Music kept me sane in 2020. During the initial stages of quarantine in March, April, and May, I deep dived into New Order, The Radio Dept., Elbow, and American Football. Those incredibly giving bands carried me through some discouraging moments and accompanied me as I often sought refuge: aimless drives around the lake, sprints at the track, bike rides up the trail, and long walks with the dogs.
I wore headphones through long stretches of my work day at home. I listened to everything, hoping to drown out some endless summer noise from the kids, but mostly to bury the unnerving and low-grade sense of unease from long and isolated days. It worked more often than not.
I sorely missed the personal release and community uplift of live music. The crop of record releases looked like it might be skimpy for a while, but it ended up much better than expected in quantity and quality. Thank goodness. The Killers, The 1975, and Tame Impala dropped large-scale records. Taylor Swift released her surprise "indie" record. Sufjan Stevens and Fleet Foxes arrived later in the year, sound tracking our discord and uplift, respectively. Doves returned with a #1 U.K. record. And small but powerful records abounded from the likes of Innocence Mission, Adrianne Lenker, and Denison Witmer.
Music is a balm. Enjoy the The D Man's Top Twenty Albums of 2020.
2 comments:
Glad you’re back!
Thanks, I appreciate it! We needed some relief and distraction more than ever this year.
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