2014 Top 5 Favourite Albums

Next up in my 2014 Top Five’s is Albums.

I thought 2014 was a fine year for music, and I unearthed a fair few new bands thanks to either recommendations or pure luck and there were some impressive returns from a few of my favourites.

It was tough finalising My 2014 Top 5 Favourite Albums and thus I have named a couple of Honourable Mentions, but this is it:

1) London Grammar – If You Wait
Yes I know, it was released at the end of 2013, but I had not heard of the young Nottingham trio until last New Year’s, and candidly this album hardly left my ears for the first 3 months of 2014. Hannah Reid’s voice is stunningly beautiful and every song captures a mixture of exhilaration and heartbreak. Spellbinding.

Favourite track: Sights

2) Future Islands – Singles
I first saw this Baltimore based band on David Letterman, and that performance propelled them to a whole new level. Admittedly that incredible 5 minute act was the reason why I downloaded this album, the band’s 4th. It has a fresh electronic sound with lead singer Samuel T Herring’s mesmerising voice bleeding through every track like a stick of rock.

Favourite track: Seasons (Waiting on You)

3) Wild Beasts – Present Tense
Hayden Thorpe’s voice is almost ethereal. A stunning album, creatively assembled with great lyrics and tunes which distinguishes itself from its predecessor Smother.

Favourite track: Mecca

4) Coldplay – Ghost Stories
Chris Martin and Coldplay produced another warm, melancholy and nostalgic album. It is quite sombre too, which is not surprising bearing in mind the marriage ‘de-coupling’ Martin was going through at the time.

Favourite track: Ink

5) Interpol – El Pinter
I have never owned a Interpol album but was drawn to it because it was their comeback record after a 4-year break. Aggressive, but with elegance and extremely listenable.

Favourite track: Same Town, New Story

Honourable Mentions: Honeyblood – Honeyblood; Lana Del Ray – Ultraviolence; PVRIS – White Noise.