A significant portion of my contributions to this site last year…
“WHOAH WHOAH WHOAH let me stop you there. Last year? Last year? It’s February now ok. We’ve done the bit where we look back at the year before, and then we did the bit where we look ahead at the year to come and pretended to be healthy and virtuous for a bit, and everyone agreed it went on forever, and then we failed and then we forgot all about it and carried on as normal. And you mean to tell me you want to dig back through all that mild psychic trauma and talk about last year again? What’s wrong with you?”
Well that’s a good question. As I was saying…
“Go on”
I will, thanks. As I was saying. A significant portion of my contributions to this site last year, and in conversation with fellow editors, were me moaning about how poor a year 2023 was for new releases. I even wrote about it at length. It seemed relentlessly bad at times. Bad until it got to the point where I began to ask myself that same question – ‘what’s wrong with you?’
Did the problem lie not in fact with the music, but with me?
“aaaaaand did it?”
Well no, but I…
“Oh for fu-”
BUT…buuuuut, I did learn something on the way. I think.
Let me try and explain.
I’ve written and spoken about finding those ‘wow’ moments listening to music. When a song comes along, almost from nowhere, and is so good, and makes such an instant connection with you, that it knocks you off your feet. They’re moments you will always remember. For example I could tell you exactly where I was (on the school minibus on the way home from a geography trip) when I heard ‘Seven Nation Army’ for the first time. As annoying as that riff is now after the 97,546,454th repeat, it was an instant classic and that memory has stayed with me ever since.
In 2023, these moments were few and far between. While I will continue not to concede that I was the problem, I will admit that that chasing wow moments can be a self-defeating endeavour. The more you go looking for them, the less you will find them. And in the absence of the stuff I expected to be good, I went looking for them. Not naming names but with a bunch of let-down new albums from established artists I already liked being an example, oh did I go looking for them.
In doing so I set my standards too high, and my capacity to make any effort to properly listen to an album too low. Nation of Language’s ‘Sole Obesession’ I quickly dismissed as derivative, before listening to the album Strange Disciple at the end of the year on recommendation and it quickly becoming a favourite.
So into 2024 and new releases from Folly Group and Last Dinner Party have been early tests for ‘new year, new musically attentive me’. And after repeated, focused listens, I can happily, with the confidence of having made the effort, say that while both have their merits, I won’t be rushing out to buy either. And after many years of writing about music I know that the live experience can be the real decider for me. So I’m still going to honour the Folly Group ticket I’ve already bought and have seriously considered the Last Dinner Party show…but at Victoria Warehouse and an assumed price tag to match? Well I can’t be newly open minded about everything.
In short, take the time to listen. It’s not about lower standards, but simply being a little more patient. A valuable reflection for us all.
Words by James Spearing
Picky Bastards 