24 Albums of December - ALDOUS HARDING - Designer

How on earth are we supposed to select 24 albums representative of Fascinating Rhythm’s 2019? Trust us that it’s an unenviable task, but we’ve given it a good ol’ go. In my opinion this year has been a vintage one for music, so in truth we’d could have picked 100 or even 200 great records all worthy of inclusion. For example, we didn’t include releases by Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Lizzo, Deerhunter, Steve Gunn, The National, black midi or Sacred Paws – whose 2019 album I’m still obsessed with. So, there’s a LOT of great stuff we didn’t include, but we’ve done our best to present a span of selections from every area of the store, including some great local and wider Canadian releases. Between now and Christmas Eve, we hope you enjoy the tracks we’ve put together for you.

For all your music needs, go to Fascinating Rhythm, located in downtown Nanaimo.

4/ ALDOUS HARDING – Designer

Born Hannah Sian Topp, due to her all-in performance style the idiosyncratic New Zealand singer-songwriter known as Aldous Harding was described by the UK’s Guardian newspaper as having ‘a zoo’ of voices, a theatrical face, music that is ‘disquietingly beautiful and unsettling,’ and a ‘discombobulating presence.’ For an idea of what the Guardian meant by this, I’d implore you to watch her extraordinary 2017 NPR Tiny Desk Concert, in which Aldous performs three songs from her second album, Party. I guarantee you’ll be transfixed by her compelling performance, but do also check out her bizarre promo videos, where she comes across as something akin to a Bjőrk of the indie-folk world. Her wondrous third album, Designer, is my favourite release of 2019, and from it this is The Barrel.

Dave Morrison
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