Good morning everyone,

I hope that you are well and that if – like me – you had your work Christmas party last night I hope that you – unlike me – got more than four hours of sleep. POWERING THROUGH, THOUGH. Here are my albums of the year, don't worry I made this list a couple of weeks ago so it's not just all the albums to make you feel better about temporarily impaired information processing.

boygenius

I have written about Julien Baker on Fem Fri before, and here is boygenius, her "sad supergroup" with Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus. There was a period in the late summer when I would listen to this song at least three times a day, it's quite lovely:

Tracey Thorn

Here's what's great about Tracey Thorn, other than her lovely singing voice – it's her gift for singing about her teenage years like she is thoroughly embarrassed by them but also like she is really enjoying remembering them and living through that magic again. This song illustrates that dynamic well, I think, but the whole album is good and you will enjoy it.

Gang Gang Dance

More often than not this year, this is the album I've wanted to listen to on Sunday afternoon. It's drifty and elegiac and just a delight from start to finish. This song basically chosen at random, I do recommend listening to the whole thing today (particularly, again, if you have had a Christmas party and can't currently have a little nap)

Simmy

Sad Afrobeats is a great microgenre and Simmy makes lovely, lovely sad afrobeats. This album is produced by Sun-El Musician, whose music you may have heard, if you enjoyed that certainly jump on this:

Jon Hopkins

Do you just want something twinkly and nice to get you through the next thirteen-ish hours? Oh gosh, me too. Jon Hopkins, people:

Have a great weekend! Things are getting pretty festive huh.

A xx.