Dear Readers,

Below, please find my report on the best albums of 2023’s first half. I’m extremely pleased with the start of this year and excited to share my findings. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Sincerely,

Erin 𓆩❦︎𓆪

(Pilot Music Columnist)

Furling by Meg Baird

[Drag City]

Listening to Furling is like watching an expert work: a little mesmerizing. Well, it’s not like that; it is that. Meg Baird is from a long line of successful musicians; her great-great uncle is on one of the first albums in the Library of Congress. Baird’s fifth solo album is a stunning display of her gifts. She is a true musical visionary who can expertly construct a song; the album sprawls like a movie score without ever losing your attention. It’s a good thing too, since the album clocks in at about 44 minutes despite only having nine songs. As we move into spring, Furling feels like the perfect album to rid you of your winter blues, like a cool breeze that hits while you’re standing in the sun.

Girl in the Half Pearl by Liv.e

[In Real Life]

Dance floor friendly and lyrically powerful, Girl in the Half Pearl, perfectly reflects the music we’re interested in today with Liv.e’s own spin. While this album's sound is definitely based in classic R&B, there’s an undeniably cool, dark spin on each song. Liv.e’s original musical interest was DJing when she was in high school, and you can hear that influence throughout the album. Lyrically, Liv.e doesn’t shy away from raunch (“A Slumber Party?,”), cathartic emotional outbursts (“Clowns,”) and violent imagery paired cleverly with what could be the soundtrack of an 8-bit video game (“RESET!”) When Liv.e announced the album, she said: “The concept is just based on the release of letting go old ‘people pleasing’ habits that I tended to act on in the past a lot. A depiction of gaining the strength & courage to choose myself every time.” There’s confidence in each choice made on Girl in the Half Pearl, and there should be. It’s those choices that make the album one of the most creative so far this year.

Pollen by Tennis

[Mutually Detrimental]

Beloved musical duo and married couple, Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley, form Tennis, and their latest album is an airy, bright offering. Pollen is truly easy listening, swinging hook to hook with complex and catchy songs. The songs on Pollen are never simple; the album is full of clever melodies and lyrics like “She's blank as the walls, adorned with silos.” The album is also brimming with vignettes about love, romantic and conceptual. “One Night With the Valet” and “Hotel Valet” describes the couple’s early relationship, while “Pillow For a Cloud” describes potentially loving your life so much that the passage of time “terrorizes me.” Between all the emotions are the observances of daily life: the weather, “Your hand on the wheel/Hand on my thigh,” and, yes, the pollen. “All I can think of is pollen fucking me up,” Moore sings on the title track. I have to agree with Moore here; all I can think of is Pollen too.

Dogsbody by Model/Actriz

[True Panther]

Dogsbody is, maybe, my most unexpected favorite of the year, but also the album I anticipate staying on top the longest. New York band Model/Actriz’s album feels inventive but also classic. It’s fueled by lust without ever losing its edge or singularity, which I find is often a hard line to tow. There’s a clever balance in the noise on Dogsbody. The instruments are chaotic without ever sounding amateur or unintentional. Cole Haden’s vocal performance stands out without ever overwhelming the instruments. The album has sharp, dark edges with a playfulness that keeps it from falling into the abyss and explores sex and desire without becoming too unserious. Dogsbody pulses while it plays. Model/Actriz's approach? Simple. “Everything is a drum.”

Fish Bowl by Kate Davis

 [ANTI-]

Kate Davis’ latest album is a bit of an antithesis to her 2021 Daniel Johnston cover album, Strange Boy. At the same time, it feels like a natural emotional progression. Fish Bowl, written from the perspective of a “dimension hopping voyager,” is written with a near-fascination of dark emotions without ever veering into tragedy. The song “Consequences” chorus bops and harmonizes through lyrics like “It's scary to realize the reasons why you wanna die/And that you would spare them of the consequences” I’m additionally impressed by Davis’ ability to add an edge to a song that could otherwise get too precious. “Call Home” and “Saw You Staring” use guitar to their advantage, playing against Davis’ sweet, higher-pitched vocals. Kate Davis feels confident and assured of her depth on Fish Bowl. Here’s to hoping she keeps going deeper.

Internal Affairs by Buzzy Lee

[Future Classic]

A-tier nepotism baby Buzzy Lee (a.k.a. Sasha Spielberg, yes, that one) finished out the quarter with her latest offering, Internal Affairs. The album feels like a true sequel to her acoustic-laden 2021 album, Spoiled Love. Buzzy Lee has the sensibility of a classic singer-songwriter but adds a modern twist to her songs with synths and harmonic outros. There’s a maturity to a lot of Internal Affairs, and a perspective on a toxic relationship she was in that can only come with time. “How can I leave when you're still there?” Buzzy Lee asks on the title track. The answer arrives by the end of the album: “I won’t ever win/I won’t bend again.” You leave when you’re ready, and Spielberg is all too willing to take us on the journey with her.

the record by boygenius

[Interscope]

At my heart, I’m a boygenius superfan, but like any band I’m a superfan of, I am afraid whenever they announce a new album. I desperately want to love all the music my favorite bands put out. Lucky for me, I love this album. the record is filled with songs chronicling friendship, love, and loss, all things we’re pretty used to hearing about in music. But the magic that makes the record stand out is the chemistry between its three members: Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus. Their harmonies, rounds, and layering all pay off in a way that surprised even me. Whether they're shouting their way through "Satanist" or letting their voices speak for themselves on "Without You, Without Them," boygenius makes indie rock feel fresh. We’ve all been in the boygenius PR machine for the past six weeks, and I would happily reread every article if I could hear “$20” for the first time again. Who am I kidding; I’ll probably reread them anyway.

Blondshell by Blondshell

[Partisan Records]

Blondshell knows how to construct a song. The self-titled album opens with “Veronica Mars,” which clocks in at 1:57. In that time, the song covers two verses, a full guitar solo, and an outro. … “I just keep you in the kitchen.” -Olympus

Joy’all by Jenny Lewis

[Blue Note/Capitol]

I’m used to Jenny Lewis making me cry. Lewis is one of my all-time favorite songwriters and a master of blending catharsis and storytelling. She’s equally witty and devastating, and her writing on Rilo Kiley tracks like “Does He Love You?” and solo songs like “Acid Tongue” have brought me to tears on recorded and live versions. But Jenny Lewis’ new record, Joy’all, is much more of an exercise in, well, joy. There’s a sweet acceptance of life’s emotions and hardships sprawling over the album, but Lewis’ signature droll, angsty writing still bleeds through, keeping Joy’all from becoming too saccharine or precious. The humor and softness Jenny Lewis can find in the tough moments of her forties (“Puppy and a Truck”) or the mindfuck of falling in love (“Cherry Baby'') feel honest rather than preachy. “I’m not terrified/I’m not, not gonna cry '' she sings on “Giddy Up,” the album’s most endearingly shy track. Lewis has never been afraid to let her cracks show in her music, but Joy’all’s songs, especially the love songs, feel more emotionally bare than much of her previous work. In her previous records, Jenny Lewis has written about herself in every phase of her life. She’s been the heroin as her mother died of cancer (“Little White Dove”), the desperately lonely optimist (“Happy”), and the only living person in Glendora, CA (“Glendora.”) On Joy’all, Lewis is nothing but herself. “Life goes in cycles/It’s a merry-go-round” she sings as Joy’all kicks off. If she has anything to say about it, life is leading us right back to joy.

Lucky For You by Bully

[Sub Pop]

“Time is just a useless measurement of pain,” Bully a.k.a. Alicia Bognanno sings over a deceptively-upbeat guitar in the opening verse of Lucky For You’s first single, “Lose You.” Nearly seven months before the album's release, the single perfectly set the tone for what was coming. Lucky For You is largely a meditation on grief. Bognanno’s beloved dog died during the process of creating the album at a time when her life was already in major flux. But if you’re expecting to listen to something that will leave you empty, Lucky for You is anything but hollowing. The album burns bright and fast, clocking in at just around 30 minutes, but it manages to cover impressive ground. Lucky For You is bursting with a distinct, 90’s alt-rock sound on tracks like “Days Move Slow,” hailed as one of this year's best rock songs by critics and me, yet the lyrics on the album are distinctly modern. Modern enough to stop you in your tracks. “All I wanted was a daughter, try my best to raise her right/Now the whole world’s caught on fire and I don’t want to teach a kid to fight,” Bognanno sings regretfully on one of the album’s softer songs, “Ms. America.” The track is followed directly by the album’s finale, and by far the most intense song, “All This Noise.” “There’s an AR-15 in your house, it’s got one job to do/It’s to quickly kill as many things that you want it to,” Bully snarls. The first time I heard the Lucky For You in full, I just started it again once it ended. Bully greeted me with the lyrics “Polly's got a psychic, says she'll talk to you/You can pay a hundred bucks for more bad news,” and I was back in it.

Psychic Dance Routine EP by Scowl

[Flatspot Records]

With a band name like Scowl, you already have an idea of what you’re in for. Scowl’s thrashing, biting EP, Psychic Dance Routine, lives up to every bit of its name.

Looking Ahead

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Looking Ahead ↳

(Most Anticipated Albums):

Unreal Unearth by Hozier – August 18
Weedkiller by Ashnikko – August 25
Bite by A Giant Dog – August 25
Relentless by The Pretenders – September 1
Everything is Alive by Slowdive - September 1
Rabbit Rabbit by Speedy Ortiz – September 1
The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We by Mitski - September 15
Chai by Chai - September 22
Tension by Kylie Minogue – September 22
Sit Down for Dinner by Blonde Redhead – September 29
I Don’t Want You Anymore by Cherry Glazerr - September 29
…plus whatever the hell is in the water in England that’s led to Picture Parlour, The Last Dinner Party, and Modern Woman 🇬🇧

The Best Albums from 1/2 of ‘23