Domenica 6 Dic 2009, 5:12

Each of my years seems to have a theme: that is, one genre of music seems to dominate over others. Ever since I dropped the whole mainstream music thing in 2004, every year has consisted of a primary musical interest, with everything else dragging the chain. 2004 was neo-classical. 2005, 2006 and 2007 were dominated by some form of film-score. And if 2008 was the year of ambient, then my 2009 has definitely been the year of indie / female vocalists.

Traditionally I have always favoured the softer, more soothing ( I guess..), voices that artists like Dido and Enya provide. Even during my mainstream days, I formed a fairly nichey taste for semi-respectable female singers (i.e Michelle Branch, Vanessa Carlton etc). But I guess 2009 saw me open my eyes to some of the lesser known, more alternative female voices that I had begun to dabble in during 2008.

First, the hot Summer was cooled by the mellow and fragile sounds of Au Revoir Simone. I stumbled on them in an interesting fashion - one of my friends sampled A Violent Yet Flammable World in a skateboarding video. The music was almost revolutionary to me, and was so dramatic. It's actually quite different to the rest of the album, but I somehow managed to get into their music.

Shortly after mastering The Bird of Music, I found out they had released a new album. Eager to test it out, I was instantly drawn to Another Likely Story - again such a dramatic and powerful song. Overall i'd have to say that this was by far my favourite track for the year, and definitely among my favourite tracks of all time.

Moving into the chill of winter, the warm, playful and heartfelt songs of A Fine Frenzy dominated the rest of the year. I was astounded that whatever song I had on, I loved it. Even now, I can play any of her songs (except maybe Fever..) and have that great feeling of suspended reality pass over me. Initially Rangers was my favourite track, but this has now been eclipsed by Elements, the best three and a half minutes I could ever think to spend.

While these two were my main artists for the year, the new album from Natalie Imbruglia, and discovering old albums from Vanessa Carlton, Dido and others, meant that 2009 really was the year of the female.

Now for 2010…