03.

Everything Everything

Arc

For a long time the list was a three horse race this year: until late October, when one album broke away from even that pack, there were three records that clearly stood above all others for me in 2013, as being equally awesome.  The first of these is the second record by art-pop adventurers Everything Everything.  This was my introduction to the band – thanks to my brother – and I’ve played it again and again.  I now know that the general consensus is that Arc isn’t as good as their Mercury Music Prize nominated debut, Man Alive.  But when I then got a copy of Man Alive I was actually quite disappointed: for me, Arc is the far superior record.  Maybe it’s just because I heard it first.  For what is essentially a pop band, Everything Everything are about as inventive as it gets.  They structure their dense and dynamic songs around a wide range of styles, including R&B, electronica, rock and dance.  Everything (everything!) is driven by Jonathan Higgs’ distinctive falsetto vocals (Higgs also writes the songs), and it’s his voice that holds the record together.  From the primal stomp of opener ‘Cough Cough’ to the odd-tempo of 80s glam styled ‘Radiant’, there is a huge amount on offer here – all of it catchy as hell.  The standout track for me is the brilliant single ‘Kimosabe’, which I regularly wail along to horribly (my voice just can't get that high!).  A genius album.

Sample track: ‘Kimosabe’