Our Favourite Albums of 2022.
Chosen by some team members.
Julia Jacklin - Pre Pleasure
Sarah Evangelista’s pick
After the release of Don’t Let The Kids Win and Crushing, Julia Jacklin released her third full length project in August of 2022. Titled Pre Pleasure, The Australian indie pop singer/songwriter touches on sentimental topics such as the importance of friendship, mental health, and the difficulties of living in your own skin. Because of the brutal honesty throughout this album, I think it’s one of the best from this past year. It was also my first encounter with Jacklin’s music, and I was immediately stunned (to say the least).
Djo - DECIDE
Sarah Evangelista’s pick
Djo’s DECIDE is just insane. I don’t think I’m able to put into words how much this project struck me.
That is all.
… Just kidding. I will try.
As I mentioned before, Djo’s DECIDE is just insane. From the visualizers on his social media to the soundscape of the project, he did not fail to keep me from listening until the very end. It could have to do with all of the well structured transitions between tracks (I’m a sucker for a good transition), but I think it was simply because Djo put his entire heart and soul into DECIDE.
The 1975 - Being Funny In a Foreign Language
Shauna Hilferty’s pick
The 1975 suggested they were at their very best. With their 5th studio album, Being Funny In A Foreign Language, suggests the best and much more.
It suggests honesty. It speaks candidly about Healy’s heroin addiction and how it sucks to be seventeen. It suggests happiness, quite literally, sonically, lyrically, and even visually — like like silver confetti raining from the ceiling. It suggests John Hughes and coming-of age, in tracks produced by none other than Jack Antanoff. It suggests, through sweeping instrumentals underneath bridges and in between verses, a bittersweetness that lingers in all eleven tracks.
Being Funny In A Foreign Language isn’t an album that begs you to listen to it. In fact, its understated nature is what drew me and intrigued and indie-adjacent listeners to it in the first place.
GRAE - Whiplash
Sarah Evangelista’s pick
Toronto based GRAE released her debut full length album this year, and I was obsessed from the start. The project starts off with single “Boxes”, touching on growing up, moving to “Spinning”, talking about her relationship with her father, and later discusses subjects like fallouts of relationships, friendships, and self doubt. It is unknown why the title of her project is Whiplash, but my guess is that you’re hit with so many different emotions while listening to it track by track, that you end up getting whiplash. Although, this was and will always be the best whiplash I’ve ever experienced.
Florence + The Machine - Dance Fever
Eva Lynch’s pick
What at a first listen might not inspire as much energy as Florence + The Machine’s prior, transformative albums such as Lungs and Ceremonials, Dance Fever reaches new depths when it comes to dark and honest discussions of healing, the highs and lows of being in the spotlight since the late 2010s, and lead singer Florence Welch’s relationship to performance and sobriety. The album deals with the reclamation of both life and self, and emerging from this pandemic it's an album that’s bursting with life and resonates with all of us itching to connect and move again, after so much isolation. Its main influence came to Florence when she read about choreomania, a ritual dancing celebration where women in the middle ages would dance themselves to exhaustion or death. Despite its danceable execution, on a first listen many of Dance Fever’s songs end up feeling melancholic as Florence has turned her intensity inwards for reflection, as her gothic and poetic lyrics discuss her own turmoil in dark yet up-beat ballads - even a song like ‘Free,’ about the ups and downs of anxiety and Florence’s journey to become medicated, is a joyful and energetic release. Her songs are both more dressed with metaphors while simultaneously more vulnerable than any other album. Being able to see the album live or listen to the live-recorded version from their performance at Madison Square Garden earlier this year breathes a new life into the music, as the energy being exchanged between Florence + The Machine and the crowd brings the verve its original recording may not have sufficiently captured. The band’s gratitude and joy to be on stage again in one large dance-filled celebration is clear, and connects the album to much more of their earlier sounds and themes, which resonate through its live arrangements. Very few are able to mythologize themselves to the same degree Florence has been able to, or similarly use songwriting to blend their lives with fiction and legends while channeling such a vast and disparate range of influences. It’s understandable how she has been able to build up a religious or cult-like following over the past 15 years. Dance Fever produces the familiar celestial, religious and often medieval imagery that Florence + The Machine have become known for, tying in folktales and myths with hard-hitting realities in Florence’s usual confessional fashion. In every aspect, from its choruses to its general intensity, this album is an absolute joy to listen to. If I had to choose how to die, death by dance fever or partaking in a Florence + The Machine choreomania would be top of my list.
Oh Wonder - 22 Make
Sarah Evangelista’s pick
This may be biased because Oh Wonder is my favourite band of all time, but 22 Make is a masterpiece. There’s a saying out there that says ‘you break up to make up’, and Oh Wonder restated the phrase with their coinciding projects; 22 Break and 22 Make. 22 Break was released in the fall of 2021, while 22 Make was released in the fall of 2022. As a matter of fact, the albums were just days apart from the same release date! Anthony and Josephine Vander West created both projects during their break up, and eventually, made up in quarantine. The duo stated that these are the most vulnerable they've been on a project, and their honesty shines through in the most beautiful way.
ATEEZ- The World EP. 1: Movement
Marissa Rodriguez’s pick
Ateez’s The World Ep 1: Movement, which was released on July 29th, 2022, is the first album in their The World series, consisting of synthwave-reminiscent sounds (as heard on tracks like “Cyberpunk”), something new for the group. I was lucky enough to witness nearly all of the songs live on their ‘The Fellowship: Break The Wall’ tour stop in Atlanta last month. This album isn’t long, consisting of only seven tracks (one being an instrumental with narration), but it makes up for its length in the quality of the music. Title track “Guerrilla” is a war cry, a call to rise up against an all-controlling tyrannical government in a dystopian world. “New World” is a very grand-sounding song asking the listeners to open their eyes and follow them into a new place. Overall, this album is a journey into a new space for the group and we cannot wait to see what the following albums in this series are going to sound like.
Ethel Cain - Preacher’s Daughter
Sarah Evangelista’s pick
The Pennsylvanian artist/creative Ethel Cain released Preacher’s Daughter during spring of 2022, and it is nothing short of hauntingly beautiful. This full length project was my first encounter with Cain’s music, and let’s just say it still haunts me, in the best way possible.
Blair Lee - The Puppy Game
Sarah Evangelista’s pick
Taking inspiration from childhood memories and dreams, Blair Lee’s first EP was one of the best of the year. The Canadian indie pop artist perfected the acts of harmony and lyricism, with “Hurdles”, “Peachy World”, and every other track off of the record. What a debut!
Monowhales - Tunnel Vision
Sarah Evangelista’s pick
After following Toronto based Monowhales for half a decade now, I’ve never stopped to wonder why I never left their side. The reason is they just keep getting better at making authentic music.
Tunnel Vision is the trio’s second full length album, and covers topics such as mental health and relationships in true indie rock form.
The Royal Foundry - Little High Little Low
Sarah Evangelista’s pick
Noisy. Beautiful. Magical. Alt/rock duo The Royal Foundry’s Little High Little Low is definitely at the top of my list. After the release of WAKEUP WAKEUP, they came up with their third album and it is so good.
Sigrid - How To Let Go
Sarah Evangelista’s pick
Sigrid’s How To Let Go holds high energy and motivation (which we all need once in a while). I mean, the album starts off with “It Gets Dark”, showing off the pop princess’ incredible vocal chords, then heads towards “A Driver Saved My Night”, to make you want to dance like no one’s watching. An incredible pop record.
Lilyisthatyou - The Character
Sarah Evangelista’s pick
Lily…is…that…you.
Toronto based Lilyisthatyou released her debut EP in the summer of 2022, and it brings the heat for sure. The project consists of six tracks, some being “FMRN” and “Gorgeous Gorgeous Girls”, and highlights topics from sex to self love. Also, every song is for a different character (as seen on the cover art), they each are portrayed by different identities. Her creativeness and authenticity is what stuns me the most about this project.
Basically, it’s her world and we’re all just living in it.
Charlie Burg - Infinitely Tall
Lauren Everett’s pick
Infinitely Tall, the stunning debut album from Detroit singer-songwriter-guitarist Charlie Burg, combines a myriad of influences ranging from R&B to blues to neo-soul. Across an hour of run time, the album’s fifteen tracks explore themes such as failed relationships, as heard on “The Five-Month Song”, while reminiscing on better times in “Summer Moon” and expressing hope for a shattered one on standout track “97 Avalon”.
Sardonic jabs at big talkers are taken on “Dancing Through the Mental Breakdown”, in which Burg inquires how a Soundcloud album about pretty girls will start the revolution (“It’s gotta start somewhere, right?”
Burg expresses his cynical view on the current state of the music industry and its prioritisation of numbers over true art on “Ooh! Sumthin’ New”, a track bearing heavy influence from jam bands such as Goose and Phish and their focus on the joys of making music rather than searching for streams alone.
The album’s eight minute title track also serves as its closer, providing an apt end to a project which is unafraid to leap outside of the box both musically and lyrically, leaving listeners in eager anticipation for his next project and which themes and genres Burg will take on.
SZA - SOS
Nina Fedai’s pick.
SZA’s newest album, SOS is absolutely one of the top albums of the year. The R&B album, which was released in December, includes 23 tracks. Exploring different frames, SZA is able to captivate and attract both old and new fans, drawing out an array of energies and moods. I think what makes fans so attracted to SZA and her music, as evidenced on this album, is her transparency and real emotion. Unafraid of vulnerability, SZA says what's on her mind and isn't afraid to speak her truth on each and every one of her songs. My personal favourites from the album are “Low”, “Conceited”, and “Kill Bill”.