Jessie Ware – Devotion

A soulful record that appears to be a diminishing occurrence these days, Jessie Ware’s Devotion is a highlight of 2012. Its depth and craft provide a refreshing and enriching experience, with Ware delivering vocals that emanate emotion and beauty.

Grimes – Visions

Another dream pop highlight of 2012, Grimes’ (aka Claire Boucher) Visions manages to bring ambience and synth rock together in a captivating blend which does hold the listener’s focus from start to finish. In many ways similar to another dream pop album released this year, Beach House’s Bloom (reviewed 22/12/12), Visions is more complete, shows off greater variety and ends up being much more enjoyable.

The baby vocals that welcome listeners to the album’s opener, Infinite Love without Fulfilment, represent the high end of Boucher’s extensive range, while the dreamy charm of the record completes the dense harmony. Two of the most well known tracks, Genesis and Oblivion, display the album’s infectious mix of elaborate rhythms and synth saturation, strung together by haunting vocals like a red ribbon. The mood of each track seems to depend on the percussion; Circumambience is dictated by a raw, crunching beat which carries the dance theme, while a chorus of handclaps and synths immerse the listener in Visiting Statue.

Traces of Björk’s late 90s period can be detected in Be a Body, whose layered vocals from a wall along a vast pitch spectrum. It really soaks the listener’s ears like fresh surf, a feeling that sticks across the album’s 50 minutes. However, Grimes’ ability to mix up the sounds to project a range of moods is the record’s trump card. There is enough variety here to keep the listener hooked, despite the dream pop theme. At the end there is enough there to warrant repeat listens, with subtlety and intelligence in the rhythms to stick in the mind.

A highlight of 2012 for sure, Grimes probably deserves greater recognition than that received to date. However, the quality is here to draw a crowd.   

Beach House – Bloom

An album that immerses and soothes on a celestial drift through clouds of sound, Beach House’s Bloom is an album to buy for those who like to transport themselves from a world of stress to calmer climes. Not the most inspirational release of the year with a plethora of ambience soaking every chance for stark innovation, Bloom nevertheless is an accomplished work with intelligently crafted melodies and wistful lyrics. It is good for beachside vacations in hazy sunshine – in other words, beach house fodder.

You are immersed from the fuzzy opening of Myth, taken on a carpet ride through the calm euphoria which flows from track to track and departed off the back of a mirage of guitars which grace On the Sea. This proves to be the highlight of Bloom, showing how the album as a whole could have been better with drive and a focus. Too much of Bloom seems to amble without hinging onto a tangible hook so it is quite easy to drift away too far. After waking up the listener would struggle to remember where they left off, and with many of the tracks merging together only On the Sea really stands out.

The Hours has echoes of Beach Boys with a sleepy percussion and surf-like ambience, while Wishes washes round the mind with a luscious swirl of guitars. The outro, Irene, links saturating synths to Jesus and Mary Chain-esque vocals to leave the album on a euphoric high. In conclusion, a good album with a dense dreamscape that makes an ideal soundtrack, but is weaker on direct listen. 

Poliça – Give you the Ghost

Universally recognised as one of the best albums of 2012, Poliça’s Give you the Ghost cannot be pigeonholed one way or another. A shimmering tour de force which transcends indie rock, trance among other genres, this record will sound fresh to listeners of all backgrounds and will hopefully be remembered for its originality and mastery of many music elements for years to come.

From beginning to end the album contorts through a range of styles, blended together in polyphonic surf. There are no seams between tracks; sounds ebb and flow and immerse the listener, especially through patches of trance that hypnotise and relax. The opener, Amongster, is a good example – crescendos come and go but the tight-knit rhythms course throughout. If ever there was an album designed for headphones, this would be it. It is a joy to sit back in a peaceful zone and switch on the record – nothing has been so compelling and serene in equal measure.

Although Poliça’s debut is ambient, it is also beautifully haunting. Violent Games thunders along ominously, while one of the album’s highlights, Dark Star, cries out through a tale of twisted love. All the while throughout a serpent of a record the steady basslines and drums carry the dwindling melodies and raw lyrics.

The vocals by Channy Leaneagh are warped and drawn by auto-tune, filling every corner of the songs’ soundscapes acting as a foil to the instruments. All these noises are interchangeable and swell as one mix, as does the album. It is a fine skill which blows away and draws thoughtful reflection throughout, how many albums have recently managed to do that? This heads on another tangent that delivers rich rewards for those wanting something a little different.

For a taste of the innovate side of the year, start with Poliça. It makes a fine entrance to 2012’s alternative catalogue.   

Ghosthit! – U Got the Poison

Following on from the thumping rave dance of Fast Train, Ghosthit! have stepped up their game with a kaleidoscopic use of styles, resulting in an impressive new single.

U Got the Poison takes the listener to the drenched urban beats of Bristol, providing an enjoyable introduction to the electronic charms of the region. Bringing crunching beats to the table that recollect the thriving heyday of one of the UK’s finest dance exports, The Prodigy, Poison brings together the staggering beats of the 90s and modern electronica. The result is a wall of sound that consumes the dancefloor.

Catchy and confident, Poison displays a swagger that evidently courses through the group. While not yet the finished article Ghosthit! have made a bold start, and equipped with a healthy smattering of production experience the group may well break the mainstream soon. A full-length debut album awaits.

Ghosthit! – Fast Train

If you’re looking for a high-tempo introduction to the world-renowned Bristol music scene, this offering by up-and-coming band Ghosthit! Might be what you’re after. Fusing swirling trance with industrial beats, Fast Train embodies what you may expect from the underground scene in one of the nation’s music capitals with a distinct 21^st-century sparkle. In essence this is the sound to expect from Bristol for the next two decades.

To fully understand what this style of music means to this great city, take a trip around the bars and clubs that line streets such as the artistic mecca that is Gloucester Road, soaking up the atmosphere and hearing local DJs sample their latest efforts. The accompanying video should give an idea of what to visualise when hearing this track, conjuring up the vibrant sprawl of street art which meanders its way through the oldest quarters of the city while displaying a slickness that reflects the production of the song. Although no substitute for a full visit, the video is a fitting backdrop to this impressive cultural blend.

Ghosthit! is a band with a long way to go, but Fast Train is an indication that they are skilled in the arts of urban dance, nailing their colours to the mast of a deeply original culture. Will they follow Massive Attack and Portishead in bringing this to the masses? Two decades will tell...

Goldtrip – Lion’s Den

Lion’s Den is rock band Goldtrip’s latest single, and is something of a departure from previous releases. With its prowling beat and tip-tap piano, the song conjures up the image of a lion heading for its prey, which is where the track excels. No other effort by the band has displayed the same level of imagination which brings Lion’s Den to life, and it proves that Goldtrip have more in their locker than conventional indie stylings.

Having garnered popularity through repeated plays at recent gigs, Lion’s Den has enough cutting edge to widen the band’s appeal across greater audiences. It is hard to predict what will come next, but it sounds like they’re having enough fun to continue inventing and keep their obviously weighty ambitions going strong. In keeping with the band’s pacy production line, however, it surely won’t be long before their next effort presents itself.