2022: MY FAVORITES
This year has been particularly tough picking my #1 favorite, as I had two very different contenders that blew me away much more than any other record on the list. In the end, I went for the heartwrenching comeback album released by singer-songwriter Nina Nastasia. ‘Riderless Horse’ was her return to music after many years of personal struggles, including divorce and mourning. Pursuing a very back-to-basics approach, she delivered 33 minutes of powerfully poignant tunes for voice and acoustic guitar only.
The other contender is amazing in a completely different way: ‘Xaybu: The Unseen’, by Steve Lehman’s Sélébéyone, is incredibly challenging in trying to bring the jazz/hip hop fusion up to whole new levels. They already succeeded with their previous effort back in 2016, but this is developing the original idea even further and beyond every expectation. Arguably, it’s the most accomplished album released this year.
Then you might (or might not) be wondering why I am picking Nina Nastasia’s over it, and the answer is pretty simple: ‘Riderless Horse’ resonates a little bit more with me. After all, this is not trying to be an objective list from a critical perspective. It’s just a little group of records that reverberated with me throughout the year, the ones I went back to more often. Besides the first two, they are in no particular order except maybe alphabetical.
