This selection is always a personal one: it's never been an attempt to summarise the 'greatest' or most critically acclaimed contemporary music of the past year. Yet after such a catastrophic 2020 for humanity, and an even more disastrous one for the arts, this list feels even more subjective and personal than normal. Torres was the final artist I experienced before the start of the lockdown, and Smoke Fairies' fine album evokes happy memories from the more innocent, now rose tinted days at the start of the year. My natural bias towards Americana is strengthened this year by regret at a visit to the US being curtailed after a few days by the closing of borders in March; hence the inclusion of the likes of Courtney Marie Andrews, Waxahatchee, Other Lives, Jonathan Wilson and Steep Canyon Rangers in my top twenty. The inclusion of Canadian artists such as Grimes, Caribou, and Braids may also have a subconscious link to my sense of loss at being unable to visit my favourite country for the first time in many years. However, the most obvious influence of the current situation is the inclusion of live albums from The War on Drugs, Israel Nash, and Hiss Golden Messenger. I now realise though its absence how essential live music is for mental health, national culture life, and for the necessary expression of a crucial part of being human. Such documents give hope that gradually happier times may start to return in 2021.
2) The War on Drugs Live Drugs
3) Courtney Marie Andrews Old Flowers
4) Waxahatchee Saint Cloud
5) Other Lives For Their Love
6) GoGo Penguin Self-titled
7) Sufjan Stevens The Ascension
8) Laura Marling Song for Our Daughter
9) Caribou Suddenly
10) Austra HiRUDiN
11) Torres Silver Tongue
12) Lapsley Through Water
13) Jonsi Shiver
14) Jonathan Wilson Dixie Blur
15) Rose Cousins Bravado
16) Smoke Fairies Darkness Brings the Wonders Home
17) Israel Nash Across the Water
18) Hiss Golden Messenger Forward, Children
19) Steep Canyon Rangers Arm in Arm
20) Braids Shadow Offering
21) The Dead Tongues Transmigation Blues
22) Frazey Ford U kin B the Sun
23) Bonnie Light Horseman self-titled
24) Nadia Reid Out of My Province
25) Sea Wolf Through A Dark Wood
26) King Hannah Tell Me Your Mind and I'll Tell You Mine
27) Porridge Radio Every Bad
28) Fenne Lily Breach
29) Tunng Presents Dead Club
30) The Weeknd After Hours
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