111 Albums to Take in to Isolation
There’s been some time pass since I did this — but last October I went in to, what would now definitely be called self isolation.
I travelled to Norway, stayed in a cabin cut off from public transport, people and a 22 mile round trip on foot to the nearest shop. There was no internet, no friends to chat to — just trees, the smell of burning wood and whatever I could surround myself with. I chose this to be music.
At some point during the initial haze of arriving in a truly distant place, I decided I needed to reconnect with the music that I loved, the music I had wanted to connect to more when life got in the way. This is the greatly shortened version of that tale, a brief jaunt through what was two weeks of total isolation for me. Recent events make this feel more important to get out quicker than I planned, with less fanfare, but just to show people you can cope with isolation if you give yourself the right tools.
This gradually moved from a neat idea, to an obsession. At first the albums flowed perfectly, complimenting each other — later I had to work to achieve this flow. The worry sets in at points — have I included the right ones, which one needs to come first, which comes last, where on earth is the best place to throw Herbie Hancock in the mix?
So here it is, the most purely captured and lived experience of the best and most important albums I can think of. If you have time where you are suddenly free — maybe this will help you fill it with wonderful sound.
1–10: Easing in (I wrote in a lot more detail about this first cluster here)
It was by accident I started listening to albums, but my choice to keep on. I arrived in Norway at night, hooked my speakers up and got to work exploring my new surroundings and settling in.
The days that followed involved hours of walking through the crisp forest, sitting quietly and wondering, what do people do when there’s no other people?
- Beth Gibbons and Henry Górecki — Symphony of Sorrowful Songs (2019)
It was dark when I heard this. I’d just arrived and I had no idea what the following weeks had in store. Beth Gibbon’s voice was equally haunting and beautiful, it echoed from the wood panels of the cabin and spilled outside to the birds.
2. Big Thief — U.F.O.F. (2019)
3. Boards of Canada — Twoism (1995)
4. Bob Dylan — Blonde on Blonde (1966)
5. Bon Iver — Bon Iver (2011)
6. Damien Rice — My Beautiful Faded Fantasy (2014)
7. Elbow — build a rocket boys! (2011)
8. Kate Bush — 50 Words for Snow (2011)
I knew Kate Bush would top and tail this list, as one of my favourite artists ever I just simply couldn’t leave her out but the beautiful contrast of soft vocals and pounding rhythms on this album make her even more captivating than I remembered. The early years are looked at with fondness of her career but the maturation of her sound is equally incredible.
9. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds — Ghosteen (2019)
10. Susanne Sundfør — Music For People in Trouble (2017)
11–20: I Think We’re Alone Now
The first few days had passed and I was very firmly, used to being alone. I started reflecting more on the choices of music at this point as I felt myself more able to connect to things that maybe I hadn’t done for a long time.
11. Frightened Rabbit — The Winter of Mixed Drinks (2010)
12. Bruce Springsteen — Nebraska (1982)
Can you really go in to the middle of nowhere and not listen to Nebraska? (Sadly I didn’t have an 8 track with me to replicate this success)
13 . Genesis — Selling England by the Pound (1973)
14. James Vincent McMorrow — Post Tropical (2014)
15. Arcade Fire — Everything Now (2017)
16. John Grant — Queen of Denmark (2010)
17. Beirut — Gulag Orkestar (2006)
18. Frightened Rabbit — The Midnight Organ Fight (2008)
This will forever be one of my favourite albums of all time. It’s raw and somehow polished at the same time. The impact of this album will always be heightened by Scott’s death for me — I saw them perform it live in full only a few weeks prior to it happening. It’s a celebration of fucking and fucking up that deserves to be celebrated.
19. Joni Mitchell — Blue (1971)
It had been a very long night when I got round to this one and I’d just listened to Frightened Rabbit. Of course I cried.
20. Big Red Machine — Big Red Machine (2018)
21–30: Enjoy the Silence, Fill it with Noise
It’s amazing how unsteady being alone made me feel. I was so used to being connected, both physically and digitally to every aspect of my life it was a shock to not have that. The real shock came at this point, where I began to enjoy it. Suddenly the music wasn’t a tool to enjoy isolation, it was a tool to shape the new reality I was in.
21. Kanye West — ye (2018)
22. Lou Reed — Transformer (1972)
23. Radiohead — A Moon Shaped Pool (2016)
24. Future Islands — The Far Field (2017)
25. Let’s Eat Grandma — I’m All Ears (2018)
The second album from Let’s Eat Grandma is just a beautiful, but still wonderfully naive expression of love and finding out just quite how you should navigate this world. Easy to sink in to and easy to love.
26. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds — Push the Sky Away (2013)
27. Sufjan Stevens — Illinois (2005)
28. Godspeed You! Black Emperor — Light Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven (2000)
I think there was a point listening to the closing section of Static I failed to be on this planet.
That’s all you need to know really.
29. Bruce Springsteen — Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978)
30. Jeff Buckley — Grace (1994)
31–40: Off the Beaten Track
I’ve always jumped around a bit when it comes to music. There’s nothing too heavy for me not to like and there’s nothing to soft to enjoy. I love trying to find the connections though, finding a path of music that can lead you from one to another — and with so much time on my hands, this was the perfect opportunity. Quite what the connection was though, I still can’t tell you.
31. EL VY — Return to the Moon (2015)
I hadn’t listened to this in years (despite being a huge National fan) and instantly had to shame myself for that decision. An incredibly underrated album that really holds up years on.
32. Nils Frahm — All Melody (2018)
33. Public Service Broadcasting — The Race for Space (2015)
34. The National — Sleep Well Beast (2017)
35. The Tallest Man on Earth — I Love You, It’s a Fever Dream (2019)
I’d heard this album a few times by the time I got to Norway, but listening to it in isolation really allowed the music room to breath. The album feels claustrophobic and intimate and this is only heightened when you yourself are closed in and isolated.
36. Lhasa De Sela — Lhasa (2009)
37. Leonard Cohen — Can’t Forget: A Souvenir of The Grand Tour (2015)
Hearing Cohen sing in French is one of life’s greatest treasures. I hadn’t a clue what he sung in Quebec but somehow I know exactly what he meant.
38. Bon Iver — i,i (2019)
39. David Bowie — Blackstar (2016)
40. Elton John — Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1973)
41–50: Gateway Drugs
Initially I struggled to see what brought these selections together because at first, they appear so completely unrelated.
But then I realised each has had a profound effect on me, not just for the album itself but what it lead me in to. LCD Soundsystem led me deeper in to synthesisers, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy opened the doors of rap and hip-hop to my indie teen self, Mogwai made me realise power didn’t come from words and maybe most importantly, Florence and Phil made me realise at 15 that maybe pop wasn’t such a dirty word after all.
41. Harry Nilsson — Nilsson Schmilsson (1971)
42. LCD Soundsystem — This is Happening (2010)
43. Mogwai — Rave Tapes (2014)
44. Phil Collins — Hello, I Must Be Going (1982)
45. Billy Joel — The Stranger (1977)
46. Bob Dylan — Blood on the Tracks (1975)
47. Florence and the Machine — Ceremonials (2011)
48. Green Day — American Idiot (2004)
49. Kanye West — My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010)
50. Lana Del Rey — Norman Fucking Rockwell (2019)
51–60: We’re Not Even Halfway There
51. Talking Heads — Remain in Light (1980)
52. Kacey Musgraves — Golden Hour (2018)
There’s nothing wrong with a bit of country — especially when it sounds this damn good. There’s not many songs that really make you want to dance but High Horse cannot get you up and dancing.
53. Arcade Fire — The Suburbs (2010)
54. Purple Mountains — Purple Mountains (2019)
In some ways it’s shame this is the only Purple Mountains record there will be — but it’s just perfect and it doesn’t age so there’s always that.
55. Stevie Wonder — Innervisions (1973)
56. Carole King — Tapestry (1971)
57. Gordi — Reservoir (2017)
58. Alt-J — Relaxer (2017)
59. David Bowie — Young Americans (1975)
60. Broken Social Scene — Let’s Try The After (Vol. 1) (2019)
61–70: Adapting to the New, Quiet, Life
61. D’Angelo and the Vanguard — Black Messiah (2014)
62. Damien Rice — O (2002)
63. Frightened Rabbit — Painting of a Panic Attack (2016)
I’m in the arch of the church
Between her thumb and her forefinger
I’m a worshipper
Scott’s lyricism is at its best. Please listen.
64. Kate Bush — The Sensual World (1989)
65. Boards of Canada — Tomorrow’s Harvest (2013)
66. Future Islands — Singles (2014)
Sometimes I forget just how great Future Islands are — they’re not just the band with enigmatic frontman they really are a talented group of songmasters — beautifully weaving in emotion and hook to make irresistible music.
67. Nils Frahm — Spaces (2013)
68. Fleetwood Mac — Rumours (1977)
69. Idles — Joy As An Act of Resistance (2018)
70. The Twilight Sad — Nobody Wants To Be Here and Nobody Wants To Leave (2014)
71–80: The Home Straight Begins
71. The National — I Am Easy to Find (2019)
72. Sampha — Process (2017)
73. Pulp — His ’N’ Hers (1994)
There was a point where I realised I was in the home straight. This wasn’t just about listening to my favourites from now, but my favourites from long before and this was the opportunity to reconnect. Listening to His ’N’ Hers reminded me why I loved Cocker’s songwriting so much and how much it had influenced me. The simplicity and cutting description dressed as poetry left a lasting impact.
Elbow — The Seldom Seen Kid (2008)
John Grant — Love is Magic (2018)
Kendrick Lamar — good kid, m.A.A.d city (2012)
LCD Soundsystem — american dream (2017)
David Bowie — The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (1972)
Leonard Cohen — Live in London (2009)
This is one of the few live albums that outdoes any of the studio recordings of its contents. There’s something undeniably captivating about hearing Cohen, older and wiser take on his younger self.
Bruce Springsteen — Western Stars (2019)
81–90: Favourites, Old and New
Muse — The Resistance (2009)
Carly Rae Jepsen — E•MO•TION (2015)
Francis and the Lights — Farewell, Starlite! (2016)
Interpol — Turn On the Bright Lights (2002)
Lorde — Melodrama (2017)
Radiohead — In Rainbows (2007)
Lana Del Rey — Born to Die (2012)
There are few albums that so perfectly capture a timeframe they’re released in by emulating an older one but there is something inescapably 2012 about Born to Die. Despite its nostalgia, it somehow still feels fresh. For me it’s fond memories of the finishing of one chapter and moving to another.
R.E.M — Automatic for the People (1992)
My Chemical Romance — The Black Parade (2006)
Metallica — Ride the Lightning (1984)
91–100:
Susanne Sundfør — Ten Love Songs (2015)
Paramore — After Laughter (2017)
The Killers — Hot Fuss (2004)
Muse — Black Holes and Revelations (2006)
The Twilight Sad — IT WON/T BE LIKE THIS ALL THE TIME (2019)
WU LYF — Go Tell Fire To The Mountain (2011)
The Travelling Wilburys — The Travelling Wilburys, Vol. 1 (1988)
Simon and Garfunkel — Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970)
There’s something beautiful about this record and I think it’s that, it just simply wouldn’t get made now. It’s a bizarre mix of folk, latin and all the strings and horns found in New York. At its core though the songs are beautifully composed and arranged and still as captivating as ever.
Frightened Rabbit — Pedestrian Verse (2013)
David Bowie — Aladdin Sane (1973)
100–110: Last Chance Saloon
Each one of the following albums is particularly important. Each one sums up when I really began to love and understand an artist (that doesn’t mean they were the ones I came to first though). They all also represent a time in my life and the place where I was at.
Also yes there are two Arcade Fire albums. I make the rules, I can bend them.
Arcade Fire — Reflektor (2013)
Kanye West — 808s and Heartbreak (2008)
The Flaming Lips — Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots (2002)
Snarky Puppy — We Like It Here (2014)
Herbie Hancock — Headhunters (1973)
Portishead — Third (2008)
The National — Boxer (2007)
Sufjan Stevens — Carrie & Lowell (2017)
Arcade Fire — Funeral (2004)
Bruce Springsteen — Born to Run (1975)
111: Save the Best ’Til Last
Kate Bush — Hounds of Love (1985)
One day there will be a world that produces an album greater in scope, execution and perfection than Hounds of Love.
I don’t think I’ll be around to see it.
