1) Brandi Carlile, “Returning to Myself” / Alongside collaborators such as Aaron Dessner, Justin Vernon and Josh Klinghoffer, Carlile laces her typically tender and resilient anthems with cool musical edges.
2) Daniel Caesar, “Son of Spergy” / The Canadian songwriter offers a superlative set of personal psalms, digging into family lines, love lines and more within a remarkable mixture of folk, pop, R&B and gospel.
3) The Lemonheads, “Love Chant” / The latest from Evan Dando and whoever else wears a lemon head embraces the band’s best contradictions: it’s shaggy and sharp, drowsy and open-eyed in ways few other bands or noms de rock can be.
4) The music of Bruiser Wolf / Across multiple projects this year, the Detroit MC hones a smart, freewheeling, never-too-serious approach that pulls listeners in like a magnet.
5) Kelly Corrigan, “Tell Me More” / Subtitled “Stories About the 12 Hardest Things I'm Learning to Say,” Corrigan’s 2018 book lives between and around journalism, memoir and lyric essay, subdividing the author’s life by statements that carry surprising weight.