#21 on the 2024 Bacon Top 31 — The Decemberists

January 11, 2025 by Royal Stuart in Top 31, 2024

As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again by The Decemberists

At #21 we find a band I thought we’d never see on the Top 31 again. What’s even more surprising is that there’s at least 3 other bands coming up in the 2024 Top 31 that I would have lost money betting on them never making another appearance. So, I believe kudos are in order for The Decemberists, that merry band of minstrels hailing from Portland, Oregon, for truly surprising longevity, and for producing a truly great album in As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again.

It’s been six years since we last heard from the quintet (I’ll Be Your Girl, #15 in 2018), and it’s the fifth time the band has appeared in the Top 31 (rounding out the five are #18 in 2015, #3 in 2011 and #2 in the inaugural 2009 list). I’m confident had I been making my list since the turn of the century, all four of the band’s even earlier albums would have made an appearance. 22 years, The Decemberists have been making music. And it’s safe to say I’ve been a fan for the entire journey.

I must be suffering from some strong recency bias, as As It Ever Was ranks not only as a great record, it ranks as a great Decemberists record, much better than any of the past, oh, 3 albums. And yet here I am, placing it further down the list than any previous Decemberists album has appeared. Be that as it may, I’m going to stick with the narrative that this new album is a real return to form for the band. I suppose I should have expected that, given the title blatantly saying as such.

All the usual melancholy themes are here: death, darkness, and dread, sung with the same chipper trill I’ve loved for two decades from lead singer/songwriter Colin Meloy. Chris Funk (guitars), Jenny Conlee-Drizos (keyboards, and, more importantly, accordion), Nate Query (bass), and John Moen (drums), have all returned, happily writing and performing complex baroque-pop prog rock music accompaniment.

The band has traditionally produced some great videos to pair with their highly visual songs, but not this time around. The video above is a live version of “Oh No!” produced by the band, and a great Squirrel Nut Zippers-esque song. You can watch the band’s KEXP Live performance to hear a handful of other songs from the album, all great. But if you want to hear my favorite song from the album, you’ll have to tune into an “Official Audio” version from YouTube.

That song is “Joan in the Garden,” and it is a 19 minute, 21 second masterpiece. It has all of Meloy’s favorite words in it, like “firmament,” “mariner,” and “parquet.” It sounds a bit like a lost track from Pink Floyd’s The Wall. And it is wonderful. The Decemberists have excelled at the exceedingly long epic. There first was “California One / Youth and Beauty Brigade,” from their debut album, clocking in at 9 minutes, 50 seconds. Their EP, The Tain, from 2004, a telling of the Irish mythological story Táin Bó Cúailnge, covers the span of 18 minutes, 35 seconds of prog rock bliss. “The Island, Come And See, The Landlord’s Daughter, You’ll Not Feel The Drowning,” (yes, that’s the title of a single song), from 2006’s The Crane Wife, is 12 minutes, 26 seconds long. And that album also has its title song, broken up and switched around across parts “3” and “1 And 2” at 4:18 and 11:24, respectively (15 minutes, 42 seconds total). The Hazards of Love had “The Hazards of Love” parts 1-4 (“The Prettiest Whistles Won’t Wrestle The Thistles Undone,” “Wager All,” “Revenge!,” and “The Drowned”), but in reality the entire album is a single story, clocking in at 58:37. “Joan in the Garden,” from the year of our lord 2024, is better than all of them.

How a band of misfit theater nerds has ever achieved the longevity and accolades that The Decemberists have is beyond comprehension. Colin Meloy is a master storyteller, and the musicians who have long made up the band are masterful in their craft. While I never expected to get another great album from them, As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again was a very pleasant surprise, and well worth the wait.

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#22 on the 2024 Bacon Top 31 — The Smile

January 10, 2025 by Royal Stuart in Top 31, 2024

Wall of Eyes and Cutouts by The Smile

Sometimes I’ll get to the end of the year, export the list of albums I downloaded to my library in Apple Music over the past 12 months, and be surprised to learn upon review that such-and-such album only came out this year (as opposed to earlier). Such is the case with Wall of Eyes, the first of a pair of albums from Radiohead side-project The Smile that were released in 2024. Wall of Eyes came out nearly a year ago, on January 26, and its sister album, Cutouts, on October 4.

The Smile – the trio of Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead, and Tom Skinner on drums – also appeared on the Top 31 with their 2022 debut album, A Light for Attracting Attention, which landed at #15 that year. While Nigel Godrich produced the debut, both of the 2024 albums were produced by Sam Petts-Davies, who previously worked with Yorke on his soundtrack for the movie Suspiria that came out in 2018 (#22 that year) as well as his Confidenza soundtrack, which came out in April this year and will not be appearing on the Top 31 because, frankly, I had forgotten it existed until right now (whoops!). These two The Smile records mark the first time we’re hearing output from the duo of Yorke and Greenwood that was not produced by Godrich since Radiohead’s debut, Pablo Honey, (32 years ago!).

Petts-Davies’ production allows Greenwood, Yorke, and Skinner the freedom to move about, opening the door for a more raw, immediate, and guttural execution than anything you’ll hear on a Radiohead album. Between the two 2024 albums, the latter Cutouts feels more amped up, featuring a number of guitar-driven songs that have Greenwood playing like a kid set loose in a candy store. Currently, my favorite song across both albums comes from this frenzy: “Zero Sum,” which has an appropriately crunchy, digital visualizer created by artist Weirdcore (who created visualizer videos for the entire Cutouts album).

When Wall of Eyes came out, it was ushered into the world with two PT Anderson-directed videos, for “Friend of a Friend” (featured above) and title track “Wall of Eyes.” Outside of those two “proper” videos, the rest of Wall has visualizer videos created by animator Sabrina Nichols and longtime Radiohead visual collaborator Stanley Donwood. I’ve come to realize I’m a much bigger fan of live-action short-film videos as opposed to visualizer videos, which have a place more as the backdrop to a live band than they do as a vehicle to carry a song.

These albums don’t have the overhead that a Radiohead album would, and that rough-around-the-edges feel contributes to a more ephemeral vehicle for Yorke’s always-dreamy vocals. He will always sound like himself, but without the Godrich production and the rest of Radiohead to back him up, I’m guessing I won’t often reach for these two albums down the road. Why would I, when I can just as easily put on any one of Radiohead’s albums and be infinitely more pleased? Despite all that, please don’t be deterred in listening to these alternate-universe Radiohead songs. Even a second-rate effort by Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood is better than a first-rate effort from the other 99% of the music world. It is literally impossible for them to produce anything less. Listen now and enjoy.

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#23 on the 2024 Bacon Top 31 — Naima Bock

January 09, 2025 by Royal Stuart in 2024, Top 31

Below a Massive Dark Land by Naima Bock

The artist at #23 is truly a product of the world. Naima Bock was born in England, to a Greek mother and Brazilian father. As a child she spent equal time in England and São Paulo. Living in two global metropolises, each an order of magnitude larger than New York City, has got to have a positive influence on your outlook on living. The myriad cultures of both locations, and of both parents, must have helped shape Bock’s view of music, because the amalgam of sound she produces has hints of many cultures and ideas, resulting in a sounds all her own.

Hit play on the video above, for the song “Gentle,” and you’ll hear a little bit of Aimee Mann’s guitar folkiness, a touch of Fiona Apple’s instrumentation, and a pinch of Dolores O’Riordan’s yodel. But there’s no mistaking Bock for any of those three, as she is quite unique. Below a Massive Dark Land, Bock’s second album since departing the London-based post-punk band Goat Girl, is lovingly assembled from acoustic guitar, horns, woodwinds, and drums. Generally quiet, with punctuations of loud, it sounds orchestral and intimate, as if Bock is leaning over your shoulder to whisper something in your ear while a small cacophony of brass happens in the loft space above you.

Listen and watch the video for “Kaley,” and you’ll hear something a bit more traditional indie-pop. “Feed My Release” is more acoustic guitar driven, quieter and subdued. “Lines,” released over a year ago as the first single from this album, eschews most of the horns for violin, electric guitar, and a Rhodes piano. There’s so much to love about these songs: the instrumentation, Bock’s vocals, and the band’s backing vocals. It all comes together magically, everything produced to a pristine, clear finish.

But don’t be thinking Bock is merely a studio-assembled band. Watch her KEXP Live Performance from this past September, where she is backed by a full six-person band in the KEXP live room, faithfully reproducing four of the album’s songs.

I haven’t yet heard Bock’s debut album Giant Palm (both albums are out on SubPop Records), but from what I’ve read, the two albums are very similar – that is to say, they’re both great. I can’t wait to dive into that earlier record, and I also can’t wait for you to experience either one. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

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#24 on the 2024 Bacon Top 31 — Father John Misty

January 08, 2025 by Royal Stuart in 2024, Top 31

Mahashmashana by Father John Misty

I’m ready to accept the reality of my situation: I am an unbelieving, reluctant Father John Misty fan. At 12+ years into my fandom, I’m confident this outlook will never change. I have a pattern for each of his releases. Step 1 is surprise: “Oh, I guess FJM is still producing music.” Step 2 is reluctance: “OK, I’ll give it a listen, but this won’t be as good as his past work.” Step 3 is acceptance: “Yep, it sounds like an FJM album, but I’m not really feeling it. Good background music I guess.” Step 4 is back to surprise: “Wow, ok, the FJM record from this year is a great record.” Mahashmashana, Josh Tillman’s sixth Father John Misty record, is no different – it is, unbelievably, another great record.

I don’t think my reluctance to expect greatness from FJM is solely my fault. Everything about Tillman’s alter ego is an intentional joke, taking the piss of the entire indie rock star genre. From his name (seriously, “Father John Misty,” really?), to his sultry, make-ladies-throw-their-panties-on-stage crooner stage presence, Tillman is clearly having a ton of fun. These aren’t laugh-out-loud jokes – they’re knowing winks that are easy to pick up if you’re paying even the mildest amount of attention. And I’m — gulp — very much here for it.

All six of Tillman’s Father John Misty albums have been on the Top 31:

Fear Fun: #14 in 2012
I Love You, Honeybear: #6 in 2015
Pure Comedy: #15 in 2017
God's Favorite Customer: #26 in 2018
Chloë and the Next 20th Century: #9 in 2022

I won’t be able to give you a ranking of the albums – put any one of them on, and you’ll have the same, pleasant experience. It takes about five complete listens of any FJM album to start really appreciating the individual songs. “Screamland,” featured above, is a unique video of a great song. The video is formatted for vertical phone viewing, like a 6+ minute Tik Tok movie. Tillman has a couple other videos out, for songs “She Cleans Up” and “Josh Tillman and the Accidental Dose,” and watching all three videos back-to-back will give you a good sense of the depth of this album, and really what Father John Misty is capable of across the board.

One other video I’d like to direct your attention to is “Real Love Baby,” which only came out this year, despite the non-album single having been released back in 2016. The song was originally written by Tillman for Lady Gaga, but according to Wikipedia he became enamored with it so much he ended up keeping it for himself. The groundbreaking video takes the happy song to an over-the-top explosion of joy, making this my nominee for top feel-good song of 2024. Watch the video – featuring a collection of Tik Tok dancers who were not originally dancing to FJM’s song, but happened to be hitting the right beat, so are repurposed to appear as though people from all walks of life are all enjoying the same FJM song.

According to Pitchfork, Mahashmashana is an anglicization of mahāśmaśāna, the Sanskrit word for “cremation ground”: the burning wasteland before the next life. While it feels to me like Father John Misty hasn’t really changed (or needed to change) much over the last 12 years, that title makes me feel like Tillman believes he’s changed. He did become a father between the creation of this album and the previous album, Chlöe, and while this album doesn’t gush about fatherhood, maybe that is the change Tillman is speaking to. Only time will tell, and likely another album that I reluctantly listen to, begin to enjoy, and eventually love, to determine whether he’s made any noticeable change. For now, we have six albums that are each great in their own right. There is no denying, Tillman is one of the best, and Mahashmashana fits right in.

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#25 on the 2024 Bacon Top 31 — Underworld

January 07, 2025 by Royal Stuart in Top 31, 2024

Strawberry Hotel by Underworld

29 years ago, two seminal events happened that changed the course of my media intake forever. 1: Trainspotting, Danny Boyle’s life-affirming film of Scottish author Irvine Welsh’s heroin-fueled novel, hit the theaters on February 23, 1996, bringing with it a phenomenal soundtrack, including a lesser-known electronic band called Underworld and their top-10 all-time song, “Born Slippy .NUXX.” 2: Underworld released their sophomore album, Second Toughest in the Infants on March 11, 1996.

Trainspotting features a handful of mid-twenties friends trying to make it through life, at a time when I myself was coming into my mid-twenties. Both the novel and the film connected with me in a way that nothing else had to date. The soundtrack features a wide variety of artists, from classic rock of the 70s in Lou Reed and Iggy Pop, through 80s brit pop in New Order, Blur, and Pulp, to 90s electronic artists like Leftfield and Underworld. I developed a love of ALL of the artists featured on the soundtrack, but Underworld were above and beyond my favorite band of my 20s.

I remember the CD shop I frequented in college, and remember the day I picked up Second Toughest there. I can picture the location, the CD in my hand, excited to bring it to my apartment and listen to it. From its opening track “Juanita” through the closing “Stagger,” it is a phenomenal album through and through.

In addition to making great music, Karl Hyde and Rick Smith — the duo that make the bulk of Underworld’s music — were part of a graphic design collective called Tomato that, along with folks like David Carson, shaped the zeitgeist of design in the 90s. Being in school and studying visual communications at that time, absorbing everything aural and visual created by the band, seared them onto my still-forming mind.

I went back in time and fell in love with their great 1994 debut, Dubnobasswithmyheadman, and continued to love them through their third album, 1999’s Beaucoup Fish. As I grew older, they kept making albums, but I started to move on. I enjoyed their 2002 album, A Hundred Days Off, but 2007’s Oblivion with Bells didn’t fit my mid-30s world. I started documenting my Top 31 in 2009, but the band’s 2010 release, Barking, didn’t make it onto that year’s Top 31. Barbara Barbara, We Face a Shining Future, from 2016, made it onto the list at #30, but reading my words about the album then make it clear they were receiving a consolation prize, a shadow of their former selves. 2019’s Drift Series 1 did not rate.

But I still found myself going back to those 90s albums — more out of reminiscing than anything else. I bought the vinyl reissue of Dubnobasswithmyheadman in the mid 10’s, and I love it. But nothing new they were creating in the 2000s was matching their 90s greatness. This is my long, circuitous route to getting to the crux of the matter: this sentiment has changed with the duo’s 2024 release, Strawberry Hotel, their 11th album. This album is a resurgence of the Underworld of old. It hits all the same notes for me, despite the fact that I am now in my 50s.

Hit play on the video above, for the opening track “Black Poppies.” Gorgeous and lush, this song creates a soundscape of warmth that hums with excitement. You can also watch an alternate version, “Black Poppies (Unplugged), performed by a six-piece string group of college students that was put together by the band. Absolutely beautiful. And the band still has a grasp on driving, thumping beats: watch the visualizer for “Techno Shinkansen” and you’ll hear what I mean.

Maybe now that I’m working on my fifth decade of living I am in a nostalgic world, trying to reclaim my youth. It’s impossible for me to not hear Underworld from that biased stance. But I do love Strawberry Hotel, and I’m energized by the fact that they (and by extension, me, too) can keep making relevant, exciting things in 2025. I hope you’ll join me in this excitement.

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#26 on the 2024 Bacon Top 31 — Middle Kids

January 06, 2025 by Royal Stuart in Top 31, 2024

Faith Crisis Pt 1 by Middle Kids

A huge influence on what I listen to is my local publicly-funded radio station KEXP. If you live in the Seattle area, you have no legit reason to NOT listen to – and I don’t say this lightly – the greatest radio station in the world while you drive around town. But no matter where you live, you can always stream the station live from kexp.org, or you can use their streaming archive to listen to anything they played on the air from the previous two weeks. So, really, nobody reading this has any excuse for not listening to KEXP.

It’s because of KEXP I first heard of the band here at #26, Sydney, Australia’s Middle Kids, back in 2017. And it’s because of KEXP, because of morning DJ (and Associate Program Director) John Richards, that I fell in love with the Middle Kids in 2024. Specifically, there is one song from which this love has grown: “Bend,” featured in the video above. It certainly helps that this song was the most-played song by John in the Morning in 2024. Go ahead and hit play above, listen in full, then come back to this point. I’ll wait.

Stellar, no? This song is not indicative of the other songs on Faith Crisis, and I have to admit, the trio’s “alternative” sound on the rest of the album creates a barrier of entry that probably puts off a lot of folks who read this blog at first. But once you hear the album a few times, it grows on you, in you, and around you to create this bouncy, joyous, love of life, melodic, polished rock & roll tour de force.

The band is made up of husband-and-wife duo Hannah Joy (vocals and guitar) and Tim Fitz (bass), plus drummer Harry Day (who went to school with Joy)¹. Faith Crisis, Pt. 1 is their third album, and the first to come after the birth of Joy and Fitz’s two children. They talk a bit about how their personal lives influenced this record in their KEXP performance from earlier this year.

In addition to “Bend,” featured above, the band has released six (6!) additional videos over the past year in promotion of Faith Crisis:

Despite the fact that 2024 has now come and gone, there’s no way this will be the last time I hear “Bend” or the Middle Kids. Perhaps this is the first time you’re hearing of them, and I hope you’ll join me in seeking them out in the future.

^{1. With those names, its crazy to me they didn’t name themselves Joy Fitz Day or something like that, but of course they didn’t talk to me about it. If any of you know the band at all, feel free to put them in touch with my lawyer and we can work something out I’m sure.↩}

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#27 on the 2024 Bacon Top 31 — Fontaines D.C.

January 05, 2025 by Royal Stuart in Top 31, 2024

Romance by Fontaines D.C.

Fontaines D.C. have managed a feat very few other bands have: they’ve released four albums as a band, and all four of those albums have been on the Bacon Top 31: their debut, Too Real was #26 in 2019, A Hero’s Death was #12 in 2020, and Skinty Fia came in at #20 in 2022. Their fantastic fourth album, Romance, is coming in at #27 here in 2024. That’s an impressive run of great albums.

Romance feels different from the band’s past post-punk efforts. This album is darker, more The Cure-like, with a little more force behind it, reminding me of Clinic’s 25-year-old (!) album Internal Wrangler. There’s still Grian Chatten’s Irish-accented, more sung-than-spoken lead vocals, and the four other members building out the music. But there’s more depth to the songwriting that didn’t used to be there. Hit play on the video above, for their song “Starburster.” The monotone verses that lead into the deep-breath chorus immediately puts you on edge. Then at the bridge of the song, you’ll hear Chatten channeling his best Damon Albarn.

These are all positive shifts in the music from Fontaines, but let’s also talk about the videos. “Starburster” above is a strange, alien mystery of a narrative. Chatten uses an inhaler to fill in on the song’s deep-breath choruses, and the story shifts at each breath. Crazy makeup and costumes abound, all in an off-kilter way that makes you feel uneasy. Then there’s the video for “Here’s the Thing,” which features a girl mocked for her high-school talent-show riverdance set who then finds a supernatural girl group to enact revenge on the mockers.

The craziest video is for the song “In the Modern World.” Ewan Mitchell, aka Game of Thrones’ Aemond Targaryen, takes center stage, as a low-life who engages in non-sactioned car-jitsu in public settings. Pretty sure you won’t know what car-jitsu is any more than I did, so watch the video and you’ll get a sense for it. Yes, it’s a real sport. And yes, it’s ridiculous.

The most “normal” video of the bunch is for the song “Favourite,” which leans heavily on old home video footage from the band members’ families, jumping around in the band’s history from birth to now. It actually feels kinda pleasant, especially when compared to the other three videos.

I’m loving this shift in musical direction for Fontaines D.C., and I’m not the only one: KEXP listeners voted Romance as the #1 album of 2024. While I can’t make it number one, it does speak to the strength of the music that came out this year that I’m only able to put it in at #27, through no fault of Romance. Give it a listen, even if you haven’t liked Fontaines in the past. You may be pleasantly surprised.

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#28 on the 2024 Bacon Top 31 — Jessica Pratt

January 04, 2025 by Royal Stuart in Top 31, 2024

Here in the Pitch by Jessica Pratt

Jessica Pratt, the folk singer / songwriter out of Redding, California, turned 37 in 2024. Meaning she was – unbelievably – born in 1987, well after the 1960s. Go ahead and hit play on the song “Life Is,” featured in the video above, and I dare you to tell me you haven’t been transported to some tropical island locale from 60 years ago.

Here in the Pitch, Pratt’s fantastic 2024 release, is her fourth album. She’s been releasing lovely, critically-acclaimed music since her self-titled debut album in 2012, when she would have been only 25, and based on the strength of Pitch I aim to cue up those previous releases ASAP. She’s the closest you’ll get to new music from Leonard Cohen in the 21st century.

A gorgeous, dreamy, acoustic-guitar and brushed-drum-laden blanket of warmth – that is what you experience in these quiet-yet-powerful songs. Pratt’s voice is echoed throughout, as if she were singing on a darkened stage in an abandoned cathedral. Guitar, voice, and soft percussion are the mainstay, with an occasional doubling or harmonizing of her own voice, and “Life Is” is not an anomaly – check out “World on a String” and you can extrapolate the rest of Pitch from there.

Put this album on while hosting your next Kodachrome-colored back-yard BBQ or luau, or have it playing in the background of your next key party. Pop it onto your reel-to-reel, blast it through your hi-fi, light up a joint and be whisked back to the era of your parents (or grandparents?). Pratt’s music just hits better that way.

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#29 on the 2024 Bacon Top 31 — BODEGA

January 03, 2025 by Royal Stuart in Top 31, 2024

Brand On The Run / Our Brand Could Be Yr Life by BODEGA

Wikipedia strangely calls the band at #29, New York City’s BODEGA, a “punk band,” when nothing could be farther from the truth. Granted, my only experience with the band is their phenomenal fifth album, Our Brand Could Be Yr Life (which has a differently named deluxe version: Brand on the Run – an album name I am predisposed to love given its connection to the band Wings and to the word “brand,” which is the type of work I do in the daylight hours). It is most definitely not a punk album.

I guess I have more listening to do to truly understand who BODEGA the band is, and until that time I’ll concentrate on this latest album only. I’ve been listening to the album since just December 11, which is the day I pinged my more musically-inclined friends to ask them “what albums would you be disappointed to not see on this year’s Top 31?” My friend Ryan suggested BODEGA, and I couldn’t be happier about his suggestion.

He recommended I start listening at “Myrtle Parade,” featured in the video above, which is also track 1 of the bonus songs included in the aforementioned deluxe version. That song is indicative of a lot of the songs on the album – catchy, poppy, strong bass line and very much out of sync with the other indie-rock sounds of today. This song feels more like an early 90s song you’d hear on MTV’s 120 Minutes, paired with Camper van Beethoven and Ned’s Atomic Dustbin. Other songs, like “ATM,” or the album-closing “N.A.S.S.,” must be outtakes from an early 80s Adam and the Ants album. “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Drum” stole its baseline from Green Day.

New wave, post-punk, “alternative” – anything but punk. Give some more songs a listen. “Cultural Controvery III” – a jangly, fast moving song on the album, has two similar-but-different slower versions, titled “I” and “II” naturally. The band even released a “IV” that is not on the album. Other videos from the album that you can enjoy are “Tarkovski” and “City Is Taken,” the latter of which has Nikki Belfiglio taking over on vocals.

BODEGA have been around for about 10 years, and the songs on Brand are apparently a retelling of songs the band recorded in 2015 under the slightly different “Bodega Bay” name. As you can tell from this review, the band jumps all over the place in their sound, begging us to commit to multiple repeat listens to fully understand what they’re driving at. I’ve done so, and will continue to do so, as I find myself being rewarded in new ways each time.

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#30 on the 2024 Bacon Top 31 — Future Islands

January 02, 2025 by Royal Stuart in Top 31, 2024

People Who Aren’t There Anymore by Future Islands

Admittedly, I have been slow to get on the Future Islands train. The Baltimore four-piece have been around for nearly 20 years. People Who Aren’t There Anymore is their fourth album for 4AD, and their seventh full-length album overall. It is fantastic.

The band first hit my radar with their song “Seasons (Waiting on You),” the opening banger on their first 4AD album, 2014’s Singles. While I’ve loved that song for a decade, the band has never been able to rise above their “steady, pleasant background music” status in my library. People Who Aren’t There Anymore would probably have stayed in that same category if it weren’t for the sense of FOMO I started to feel in the build-up to the band’s September 13, 2024 show at the Paramount Theater here in Seattle. Enough of my friends were excitedly talking about going to that show that I felt I needed to see what the hubbub was all about.

And wow am I glad I did. The band’s keyboard-driven electro-pop sound is well produced and sounds smooth as a Baileys on ice in recorded form. But in a live setting it morphs into something else: expert staging combine with driving beats and intense strobing lights, while lead singer Sam Herring pulls you into this world he and the band have built. The 40-year old singer dances and struts around the stage like an amped up Mick Jagger – lots of high kicks and jumping slides. He is electric, and an absolute joy to watch. After seeing that show, I vowed to never miss Future Islands when they come back to town.

Hearing the songs from People Who Aren’t There Anymore in this setting changes your understanding and perception of the songs. “The Tower,” featured in the video above, is a great example of what the band is capable of. If you listen closely and close your eyes, you can imagine how this might translate to the live stage. Make sure you picture Herring’s non-stop moving about the stage like his batteries have been overcharged.

You can watch a couple other videos of songs from the album. “Deep in the Night” is a slower ballad that makes you feel something you didn’t know you had. “The Thief”, a bit more upbeat, doesn’t have the band in the video, but instead features four dancers in a modern-dance performance choreographed to the song.

I encourage you to also watch their performance of the album‘s opening track “King of Sweden” on Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show back in February 2022. If you’re in a hurry, fast forward to about the 3-minute mark to get a taste of Herring’s stage presence. Then imagine that kind of energy stretched out over 90 minutes of pure bliss.

Next time Future Islands come through town I’ll be sure to rope you in so you can experience it first hand. For now, enjoy People and keep your eyes peeled and ears open for new albums to come.

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White Roses, My God by Alan Sparhawk

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#31 on the 2024 Bacon Top 31 — Alan Sparhawk

January 01, 2025 by Royal Stuart in Top 31, 2024

Welcome to the 16th annual Bacon Top 31. I love sharing new music that I enjoy with others, and that’s what the Top 31 is all about. It’s where I share my top 31 albums of the previous year, in descending order, one a day throughout the month of January. For each album, I write a little bit about the history of the artist, their presence (if any) on past Top 31s, and why this particular album was special to me in 2024.

In addition to being a judgmental sharer of the music I love, I’m a visual person. As part of my reviews, I share at least one music video from each album, if there are any of available to share. My music blogging started back even before the invention of YouTube in 2005: I had a strong desire to share the cool music videos that I’d come across on the still-young internet. I love how a music video can bring music to life in a whole new way.

The Bacon Top 31, as well as my taste in music, has been through a lot these past 16 years. Sure, I’ve settled into the half-century mark squarely in the “sad dad” scene, but my musical loves have grown out in strange and interesting ways, influenced by my wife and kids, but also by my own pointed efforts in broadening my horizons. A few years back I did a survey of female voices over the past Top 31s, and was appalled to find out that there was very little representation of women in my tastes. These last few years, that has changed drastically.

I plan to do some further cross-year examination into genres where I feel like I’ve grown considerably, but that will have to wait so as not to spoil the fun of revealing who I’ve been listening to and loving these past 12 months. For now, I’m glad that you’re here – and if this is your first year reading, or if you’ve been with me since 2009, I hope you enjoy these next 31 days of reviews. Let the Top 31 begin!

White Roses, My God by Alan Sparhawk

Mimi Parker, longtime wife of Alan Sparhawk, who together formed the core duo of the band Duluth, Minnesota band Low, lost her battle against ovarian cancer at the age of 55 on November 6, 2022.

Low only appeared on the Top 31 one time, for their final album Hey What, at #10 in 2021. I was a fan of Low off-and-on for most of their 30-year history, and while I didn’t love every one of their 13 albums, and never once saw them live, their Christmas EP has been played religiously (ha ha) in my house since I first heard it over two decades ago. Low was iconic, despite never having had a hit single, and the music Sparhawk and Parker made together will continue to live on atop an indie rock pedestal of high regard.

Friends, it’s hard to put the universe into language and into a short message, but

She passed away last night, surrounded by family and love, including yours. Keep her name close and sacred. Share this moment with someone who needs you. Love is indeed the most important thing.
— LOW (@lowtheband) November 6, 2022

White Roses, My God is Sparhawk’s first foray into what comes next, his first attempts at creating something when half of his creative soul has been torn away. The album is rudimentary in its execution, very much unlike anything Low created, but it’s also somehow very much Sparhawk. The electronic sounds, the mutated vocals singing seemingly stream-of-consciousness lyrics, the album is not an easy listen. I can’t imagine what it would be like to listen to the album without knowing its provenance. But in the context of Sparhawk’s life, it makes perfect sense.

The second song on the album, “I Made This Beat,” appears childlike, with Sparhawk singing the title over and over again throughout. It is simple, droning, and on its own: fairly unlistenable. But with the context of understanding that Mimi Parker, the main person who played the drums in Low, the one responsible for the beat of all Low songs, is no longer able to make the beats for Sparhawk. He isn’t just searching for something to sing to carry over the top of the beat he’s made — he’s wallowing in the fact that it was he who had to make the beat, because he has lost his previous source for such creation.

Since Parker’s passing, Sparhawk has thrown himself into music-making, in a creativity-as-mourning shift. In addition to recording and releasing White Roses, he’s:

formed a funk band called Damien, with he and Parker’s son
joined another funk band called Derecho Rhythm Section, which features both of their children
created a Neil Young covers act called Tired Eyes, and
formed a noise-rock band called Feast of Lanterns

According to Pitchfork, next year he’s releasing a collaborative album with Duluth bluegrass group Trampled by Turtles. And he even plays on the Father John Misty record that came out in November (more to come on that).

Low, and Mimi Parker, will be deeply missed. But their music will live on. Thankfully for us, Sparhawk himself has no plans of receding into the background. He is carrying on, and we are all the better for it.

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