LOMA VISTA
Recording in Hollywood with Sturgill Simpson in the producer’s chair, the Midwest farmer’s daughter tried her hand at a West Coast pop album for her third LP. Rather than country confessionals, then, here were 10 songs taking in Heartbreakers-esque new wave, gospel and prime Fleetwood Mac. Complete with a more oblique, lyrical voice from Price, the result was another step forward for a musician who respects tradition but has never been shackled by it.
49 GWENIFER RAYMOND
TOMPKINS SQUARE
A fearsome live performer, foregoing chat for instrumental acoustic guitar intensity, Gwenifer Raymond in 2020 made the album that gave recorded shape to her uncompromising approach. Grown in ambition, if not noticeably in length from her 2018 debut, Garth Mountain drew both on the rabbit skulls and damp moss of British folk horror, and also a compositional wisdom that broadened the horizon of her American Primitive twang.
Indie Basement: Top 40 Albums of 2020
It s a given that 2020 has been a year unlike any that most of us have ever experienced. Time seemed to fold in on itself (for me at least), and March to December seemed to go by in an instant but also in slow motion. If felt this way for music, too. Albums I thought were last year were this year and vice versa. Looking through the months, though, it was a bit shocking how many records I really liked were released and how many of these groups I wish I had gotten to see live this year.