Arlo Parks, Neil Young, Nick Cave & Warren Ellis ... the ten best albums of 2021

Arlo Parks -

Collapsed In Sunbeams

After several catchy singles, Arlo Parks was expected at the turn. Released in the heart of the interminable winter of 2021, this first effort confirmed the expectations placed on it. Forty minutes, not a second longer, and eleven tracks of simple but never simplistic pop. The themes are as old as the world - love and its wounds, the anxiety and doubts of early adulthood - but still delivered with frontal, touching sincerity. Barely twenty years old when she wrote these songs, the young Englishwoman shows a crazy artistic maturity. His lyrics are full of references of all kinds, and the variety of his repertoire - including hip-hop influences on songs like

or

- could well offer him a brilliant career.

To discover

• The Nutcracker,

  considered racist, will he survive the era of "cancel culture?"

Read also Celeste and Arlo Parks, the new voices of English soul

Fire !

Chatterton -

Clay Palace

On their third studio album in ten years of existence, the Parisian group had the rich idea of ​​inviting Arnaud Rebotini to the realization. The composer, DJ and former record store brought his science of textures to the masterful compositions of the quintet. The result is the most balanced album of the formation assembled by Arthur, Clément, Raphaël, Antoine and Sébastien. Carried by

, released just in time for deconfinement, this

is the ideal meeting point between the epic aspirations of the band and its more introspective side. The texts are even more polished than usual, and the electronic option used on certain titles gives them a beautiful modernity. The group continues its flirtation with poetry by adapting

of Jacques Prévert.

Firmly anchored in a time of which they refuse the dictates, the boys of Fire!

Chatterton signed the most intense French-speaking record of 2021.

Read alsoWith

, Fire!

Chatterton makes an all-out arrow

Nick Cave & Warren Ellis -

Carnage

After 25 years of close collaboration with the Bad Seeds or for film scores, one would think that Nick Cave and Warren Ellis would run out of steam artistically. It's quite the opposite. The sixty approaching, the two men follow the master strokes. In 2019, they were already delivering a huge record with

, a bright album of heartbreaking sadness, haunted by the tragic death of Nick Cave's son.

does not also evoke the drama frontally, but gloom still looms. Once again very refined, these pieces do not need much to sketch the moods and moods of their authors. Like the other albums on this list,

is one of those now famous and inevitable

.

An isolation and a step back which seems to have greatly influenced these eight minimalist titles.

Ellis' both synthetic and orchestral instrumentations leave enough room for Cave's overwhelming presence at the microphone, at the height of his poetic art.

Read alsoNick Cave deconfines a surprise album

The Liminanas & Laurent Garnier -

De Pelicula

There are alliances that we do not suspect but which turn out to have the force of the evidence. When the garage rock duo founded by Lionel and Marie Liminana near Perpignan announced their partnership with the pope of French-style electro, we didn't really know what to expect. Keen on collaborations - from Pascal Comelade to Anton Newcombe, via Emmanuelle Seigner - the group delighted in the presence of Garnier. From a distance, they created a hot and stimulating concept album. The record tells the story of a teenager in the throes of love. The Liminanas didn't just apply Garnier's textures to their music, they actually composed the songs together. The result is a real achievement, which combines the strengths of all parties. The rhythmic cadence,the strength of the guitars, the power of the story. As a bonus, the presence of Bertrand Belin completes the making of this record memorable.

Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra -

Promises

Promises

is the story of an improbable encounter and a timeless record.

A subtle marriage between the worlds of Floating Points, a young London producer known until then for brave ambient house albums and Pharoah Sanders, jazz legend who already accompanied John Coltrane more than six decades ago.

Accompanied by the strings of the London Symphony Orchestra, a miracle in nine movements occurs.

A childish motif is repeated throughout the record, seven notes that flow endlessly, and just enough air to make Sanders' saxophone cry.

We see the motif grow, rise, and slowly be taken up by the strings of the symphony orchestra.

At times barely audible, at times overwhelming in intensity, the music composed by this duo is in no way a shock of the generations, but rather the meeting between two sonic architects, masters of their own genres.

A perfect mix of ambient, jazz and classical.

A masterpiece that says nothing about the time but touches the cosmic.

Neil Young -

Barn

Barn

is the first record of new songs by his author since

in 2019. As on the latter, Young has been accompanied by his historic group, Crazy Horse, by his side intermittently since 1969. The confinement, and the sudden end of the concerts , allowed Neil Young to devote more time to songwriting than he had done for many years. We can feel the care and attention paid to the melodies and texts of

, who multiplies the atmospheres: electric rock, rocky outings and political hysterics. At 76, Neil Young is more moving than ever, especially when he talks about his childhood memories on the superb

is a farce inspired by the status of Neil Young since the election of Joe Biden: that of an American and Canadian citizen at the same time.

With this inspired record, he proves that he is one of the last giants of North American rock, very close to Bob Dylan.

Read alsoWith

Neil Young at the best, or almost, of his inspiration

Squid -

Bright Green Field

In terms of form, the English debut album by Squid is as confusing as it is dazzling. We never imagined the palette of these five young men from Brighton so wide. Under a rock veneer, the group also knows how to add notes of soul, jazz and electro, without ever losing any of its identity. The experimental flights of more than eight minutes follow one another with remarkable assurance for such a young group, and the album retains a rare consistency for the genre. Additional feat, the inhabited voice which gives the record all its urgency is that of the drummer of the band Ollie Judge. Squid asserts itself as the head of the rebirth of English rock in the throes of change. Their compatriots

or

have also released some excellent records this year, and give the genre a new, more experimental impetus, when many saw rock as a dead language.

The Queen's subjects still have it under the pedal and the keyboards, and this

is a shining proof of that.

Read alsoSquid, the ideal English group for our time

Laura Cahen -

A Girl

Her second album,

, saw the 30-something take a huge step forward in her young career as a singer and musician. We are struck by the power of 12 new songs by this artist who started playing the piano at 4, singing a few years later and playing the guitar in stride. Laura Cahen has decided to shine the spotlight on herself, through intense and personal texts. And she made the wise decision to expose her voice even further, on the advice of Dan Levy, director of

.

His song, powerful and intimate at the same time, is one of the great revelations of the disc.

She casts off the moorings there and explodes the shackles that somewhat confined her style, in both interpretation and writing.

Laura Cahen's ambivalence is to embody at the same time a figure well anchored in his time while cultivating a romantic and tormented imagination, well in the manner of the literature of the XIX century.

With Laura Cahen, songs lead the dance.

And this is very well so.

Read also Laura Cahen, the voice of her being

Lana Del Rey -

Chemtrails Over The Country Club

We left Lana Del Rey on

, the most successful album of his career. It is therefore little to say that

, the first of two records released this year by the Californian, was expected. Los Angeles, God, love, Instagram: here she goes over her favorite themes. Subjects that might seem hackneyed in her repertoire, but to which she gives a particular solemnity thanks to the refinement of Jack Antonoff's production. Sober, clean, almost shy,

traces its course without ever deviating from its line.

An elegant record, with the piano as the main actor, without the long instrumental digressions of its predecessor.

The sound of an artist in full mastery of her art, which touches on folk and Americana.

Proof of this are these songs that evoke every corner of American music of the past decades, with an elusive je ne sais quoi that puts her above the fray.

Arman Méliès -

Laurel Canyon

The last volume of an ambitious triptych,

is marked by the amplitude of the great outdoors. The album is a tribute to the hippie utopia, concentrated in this enclave of Los Angeles where Zappa, the Doors, Joni Mitchell and a few others wrote the soundtrack of the sixties.

says Méliès. Before adding: “

Gifted guitarist, sought-after collaborator, from Bashung to Daniel Auteuil via Thiéfaine and Julien Doré, Arman Méliès is now a completely convincing singer.

"

recognizes Arman Méliès, who signs his best album there.