24.

Frankie Cosmos - Next Thing

[Bayonet]

Frankie Cosmos’ Next Thing manages to pack 15 tracks into 29 minutes, which might suggest that the songs are slight, but the truth is far from that. In fact Frankie Cosmos’ leader Greta Kline’s main strength is the way she manages to compact honest little stories of love and friendship into 2-minute packages. Her lyrics are always compelling, but spare, managing to get to the heart of the matter in simplistic phrases and descriptions, much like a good cartoonist can tell a cutting joke in a single panel. Take, for example, just one of my favourite verses on the album from  “On The Lips”: “I’m sorry, I’m high let’s go / Sometimes I cry ‘cause I know / I’ll never have all the answers / separated by subway transfers.”

These impressionistic stories are coloured in pastels by the bubbly and jangly indie pop the band cooks up. Each song packs in at least one hook via its chorus, but often will have a verse melody that’s just as infectious. The poppiness of the band’s work doesn’t always tilt Kline’s lyrics towards happiness; they can flip them just as easily to the dark side, or really capture the wistful soul behind the words. They can be heard bouncing along with the hopelessness of “Too Dark” as Kline repeats “Do I belong?”; underscoring her playful self-deprecation in the chorus of “Sinister”; and resonating with the sweetness when she admits “you make me feel like a fool, waiting for you.” Perhaps best of all is “Is It Possible/Sleep Song,” which starts out as a perfectly sweet ode to someone she's missing, then flips into a dark second half in which Kline eviscerates this ex-lover saying “Now that I know that every time I get sad you just hate me,” and signs off the song “It all makes sense now, thanks so much. Goodbye forever, what the fuck?”

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Scroll down to see my Top 50 albums list.

Rob's Albums of the Year

50| Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - EARS
49| Thee Oh Sees - A Weird Exits
48| Daughter - Not To Disappear
47| The Avalanches - Wildflower
46| Beyonce - Lemonade
45| Radiohead - A Moon Shaped Pool
44| Gold Panda - Good Luck and Do Your Best
43| James Blake - The Colour In Anything
42| Lambchop - FLOTUS
41| Ty Segall - Emotional Mugger
40| Nothing - Tired Of Tomorrow
39| Camp Cope - Camp Cope
38| Cymbals Eat Guitars - Pretty Years
37| Aphex Twin - Cheetah EP
36| Mary Lattimore - At The Dam
35| Woods - City Sun Eater In The River Of Light
34| White Lung - Paradise
33| Solange - A Seat At The Table
32| Wild Beasts - Boy King
31| Danny Brown - Atrocity Exhibition
30| Marissa Nadler - Strangers
29| Weyes Blood - Front Row Seat To Earth
28| Kevin Morby - Singing Saw
27| Kendrick Lamar - untitled unmastered.
26| Whitney - Light Upon The Lake
25| Kedr Livanskiy - January Sun
24| Frankie Cosmos - Next Thing
23| Steve Gunn - Eyes On The Lines
22| Pantha du Prince - The Triad
21| Cass McCombs - Mangy Love
20| Cavern of Anti-Matter - void beats/invocation trex
19| Olga Bell - Tempo
18| Chairlift - Moth
17| Mitski - Puberty 2
16| Anderson .Paak - Malibu
15| Underworld - Barbara, Barbara we face a shining future
14| Xenia Rubinos - Black Terry Cat
13| Savages - Adore Life
12| DIIV - Is The Is Are
11| Frank Ocean - Blonde
10| Jenny Hval - Blood Bitch
09| MONEY - Suicide Songs
08| Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Denial
07| A Tribe Called Quest - We Got It From Here... Thank You 4 Your Service
06| Nicolas Jaar - Sirens
05| Angel Olsen - My Woman
04| Parquet Courts - Human Performance
03| Preoccupations - Preoccupations
02| ANOHNI - Hopelessness
01| Blood Orange - Freetown Sound