My2021 top 12 (and there’s no room for Adele OR Ed)

Grim though it has been in most ways, the pandemic has done recorded music a power of good. The more cooped up we are, the more we need the things that music brings – the buzz, the freedom, the fellow feeling. You can lose yourself in it, and find yourself too.

Being stuck at home turned many musicians back into struggling artists, pouring their frustrations into song. The consequence was a bumper crop of albums that should continue into 2022.

Here is my top 12 of this year, which could easily have been a top 20 – and still had no room for Adele or Ed Sheeran.

BILLIE EILISH HAPPIER THAN EVER

At just 19, Eilish is already a wise old soul. Working almost telepathically with her brother Finneas, she makes electropop that is deft, decisive and doesn’t do too much.

THE ANCHORESS THE ART OF LOSING

After paying her dues as a touring keyboard player for Simple Minds and Manic Street Preachers, Catherine

Anne Davies became a star herself with her second album, writing, singing, playing and producing some majestic electro-pop.

ELVIS

COSTELLO & THE ATTRACTIONS SPANISH MODEL

Working with his producer Sebastian Krys, Costello went back to his 1978 album This Year’s Model and gave it a makeover. The lyrics are now in Spanish, the singers are Latin pop stars, and in several cases, as Costello says, ‘songs I wrote about girls are sung by girls’. Yet the music remains the same, pulsating with the energy of a driven young man.

JOAN AS POLICE WOMAN, TONY ALLEN AND DAVE OKUMU THE SOLUTION IS RESTLESS

In the 2020s, music has lost two legendary drummers – Charlie Watts, the mainstay of The Rolling Stones, and Tony Allen, the master of Afrobeat. Joan Wasser, who had been jamming with Allen in Paris, builds on his rippling polyrhythms to make an album of sensual jazz-soul.

TIM FINN & PHIL MANZANERA CAUGHT BY THE HEART

The singer from Split Enz and the guitarist from Roxy Music turn a concern for nature into a Latinflavoured sound that glows with humanity.

DAVE

WE’RE ALL ALONE IN THIS TOGETHER

Dave Omoregie may be Britain’s most gifted rapper. His second album appeals equally to heart and brain.

WOLF ALICE BLUE WEEKEND

Ellie Rowsell and co try a little bit of everything, and it works because they hurl themselves into it.

CELESTE

NOT YOUR MUSE

In a vintage year for young British soul singers, Celeste’s debut album combines the poise of Billie Eilish with the pain of Billie Holiday.

JAMES BLAKE FRIENDS THAT BREAK YOUR HEART

The most influential figure in 21st Century music writes songs that are like a walk in the winter sunshine – bracingly beautiful.

FOO FIGHTERS MEDICINE AT MIDNIGHT

When you’ve had enough of sad songs, send for Dave Grohl. His heavy rock now comes lightened by a love for David Bowie’s Let’s Dance.

SELF ESTEEM PRIORITISE PLEASURE

Rebecca Taylor tackles today’s gender politics and turns a minefield into a party. Her lyrics are fearless and funny, and she gives synth-pop a lift by adding the euphoria of gospel.

AFTERLIGHT AFTERLIGHT

The break-up album of the year was expected to be Adele’s 30. Instead it turns out to be Thea Gilmore’s searing memoir of an abusive marriage. She looks back in anger, but also in more muted shades of regret, and always with a warm intelligence. Never mind the break-ups: here’s the album of the year.