twenty twenty four
album + the year + fav songs
I can’t thank you all enough for listening to the album, for all the kind words, and for sharing it around. I really believe this is my best work yet, but I admit I wasn’t sure if anyone would agree with me. I’m so glad it’s connected with you.
Famously I am always saying that I’m never gonna make another album. I have a difficult relationship with the whole process. When I get towards the end of a project I start to find the whole thing a waste of time. It can take so much work, energy, and mental anguish to create a thing that someone might listen to half of, once, while they fold their laundry.
I’ve turned around, though. I realised it was never the album itself that was the problem, it was how I approached it. I just don’t have the type of creative mind to work on something for a long time. I get bored and I overwork things until I’ve wrung out all the good stuff. My mind moves on to other things and I feel stuck with the dead weight.
I’m not a perfectionist in any way - I like things to be relatively clean and in order, but I have very little interest in the details. Despite being mostly made on computers, you can hear weird little mistakes and imperfections in all my albums. I tend to paint with a broad brush rather than a fine one.
I think it just took this long for me to feel confident and comfortable enough to just make the damn music and see what happens.
Most of these songs were only really worked on for a day or two. Then a few months later, once I felt like I had enough songs, I touched up a few things (with the help of my dear friend Ike, who worked with me to do the final 10%) and sent them on their way. I haven’t worked this fast since I was a teenager. I used to write a song after school, do a quick mix, upload it to Soundcloud and wait to see if anyone listened. I think this is how I do my best work. It leaves me very little time to overthink, I’m just acting on instincts and trusting what comes out.
All that is to say I’m really pleased with how this album turned out, and I’m excited for the future. I already have a bunch of music that I can’t wait to share with you next year.
How Can We Lose If We’re So Sincere?! Spotify / Apple / Bandcamp
I listened to a lot of music in 2024. I was keeping up with new releases for most of the year - though I dropped off in the last few months when I got on a Bruce Springsteen kick and didn’t listen to anything made in this century. My top artist without fail every year is Drake. I tried hard to make it PARTYNEXTDOOR this year but there’s just so much Drake to listen to. Also in the top were Wilco, Tendai and Gillian Welch.
I don’t have any big statements or hot takes to say about the music that came out this year. I really enjoyed listening to country. I watched the 8 hour Ken Burns documentary which gave me a proper appreciation for the history of it all, but I love the weird shiny new stuff too. I liked some rock music! I loved the Friko and Oso Oso albums. The new Japandroids album didn’t quite hit for me the way I wanted it to but I loved Chicago. Beyonce is disappointing me but I found 16 CARRIAGES genuinely heart wrenching.
The most exciting music I heard was ‘sexy drill’! I wish I could say I was early on Cash Cobain but I didn’t know who he was until the last Drake album. He makes some of the most amazing music I’ve ever heard. Some of the instrumentals sound like they could be Actress songs. The song Rump Punch stopped me in my tracks. It’s gorgeous - so gentle and restrained. Reliably he is saying some crazy stuff on there, but hey.
The only album that really stood out to me was PARTYNEXTDOOR 4. I love PARTY more than I love Drake or basically any other artist. I had high high hopes for P4 and a long list of leaked songs I’d hoped would be on it, but the final product was kind of unexpected. My heart still races when i hear it. S o r r y , B u t I ‘ m O u t s i d e is exactly the kind of music I love, the kind of emotional tone I am always looking for, and striving for in my own music. Heartbroken but unconcerned. Confident but still vulnerable!
Here’s a playlist of my top 25 songs of the year. Take a listen! And please tell me what other music meant the most to you this year.
I hope you all have a great end of the year. I’m hoping to eat and drink a lot, and read a book under a tree. My only real goal is to learn how to play The Headmaster Ritual on guitar.
Let’s speak in the new year!
Love,
Eddie