Happy New Year! It’s 2024 and we are excited for lots of new music! But what did we love in 2023?

Picking top albums of the year is an incredibly hard task. There are so many great albums to choose from and of course not everyone is going to agree.

This year, we chose ours based on the albums that have meant the most to us, the albums that have had such an impact that we have played them constantly.

Rather than ranking them, we have simply selected our top four albums and in no particular order.

Demi Marriner – The Things We Didn’t Say. We feel this album is a really special and important one to the Americana genre. It has everything going for it! The vocals, the lyrics, the instrumentation, the attention to detail in track listing and notation is just perfection! There’s nothing to fault. Demi is set for the big time in this genre and deservedly so! Everyone really needs to listen to it, fans of the genre or not.

Mature, strong and timeless – The Things We Didn’t Say is an ‘Old Soul’ Americana/Country album that needs to be heard from start to finish. Incredibly rich, soulful melodies – raw, melodic vocals – lyrics to captivate you – Demi has delivered an exceptional piece of art.

Songs such as Sins, Distorted Desires, Stay and One Way Conversation are favourites for us!

Full review here

Far From Saints – their debut album is flawless throughout. Kelly Jones of Stereophonics teams up with The Wind and The Waves Patty Lynn and Dwight Baker for this already phenomenal band! For Kelly, this project is the first time he has ever co-written with anyone after being the sole songwriter of Stereophonics. Together, the trio have created beautiful folk, folk-rock songs, all of which are well crafted with stunning vocals from Jones and Lynn. Their immediate popularity shouldn’t be put down to the fact Kelly Jones is part of the group but simply because the music is that good! We highly recommended getting on board if you aren’t already!

Tracks such as Screaming Hallelujah, Faded Black Tattoo, The Ride and Let’s Turn This Back Around are an absolute must hear!

Full Review here!

Michele Stodart – Invitation. Part of the group The Magic Numbers, Stodart released her third solo project last year to much critical acclaim! A beautiful album that is laid out like a story! These songs are all beautiful in their own right and magical to listen to! Stodart has such a wonderfully unique voice and a beautiful way of telling stories both lyrically and sonically!

Stodart creates extraordinary music that is wonderfully picturesque. When you listen to her music, you can feel and see the art beyond the words and music.

Invitation is a therapeutic, serene and captivating album. It takes you on a scenic route throughout her personal life over the years and is one of those albums we will learn from the more we hear it and will mean more the more we hear it!

Full Review Here!

Julian Taylor – Anthology Vol.1 – This album became a favourite from the very first track Long Time Ago. Julian Taylor has been in the music industry for years in various projects as well as being a solo artist. His music isn’t country but does have notes of folk, folk-country as well as indie rock and more! Anthology Vol.1 brings all of Taylor’s favourite tracks from his decades of career as well as three new songs! The three new songs kick off the album and are so good, you wonder why they have never been released before! Having spoken to Taylor back in December, he explained the new songs aren’t necessarily new to fans as have been played at live shows over the years and likely appear on live bootlegs but this is the first tike the studio versions were released! Tracks that we fell in love with immediately were Long Time Ago, City Song, Georgia Moon, Seeds and Bobbi Champagne.

Taylor sings with purpose. Each song is well written – telling a story, delivering words of wisdom, providing relatability and being honest and inspirational. Taylor stays true to himself in his artistry throughout his body of work. Despite the years of having a wide range of genres in the music, there is a distinctive Julian Taylor stamp in each and every song!

This album is for all music lovers and if you happen to be a 90’s Rock/Indie/Grunge band fan, this album will likely be right up your street!

Full review here!

These albums will be on our playlist for a long time but we are also looking forward to music this year!