1) Turnstile, “Never Enough” / One of the year’s most talked-about records meets the hype, underlining the timelessness and timeliness of rock and roll.
2) Little Simz, “Lotus” / The British artist turns in one of the year’s best hip-hop albums, enlisting the likes of Obongjayar, Michael Kiwanuka and Moses Sumney to flesh out a set that’s emotionally and musically textured in remarkable ways.
3) Caamp, “Copper Changes Color” / The Ohio band just keeps putting out high-quality records, leaning into 21st-century folk-rock conventions while always taking the sound a step further than they have to.
4) Langston Hughes (ed. Danez Smith), “Blues in Stereo” / The superlative poet Smith curates a collection of Hughes’ early writings, injecting minimal but meaningful commentary and offering a fresh reminder of why Hughes ranks among our great American artists.
5) Donna Vorreyer, “These Currents Turn Awry” for Whale Road Review / I love each word of this vital, meditative piece that settles inside storms to consider the elements and their effects on the body and soul.
But a storm is not a girl, and a girl is not a storm. A storm cannot grieve, but a grief can be a storm. Grief is both a girl and storm, all the flowers and the insects and leaves and wreaths of flowers torn apart and blown away.