More than just grafting on its politics and themes of liberation, Hunter embodies them by capturing a freer, more complex—and queerer—view of its creator.
7 is the band’s darkest, messiest, and most varied album to date.
POST- is an album about finding hope in the future. Not in a passive, pacifying way, but by challenging yourself to step up and take action, day in and day out. While that sounds incredibly daunting—and like a really tiring listen—the album’s most impressive trait is that it makes all that vital work feel joyous and communal.
The cleaned-up production does highlight the eccentric, even incomplete, nature of some of her compositions—Mitski’s only ever written songs with traditional verse-chorus-verse structure when she’s felt like it—but as far as problems go, wishing that all of the songs on Be The Cowboy were three-minute pop masterpieces instead of just some of them is a good one to have.
The crushing sameness of the existence described in Snail Mail’s music means that not every song on Lush is essential, but when Jordan hits, she hits a bullseye, with mini-indie masterpieces like “Pristine” and “Heat Wave” set to inspire another generation of songwriters.
Painstakingly constructed alone in his home, And Nothing Hurt is arguably the purest and most sentimental music J. Spaceman, a.k.a. Jason Pierce, has crafted as Spiritualized since the swooning zeniths of Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space.