I list my top 5 EPs and honorable mentions below my #1 as well. SO many albums sat in a ‘close but not quite’ spot for me this time, but the amount is impressive for sure.

Two write-ups are from my ‘Top 5 Albums of 2019’ halfway series hence copied in italic.

10/9. Jenny Hval – The Practice of Love

art pop / electronic / synth pop

RIYL – Opus III, Grimes, Yeule, Pastel Ghost

What a nice surprise. Jenny’s lowered the last album’s edgequeen poetry and made way for more yknow, singing, not to mention doused her voice in hypnotic water-crystals (synths). A fairy-ish falsetto like hers over such a shiny electro sound gives this an Opus III charm that should interest trance fans. Two tracks fall back into the spoken word, but the rest makes a quality EP. Good music for any aspiring mermaid.

10/9. Caroline Polacheck – PANG

art pop / folktronica / glitch pop / electropop

RIYL – Chairlift, Ramona Lisa, PC Music, Imogen Heap

Caroline sings like a fairy-tale lead lost in the woods. Her voice has an almost narrow quality, but her delivery is strong and elastic. It’s not every day you hear vocal sky-dives like hers on the same album as A.G. Cook, a yacht rock update and folksy ballads… Which is why Pang is good.

For all her great theatrics, I love the calmer sound on “Go As A Dream”. It’s become my new favorite Caroline vocal. Far from showy as in “Door”, but incredibly soothing: I can sense the birds and deer watching her in a Disney forest. The way she added that adorable new agey harp confirms this for my ‘garden refuge’ mix. -wink wink- To top it off, this song will do wonders if your mom was into Imogen Heap.

Pang is a testament to how technology allows us to fuse our inspirations. She’s created an effective self-portrait from each of her (known) trademarks here whether they had much in common or not.

8. Teebs – Anicca

downtempo / folktronica / indie electronic / wonky

RIYL – Bibio, Tycho, gardens, birds

While I worry his palette is getting plainer (not enough bells! too much guitar!) there’s just nobody in e-music like Teebs. Listening to him feels like napping in a painter’s garden. It’s interesting to hear him branch out while sticking to his own path as he does here. Full review here.

7. Sudan Archives – Athena

chamber pop / art pop / folktronica / neo soul

RIYL – Kelsey Lu, violins, wooden sounds

Not every day you hear violin (let alone one inspired by Sudanese fiddling) in electronic context, but Sudan fuses them like it’s nothing. Such woodsy, keening riffs like these are a refreshing change from the tropes I’ve come to expect with trendy alt-pop. They’re a great anchor and counterpart to the electronic backbone. When it comes to singing, Sudan sounds like a goddess tending to an ancient garden. She has insight to share and she’s focused all the way on her work, but her presence is a calming one in the end.

Athena is a slow burner, but certain tracks (“Down On Me”) are quick to hit you with a graceful melody. It works like a garden too: you have to water it to hear the true potential. As with another creative new string player, Kelsey Lu, I hope Sudan can keep blossoming as an artist. We need more string players to step into electronic music!

6. Karen O & Danger Mouse – Lux Prima

indie pop / art rock / neo-psychedelia

RIYL – Karen O’s “YO! My Saint”, Arctic Monkeys’ “One Point Perspective” + “American Sports”, U.S. Girls’ In A Poem Unlimited, space

Imagine my shock when Karen O drops a nine-minute suite with Danger Mouse in November. Despite a new producer, “Lux Prima” felt like a sci-fi evolution from last year’s ghostly torch song and a personal ’18 fave, “YO! My Saint”. The idea of a full album piqued my curiosity. The style was hard to predict, but that added to the excitement!

5. Nonlocal Forecast (aka Angel Marcloid)

new age / electronic / jazz fusion

RIYL – 90s Weather Channel music, Eyeliner,  “Aquatic Ambience” from Donkey Kong Country, “Dire Dire Docks” from Super Mario 64, digital synths

4. Angel Olsen – All Mirrors

chamber pop / singer songwriter

RIYL – Scott Walker, Susanne Sundfor, Anna Von Hausswolf, strings

For once, a hyped late-10s album where I GET the hype. The usual barrier between me and ‘chamber pop’ is the slowness and twee indie-rawker vocals, but Angel steps closer to a smoky folk songwriter. Her presence is mysterious enough to compliment the velvet carpet that is her new string section. Picture a woman you’ve never met with a Foggy Past visiting your Victorian fireplace to escape the storm and you have the right idea.

With many beautiful moments at both soft and loud volume, this album excels in slow burns. Every other time it began to ramble, I’d get a cinematic flourish or crescendo. “Chance” is the best example, having the same huge, frosty catharsis as a good movie climax.

All Mirrors is a delicious cross between chamber pop and folk’s ghostly edges. (See “Summer” for the latter, which makes me want to ride a horse in the mountains!) Glad this is getting the praise it deserves.

2/3. Ioanna Gika – Thalassa

art pop / darkwave / ethereal wave / synth pop / dream pop

RIYL – This Mortal Coil, early Cocteau Twins, Bat For Lashes’ Two Suns, IO Echo, Anna Von Hausswolf, filling the void Grimes left when she made Art Angels

Somehow Ioanna Gika knows 70% of what I want from gothic music right now. She can siren-sing like a lost Mortal Coil guest. Synth layers, string flourishes and fierce rhythms make her soar in all directions. She fuses modern sounds with folk references like Bat For Lashes’ best work. In a way, she represents the next step in an all-too-small group of modern artists revitalizing ethereal wave. (These include early Grimes and Pat Moon; I hope we keep getting new artists in this vein.) She’s an expert with building tension, to the point many songs would fit right into movies. “Roseate” for one, which compares her losses to walls breaking with the urgent beats and howls to match. With guitar, piano, sound design that follows her like an amorphous vortex and a surprise krautrock break, her style is flexible enough to bring her ambitions to life. It floors me to know that a 23-year-old, solo musician is behind every sound here.

 As heavy as it gets, her voice is sweet and humane enough to keep the void from swallowing everything. The way this contrasts the darkness surrounding her leads to the most punch-to-the-gut beauty I’ve heard from a 2019 release since Kelsey Lu. A gentler song like “Weathervane” has her shivering like a bird in a desolate tundra. It’s a portrait of how she felt then, and it feels very real. I get a feeling Thalassa‘s world is a pristine, homely one since warped by her grief. It’s clear she’s grown a lot since her time with IO Echo. As addicted as I got to their album, Thalassa’s lyrics here are far more touching and evocative. No odd ‘ponyboy’ / ‘wonderboy’ references here.

Thalassa is both a striking emotional release and culmination of Ioanna’s great taste. A must-hear if you want something more individual than the usual post-punk rehash. I’m convinced she can liven up the goth scene. Touring with Chelsea Wolfe suggests she’ll get her due with time.

2/3. La Feline – Vie Future

french pop / art pop / electronic / neo-psychedelia / dream pop / space age

RIYL – Mylene Farmer, French accents, surrealism, Broadcast, Ghost Box, Stereolab

1. Kelsey Lu – Blood

chamber pop / art pop / singer songwriter / chamber folk / folktronica

RIYL – cellos, Sudan Archives, non-forced eclecticism, Goldfrapp’s Tales of Us, Kate Havnevik’s “Unlike Me”, Weyes Blood, Angel Olsen

As you could guess from a cellist, keyboardist, guitarist and singer who’s worked with Solange and Blood Orange, Kelsey Lu’s solo debut isn’t easy to box. She defies more cliches than any new album I’ve heard this past year, resulting in unfiltered creativity. The minimal cello-with-vocal sound on her Church EP has evolved to a bolder statement with a stronger personality and wider palette, the electronics among the most promising. In Lu’s case, Blood sounds like the natural gathering of her inspirations. She isn’t going eclectic for the sake of it, which is often the best way to do so. Even when she goes from twangy folk (“Too Much”) to a 7-minute electro 10cc cover, she unites each sound through the sweet hums and shivers of her voice, the warm wooden tremble of her cello and clear-cut production.

Blood opens with a pair of striking cello-tinged folk songs, the sinister warning of “Rebel” and the uneasy sleepwalk of “Pushin’ Against The Wind”. In the first big shift, she dives into a cathartic pop ballad with “Due West”, setting her vocal decadence to a blanket of synth chords and a harp so fragile someone could’ve sewn it together. When I think it’s over, a cello pluck enters and cross-fades into what sounds like Grouper making ethereal wave in a church (“Kindred”). Unlike the rest of Blood, Lu sounds truly weightless as she sings like an opera singer’s ghost, possessed yet appeased. Not long after, she kicks into 70s disco with “Poor Fake”, where the album’s biggest beat threatens to kick off a party. And we’re only halfway in by then.

Blood is the most a new artist has impressed me in months if not a few years. Her awe-inspiring musical scope combined with such clear passion and creativity to match means Blood has enough to process for some time, but I’m clamoring to know what sound she’ll pursue next. Will she do more pop, guitar folk, classical cello, will it follow this album’s steps or will she do a 180? Blood tells me any of these and more could work.

EPs:

• Brothertiger – A Chain of Islands / Chillwave, synth-pop. Listen to “Prideland”
• Flying Lotus – INFINITY Infinitum / Nu jazz, spiritual jazz, neo soul. Listen to “MmmHmm”
• Natasha Kmeto – Verse/Versus / Alt R&B, neo soul, synth-pop. Listen to “Count To 5″
  
• Hinako Omori – Voyage / Progressive electronic, ambient. Listen to “Teleport”
• Sulli – Goblin / K-pop, synth-pop. Listen to “Dorothy”
• Suiyoubi no Campanella & Oorutaichi – Yakushima Treasure / J-folk, avant-folk.

Honorable mentions

• Bat For Lashes – Lost Girls / Art pop, synth-pop, dreamy, fantasy. Listen to “Jasmine”
  
• CFCF – Liquid Colours / Drum and bass, new age, 90s spa music? Listen to “Green District”
  
• Jorja Chalmers – Human Again / Electronic, ambient, soundtrack-ish. Listen to “She Made Him Love Again”
• Maria Usbeck – Envejeciendo / Synth-pop, downtempo, tropical. Listen to “Retirement Home”
• Natalie Rose Lebrecht – Mandarova Rose / Neo-medieval folk, ethereal wave. Listen to “Lost“
• Shura – Forevher / Sophisti-pop, R&B. Listen to “Skyline, Be Mine”
• SODA Lite – Vale & Stone / New age. Listen to “Vale & Stone”
• SPELLLING – Mazy Fly / Cowgirl synth witch music? Listen to “Hard To Please”
• Steve Hauschildt – Nonlin / Space music, prog electronic, ambient. Listen to “Attractor B”
• Tei Shi – La Linda / R&B pop, downtempo, dreamy. Listen to “Even If It Hurts” ft. Blood Orange
  
• Voyage Futur – Secret Earth / New age. Listen to “Eternal Dawn”
• Yeule – Serotonin II / Dream pop, electronic, synth-pop. Listen to “Poison Arrow”

There’s more. I could add Lana, Lil Simz, Weyes Blood, Charli, Lizzo and other cult hits, but this is long enough kept to my darkhorse faves. Stay tuned for my 2019 playlist for their proper acknowledgement.