome track - a classic slow burner, with a bit of a difference. It's the kind of song which, despite a mellow opening, nevertheless hooks you in quickly. The levels are just right all the way through, as is the way the lyrical theme is skilfully developed.
Throughout the song, you can feel the working out of a conscious, measured decision - a great sense of patience; the song waiting for just the right time to begin to let go, so that, when the time feels right, it happens decisively.
And one my favourite parts? The fade-out! I hadn't realised until now how much this technique seems to mean to me! Here, it gives the track a strong sense of what I've called "wistfulness but undeniably tinged with hope".