Cassandra Jenkins - An Overview on Phenomenal Nature

Seven songs and a bit over 30 minutes of space-ily jazzy folkish singer-songwriter art pop - without any sense of being fussed over or preciousness. 

"Michelangelo" is noteworthy, riding one of those melodies that seems to be all a single line, with lots of little arrangement bits to keep it interesting, and all round pretty lovely. All the other songs are good too and quietly intriguing.

But can we talk about "Hard Drive", which is something else, spoken and sung, ineffable, and with a spirit that reminds me of some of those other one-off classics that come along only so often, like "Mimi on the Beach", or "Body's in Trouble", and I'm not sure there are any others really. It feels dropped in from a sideways dimension, arriving in waves.

The Social Dilemma

Not really eye-opening at this stage but sobering nonetheless.

Perfume Genius - Set My Heart on Fire Immediately

Kind of an epic record; my favourites are mostly the faster tempo ones.

Taylor Swift - evermore

More in the general vein of folklore.

Nick Cave & Warren Ellis - Carnage

Eight of Cave's heavy hymns, arriving as if through a storm - just as likely a purely interior one as external. It's not easy listening, but its musical pleasures are real.

Esther Rose - How Many Times

The lilt and delicacy of Rose's singing, and the cleanness of her arrangements, is misleading - the songs themselves are sturdy, muscular even. I would call this country music, albeit with a contemporary pop-inflected sensibility, and it's very charming. It reminds me of Laura Cantrell (high praise) while being enough its own thing too - and has the good trick of being able to throw in little sly hooks and melodic surprises with some regularity.

The 40-Year-Old Virgin

This one had slipped by me until now despite the large mark it made on the culture. It's pretty pleasant, buoyed by committed performances and a deep batting line-up of supporting and minor actors.

Cowboy Junkies - Pale Sun, Crescent Moon

From the distant year of 1993 - an era rich in this kind of thing. For me, only now coming to this album gives it the air of a lost classic, a dispatch from another time - yet I suspect it always had something of that air, even back when it was first released. I never went deep into the Cowboy Junkies beyond The Trinity Session and Rarities, B-Sides & Slow, Sad Waltzes (both iconic enough in their own right) but they cast a long, wispy shadow.