Best New Artist 2018

I've looked three times at all the albums I've added to both iTunes and Spotify, checking and rechecking. I thought I'd missed something; that I'd forgotten an album from this year. In particular, that I'd forgotten which records were debut releases and not just new records. 

Because there were a lot of records - of which there were 47 new releases that I added, but only four debuts. I guess it was just that kind of year. 

There were some albums that I thought at first were debuts - Offerings by TYPHOON was one (their first album in five years and new to me) and the new self-titled release from Forth Wanderers - but turned out to not be the case.

This really narrows the field. Here are the contenders:

The first album, released in March, is Clean from the band Soccer Mommy. It's 90's reminiscent slightly crunchy jangle pop led by singer/songwriter/guitarist Sophie Allison. It's a quick, fun, mid-tempo listen that sets a good work rate for your office but won't try and take the forefront of whatever project you're working on but instead, is right there when you need it.

The second album, released in June, is Lush by Snail Mail. It's 90's reminiscent slightly crunchy jangle pop led by singer/songwriter/guitarist Lindsay Jordan. Snail Mail sounds more like what I remember indie rock sounding like when I was in college; there's too much bottom in the mix and the guitar has just enough distortion/chorus/phaser to not make it sound painfully clean (and it only takes a tiny bit). 

The third album, released in November, is the debut EP boygenius from boygenius. It's not the same as the other two, and instead it's a six song set from an indie rock supergroup - Julian Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus. They make supergroups look so easy; the songs are true amalgamations of their three individual talents and styles, and they thrive most when none of them takes more of the spotlight than they should.

As much as I hated to strike one of these great albums off the list, after thinking long about it I decided that this year's winner would not be boygenius. True, it's a debut album, but it's from three artists that are well known in their own right, and while a great set of six tracks, it's just an EP.

So then there were two.

I guess it really comes down to which of the remaining two feels better as a whole package. Both bands are solid (and probably going to get much better) songwriters, so there's the bops for sure. But what about those ones that we used to call filler? One of these albums has just a bit more to say. One has just a little more listenability. Only one of these reminds me just a little bit of Red House Painters while still knowing that there's more out there, and they're on their way to find it.

My best new artist of 2018 is Snail Mail, for their album Lush!