Songs of 2023
Here we are, a bit late, not quite as late as last year. 2023 was a busy year but somehow an uncomplex one for me—there’ve been worse years, there’ve been better. If the songs spoke to the times, they did so in obscure ways. Nonetheless: 50 favourite songs, 50 fuzzy thoughts, I hope you like them too.
1. Fenne Lily, “Lights Light Up”
Just the right amount of confidence and the right amount of caveats; just the right amount of magic and the right amount of realism.
2. Boygenius, “True Blue”
I love the matter-of-factness of Lucy Dacus’ diction here, putting friendship to words like it’s the most obvious thing in the world: “I can’t hide from you like I hide from myself, duh.”
3. ANOHNI, “Sliver of Ice”
Somehow, amidst the wreckage, it’s the elegance of ANOHNI’s rhymes that get me: view/blue, tonight/light, more/before; if only death was so simple.
4. Caroline Polachek, “Billions”
All I can say here, and it’ll sound silly, is that what’s happening in this song is an attempt to block off the curve from hedonism to cynicism.
5. Ratboys, “Black Earth, WI”
How is it that, with the mushroom cloud above and the ground opening up before them, Ratboys seem to have all the time in the world?
6. Julie Byrne, “Portrait of a Clear Day”
There’s a particular vocal style, smooth and blue like a lake surface, that you find in some English folk music, and in 2023 Julie Byrne was its sharpest, wisest practitioner.
7. Feist, “Hiding Out in the Open”
Homespun, delicate; thrillingly, almost uncomfortably intimate.
8. Slaughter Beach, Dog, “Strange Weather”
One for cataloguing, inventorying, totting up, working out where you stand.
9. Yo La Tengo, “Aselestine”
“Aselestine”’s two songs: the instrumentals so serenely flowing, circling, generative; Georgia Hubley’s vocals so clipped, terse, holding back.
10. Billy Woods & Kenny Segal ft. Samuel T. Herring, “FaceTime”
Could Billy Woods be our foremost imagist? “In a Station of the Metro” but the train’s derailed, bones snapped, screaming kids, twisted metal? I’ve already said too much.
11. Doja Cat, “Agora Hills”
The year’s best pop song, a delicate dedication from (is it fair to say?) unexpected quarters, smut and bravado doing the bare minimum to conceal its softness.
12. Mitski, “Bug Like an Angel”
This song doesn’t have a chorus in the sense of a refrain but has a chorus in the Ancient Greek sense, a set of voices that interrupt in unison, sometimes using dramatic irony.
13. Big Thief, “Born for Loving You”
Sometimes we speak out of the sides of our mouths and sometimes we dissemble; Big Thief could never.
14. The Antlers, “I Was Not There”
The word sweep is a good one for songs by the Antlers: conveying breadth and inexorability, it’s cosy and domestic too; to sweep like they do is to upturn, to wreck, but to renovate, to welcome.
15. Lana Del Rey, “The Grants”
Philip Larkin said poetry was a matter of experiencing a vision then “attempt[ing] to express the whole of which the vision is a part.” For Lana there’s no whole or part, just vision.
16. The Pines of Rome, “I Am a Road”
Gnomic, wry, lamenting, ground-down but still kicking, a bit ornery but if you sit down at its feet you’ll learn something.
17. Bonnie “Prince” Billy, “Willow, Pine and Oak”
Stolid and unsappy, this tripartite scheme isn’t quite right, but it certainly is one way of looking at the world.
18. Lande Hekt, “Pottery Class”
This song says it’s about missing someone, but all those sighs, all those “again”s, all those “buts” make you wonder.
19. James Yorkston, Nina Persson and the Second Hand Orchestra, “A Forestful of Rogues”
“If I say so myself, and I damn well do”—when you start a line like that you can follow it up with almost anything.
20. M83, “Amnesia”
Big as stars and glistening like them; who, in 2023, does it better?
21. CMAT, “Vincent Kompany”
CMAT sometimes seems to want to be “relatable” but then snaps out of it and takes joy in being idiosyncratic, or a bit off, or, basically, really fucking odd.
22. Mannequin Pussy, “I Got Heaven”
Let it be known that in 2023 we snarled sometimes.
23. Shit Present, “More to Lose”
Shit Present, in the best of traditions, use monotone as a weapon: here Iona Cairns drags down what could be a soaring chorus in the most politically astute of ways.
24. Fever Ray, “Kandy”
The word could be skeletal: minimal, of course, but also spooky, schlocky, body-horror, prone to decomposition.
25. Girl Ray, “Hold Tight”
“Hold Tight” says it wants simple sedentary situations, “talking shit on the grass,” “get a Coke and sit on the wall,” all while it bounces and hops non-stop.
26. Charlotte Cornfield, “You and Me”
I’ll admit to preferring the more pensive Charlotte Cornfield, but no one’s surprised she can do affirmative too.
27. Shannon Lay, “From the Morning”
I love Shannon Lay’s confidence: there’s something ever-so-slightly irreverent in this Nick Drake cover, just the slightest smirk.
28. Jeff Rosenstock, “HEALMODE”
The sort of song you find under rotting wooden pallets in derelict parts of the city.
29. The Mountain Goats, “Fresh Tattoo”
The Mountain Goats grow old no worse for wear: still telling meandering parables, still making us feel right at home.
30. Samia, “Charm You”
“As You Are,” Samia’s paean to unconditional familial love, was my favourite song of 2021. “Charm You” works up the same giddiness about a new relationship but introduces a smidge of reticence.
31. Alex Lahey, “The Answer Is Always Yes”
A big year for affirmations in pop (see#4, #26, #46), but (1) this one’s so intricate too, and (2) this one knows what it’s up against too.
32. The Hold Steady, “Grand Junction”
Metronomic, “Grand Junction” declines to shift its swing, which is no problem as it keeps on hitting.
33. Arlo Parks, “Dog Rose”
Arlo Parks writes pop songs with an undercurrent, love songs that threaten to get a bit weird.
34. Holly Humberstone and MUNA, “Into Your Room”
A late entrant: one that toys with overstatement, knows it sounds a bit overblown, but wants to say what it has to say anyway and see how it goes.
35. Young Fathers, “Holy Moly”
This sounds like 2006 to me, a sticky floor and cigarette smoke.
36. Heather Woods Broderick, “Seemed a River”
This song’s weirdly verbose, maybe it’s indecisive? Maybe it’s keeping secrets?
37. Pearla, “Flicker”
Circularity like the seasons, like the sunrise-sunset, like fresh starts, like the worms.
38. Sparklehorse, “The Scull of Lucia”
A grandiose sort of lullaby, making short work of squally seas.
39. Joy Oladokun, “Changes”
I go back and forth on this one: it feels tailored for the Obama playlist, but it still charms me; sometimes it seems too smooth for the ugly world it describes, but there are more egregious sins.
40. Quinnie, “Security Question”
A missed connection that spirals from a whim into a crisis: the entire problem of other minds “at some party I wandered to.”
41. Black Country, New Road, “Laughing Song (Live at Bush Hall)”
On Live at Bush Hall BC,NR continued to be our best worriers, biters of nails, pickers of scabs.
42. Blink-182, “More Than You Know”
If there’s nostalgia here, and there may be, it’s for “Easy Target” or “Stockholm Syndrome,” the careful use of melancholy, the harmonies, Travis Barker drumming like a submachine gun.
43. Vagabon, “Lexicon”
Vagabon’s a rare songwriter who’ll admit to speechlessness, dumbstruckness, stagefright. But some things are unsayable, some thoughts do need to be expressed in deeds.
44. Subsonic Eye, “Machine”
Go on then, make it seem effortless!
45. The Milk Carton Kids, “Star Shine”
I suspect this one’s too hard on itself—there are big lies and little lies, gentle ones and harsh ones, after all.
46. Sufjan Stevens, “Shit Talk”
Somewhere in the ’10s Sufjan became a permanent presence: a waystation, a landmark, a totem, and on Javelin you feel he cautiously started embracing that.
47. Indigo De Souza, “Losing”
It’s one thing to say “less is more”, it’s another to model brevity like this, to just fill two minutes and nineteen seconds with five- or six-word lines that describe all the details of one thought.
48. Fred Again.., “Winnie (Rosslyn Crescent)”
I’m still captivated by Fred Again..’s soundscapes, his windows into London kitchen-sink scenes, and how much he leaves unsaid.
49. Sofia Kourtesis, “Moving Houses”
Fractured images, shards of life, but Sofia Kourtesis seems confident things can be put back together.
50. Oneohtrix Point Never, “Nightmare Paint”
Not an album where you can pick out one song, of course, but if I had to it’d be this pew-pew space opera, brightly lit and smoothly running, letting the unknown in through the airlock.
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Listen:
Why do I want these characters to interact with each other? I personally think the conversations would you be interesting. But like… Why do I either want them to be friends, know each other, or want to give them a reason to fight?
John “Soap” McTavish (MW2) and Ethan Winters(Resident Evil Biohazard/Village)?
Nea Karlsson (Dead By Daylight), Ada Wong (Resident Evil) and Carmen Sandiego?
Lee Everett(TWDG), Joel Miller(TLoU) and Ethan Winters?
Ace Visconti and Doug Houser (Dark Deception)?
Ellie (TLoU), Clementine(TWDG), and Rosemary Winters (Resident Evil Village/Shadow of Rose)?
Amanda (Amanda The Adventurer) and Agatha (Dark Deception)?
Simon “Ghost” Riley (MW2) and Reaper(Overwatch)?
Dale Horvath and Michonne? (TWD)
Kitana (MK) and Lady Urbosa (Breath of The Wild)?
Kaeya (Genshin Impact) and Link (Breath of the Wild)?
Rick Grimes (TWD) and Lee Everett (Telltale: The Walking Dead Video Game)?
Dale Horvath(TWD) and Joel Miller(TLoU)?
Ethan Winters (Resident Evil Village) and Doug Houser (Dark Deception)?
Parvati Holcomb (The Other Worlds) and Caleb Quinn (Dead By Daylight)?
The Duke (Resident Evil Village), Joel Miller and Ellie Williams (TLoU)?
The Plain Doll (Bloodborne) and Donna Beneviento (Resident Evil Village)?
The Duke, Lee Everett and Clementine (Telltale: The Walking Dead Video Game)?
Cicero (Skyrim) and Jinx (League of Legends/Arcane)?
Revali (Breath of The Wild) and Hanzo (Overwatch)?
Caleb Quinn and Karl Heisenberg(Resident Evil Village)?
Gavin Reed (D:BH) and Revali (Breath of The Wild)?
Parvati Holcomb(The Outer Worlds) and Karl Heisenberg (Resident Evil Village)?
Lara Croft (Tomb Raider) and Arnetta Larkin (World War Z: The Video Game)?
John “Soap” McTavish(MW2) and Ana (Overwatch)?
Father Sergei Popov (World War Z: The Video Game) and Vicar Max (The Outer Worlds)?
Lisa (Genshin Impact) and Zatanna Zatara (DC)?
Feng Min(Dead By Daylight) and Parvati Holcomb (The Outer Worlds)?
Whistle/Willow Zimmerman (DC) and Yondu (Marvel)?
Nyoka (The Outer Worlds) and Diluc Ragnvindr (I just think a conversation between them would be entertaining)
Sarah Williams (Labyrinth) and Bilbo Baggins (The Hobbit/The Lord of The Rings) {Just for shits and giggles}
Aloy (Horizon: Zero Dawn) and Lara Croft (Tomb Raider)
Ralph (Detroit: Become Human) and Wheatley (Portal 2)
Maya (At Dead of Night), Nea (Dead by Daylight) and Sarah (Labyrinth)
Please someone just tell me why I want these conversations.
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What are some wips that you'd recommend?
Ooooo ok ok. I already know I'm forgetting some but I rlly tried
Temple of Endless Night by @darielivalyen
Royal Affairs by @hpowellsmith
The Nameless by @parkerlyn
A Tale Of Crowns by @ataleofcrowns
Snakeroot by @cerberus-writes
Exiled From Court by @beeanca-writing
Fields of Asphodel by @asphodelgame
The Hunt by @thehunt-if
When It Hungers by @roast-ifs
Willow Creek Run by @willowcreekrun
Wilhelmina by @fidere-k
Virtues End by @crimsiswrites
Body Count by @bodycountgame
Speaker by @speakergame
Sentinel + Project Hadea by @nyehilismwriting
Golden by @milaswriting
Eight Years Revolution by @eight-years-revolution
The Remainder by @the-remainder
Faith of Gods by @faithofgods
Love The Guard Be The King by @ligiawrites
Northern Passage by @northern-passage
Blood Moon by @barbwritesstuff
Wayfarer by @idrellegames
OFNA by @ofna
Perfumare by @pdrrook
When Twilight Strikes by @evertidings
Hollowed Minds by @shai-manahan
Larkin by @larkin-if
Supernova: Renegade by @jupitergames-if
You Live and Fern by @beetlebethwrites
The Moonless by @moonless-if
Witches Of Ferngrove by @witchesofferngrove
Thrill Seeker by @thrill-seeker-if
Out Of The Blue by @vahnyawrites
Fallen Lights by @fallenlightsif
Ear Candy by @earcandy-if
Moonlit Sorrows by @moonlitsorrows-if
The Disappearance by @the-disappearance
Eye Of The Moon by @eyeofthemoongame
Time's Legacy by @legacies-game
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hiii nell :chinhands: so sorry if it's been asked before but who would the ROs romance from other IFs?
please know that i spent more time on this than i will ever be able to justify and also that each RO's list was like 10 characters long until i pruned it to a more sensible size
(but thank u for the opportunity to shout about some excellent IFs and some pairings that live rent free in my lil pea brain xoxo)
adegoke: sam from love and friendship (@salty-stories), berhane from the eight year revolution (@eight-years-revolution), the healer from the nameless (@parkerlyn), R from a tale of crowns (@ataleofcrowns), B from a comedy of manors (@sviyaginthegreat)
arthur: dreamwalker from attollo (@attollogame), vanator from the black river (@theblackrivergame), zophiel from greater than gods (@greaterthangods), cían from faith of gods (@faithofgods)
atticus: nash from project hadea (@nyehilismwriting), nikke from the exile (@exilethegame), bautista from greenwarden (@fiddles-ifs), alessa from the golden rose (@anathemafiction), clémence from to the whistling winds (@tothewhistlingwinds)
avery: matt from you live and fern (@beetlebethwrites), lea chen from the northern passage (@northern-passage), eris from event horizon (@if-eventhorizon), lorcan from the golden harp (@thegoldenharp)
charlie: operator from attollo (@attollogame), fatima from when it hungers (@roast-ifs), n from when twilight strikes (@evertidings), vethna from the exile (@exilethegame), collins from secrets of swatheford (@swatheford)
ellis: eva from sentinel (@nyehilismwriting), sterling from nevermoore (@asteristories), s from fernweh saga (@lacunafiction), aliya from blackwood (@blackwood-if), hadrian from the golden rose (@anathemafiction)
florrie: marco from blood moon (@barbwritesstuff), mal from snakeroot (@cerberus-writes), maddox from red sugar society @redsugarsociety), a from when twilight strikes (@evertidings), sophie from the spirited: origins (@yuveim)
griffin: ajmal from the eight years revolution (@eight-years-revolution), b from golden (@milaswriting), rory from speaker (@speakergame), owen from hollowed minds (@shai-manahan), leon from a mage reborn (@mage-parivir)
imogen: the sage from the nameless (@parkerlyn), natalie from event horizon (@if-eventhorizon), danny from when it hungers (@roast-ifs), flor from faith of gods (@faithofgods), charlotte from willow creek run (@willowcreekrun)
nyra: enarra from the black river (@theblackrivergame), li cowles from speaker ( @speakergame), oliver shen from scout: an apocalypse story (@anya-dev), mars from to the whistling winds (@tothewhistlingwinds)
rowan: sinclair from virtue’s end (@virtuesend-if), winston from ear candy (@earcandy-if), dominic from larkin (@larkin-if), shaw from sentinel (@nyehilismwriting)
syd: simon/e from OFNA (@ofna), imxa from project hadea (@nyehilismwriting), gage from scout: an apocalypse story (@anya-dev), vethna from the exile ( @exilethegame), X from a tale of crowns (@ataleofcrowns)
vinh: jordan from you live and fern (@beetlebethwrites), penrose from virtue’s end (@virtuesend-if), ed from blood moon (@barbwritesstuff), syfyn from the exile (@exilethegame), hawthorne from spilt milk (@spiltmilk-if)
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