The Music That Helped Me Survive 2020 (and a look ahead)
2020 was weird. I know this isn’t a particularly “hot” take and probably could have gone without saying (but I already said it, soooo). Between a worldwide pandemic, natural disasters and political upheavals, we all found different ways to cope with the world around us. Me? Like I have done since I was about 13 or 14, I turned to music.
I’d like to share some of the music that got me through 2020 and look ahead to some releases I am looking forward to in 2021. Some of the music below wasn’t released in 2020, I just happened to enjoy them then. If 2020 taught me anything, it’s there are no rules!
Julien Baker
Julien’s music truly caught me by surprise. Her song “Go Home” came up on a playlist I had on shuffle one day at work. I remember being be struck by the raw honesty in the lyrics (“Home” being some of her most heartbreaking, in my opinion). Baker sings about topics like addiction, faith, loss etc. Somber topics for sure, but a quick YouTube search for interviews with Baker and you will find one of the most thoughtful, articulate and hopeful artists around. The video below is my favorite performance of one of my favorite songs.
Julien Baker — Looking Ahead
Julien has a new album, Little Oblivions coming out in Feburary 2021. She has already released two songs: “Faith Healer” and “Hardline” and if these new songs are any indication, I will likely be talking about this album this time next year. JK, I will absolutely be talking about this album this time next year.
boygenius
While diving in to Julien Baker’s music, I came across boygenius. A supergroup (gah, I really hate typing that word) featuring Baker, Phoebe Bridgers (more on her below) and Lucy Dacus. They have released one EP and also appeared on the Hayley Williams jam, “Roses/Lotus/Violet/Iris”. The video below is from their fantastic performance at Brooklyn Steel (I highly recommend watching the whole thing). The video is a back to back, one/two punch of my two favorite songs from the EP. First, the Bridgers-led “Me and My Dog” (starts at 17:50 if the link doesn’t take you there) followed by “Salt in the Wound”, a Dacus-penned track that highlights just how much of a guitar god Julien Baker is.
Phoebe Bridgers
Bridgers’ song “Kyoto” from her most recent album *Punisher* was my most played song on Spotify in 2020. For good reason, too. It is catchy as hell. Bridgers’ lyrics are often dry and straight to the point. She is both heartbreaking and hilarious, sometimes in the same song. The lryic “I hate your mom, I hate it when she opens her mouth” (from the Punisher track, “ICU”) is truly the best. Punisher is really a fantastic album top to bottom and deserves all of the accolades it is having thrown at it. Also, you should follow Phoebe on Twitter, trust me.
Silicone Boone
The story of Kentucky’s Silicone Boone is a fascinating one. Growing up as Old Order Amish and moving to the Appalachian mountains of Eastern, KY, Boone (not his real name, BTW) grew up in an 1800s log cabin without modern entertainment like TV or “music with a beat”. To keep himself occupied as a kid, he taught himself to play the family piano. After moving out on his own, he discovered modern music and Carl Sagan. His 2019 album *The Reaches *is a Sagan-inspired look at this world and beyond. The thing I love about this album is the sense of wonder and mystery it exudes. I think that feeling is missing from a lot of art these days. This wonder and mystery was incredibly comforting in a year where I found myself questioning a lot of my faith and beliefs. The video below is an NPR Tiny Desk contest entry of my favorite track from The Reaches, “Found You”
Teenage Wrist
Teenage Wrist’s 2018 album, Chrome Neon Jesus is a stellar mix of 90’s alt-rock and shoegaze that I listened to well in to 2020. The the tracks “Swallow” and “Stoned, Alone” were two that made their way on to my most listened list.
Teenage Wrist — Looking Ahead
Teenage Wrist bassist/vocalist Kamtin Mohager left the band in 2019 and 2020 saw guitarist/vocalist Marshall Gallagher stepping in to frontman duties. Marshall and drummer Anthony Salazar released two new songs, “Taste of Gasoline” and “Earth is a Black Hole” from their forthcoming album *Earth is a Black Hole, *due in 2021. Mohager has a new project, Heavenward, that is shoegazey and melodic in all the right ways.
Hum
The 2020 Hum album Inlet is a masterclass in dudes that are older than me (I was in high school when their first album, You’d Prefer an Astronaut dropped in ‘95) that can still bring the rock. It’s a spacey, aggressive album from a 90’s band, that doesn’t sound like it’s from the 90’s. My favorite track is the lurching, shoegazey goodness that is “In the Den”.
Spotlights
If it is not appearant by the previous pick, I am huge fan of heavy, melodic, shoegaze inspired music. Spotlights is that exact thing to a T. Their 2019 release Love & Decay and their 2020 EP We Are All Atomic were in heavy rotation for me. My favorite track has to be “Until the Bleeding Stops” from Love and Decay.
Starflyer 59
Starflyer is hands down my favorite band. Jason Martin has been constistently releasing stellar music since 1994. One look at his discography and you quickly realize “prolific” hardly does justice. Jason’s most recent full-length is 2019’s Young in My Head. An album all about looking back on your life and realizing it sure comes at you quick. The title track finds Martin thinking back to when he was a younger man and living life to the fullest with the line “Always up and always forward cause I know I’ll never be I’ll never be old, so how did I get old”.
How, indeed.
My favorite track on the album though, is the album closer “Crash”.
There were tons of other songs, albums, podcasts, books etc. that kept me sane over the past year, but these were some that were special in one way or another. Hope you find something new to enjoy!
UPDATE: Here is a Spotify playlist featuring music from this article, plus some extra music I listened to this past year. Enjoy!