8 albums for envisioning the new year ahead
The one thing we know for sure, is that however anything unfolds, music will always be here to lift our spirits. With this comforting truth, we enter the new year believing that it will not only be full of soothing melodies, intriguing rhythms, and revealing sounds, but of tightening ties with the people with whom we share their goodness.
To celebrate this new chapter, each of our team has picked an album that reflects both the year that has passed and is a sonic well-wishing for the coming one ahead. Our invitation to embrace life’s beautiful contrasts: hope and acceptance, calm and excitement, comfort and challenge.
May you find inspiration in them to spark this new beginning.
Detente – Life Is Life
“Life is Life signifies taking life as it comes. Just accepting things we cannot change and stop thinking too much, because it’s alright not to know all the answers. That is my mantra for 2023.” – Sofie
Kirk Barley – Landscapes
“Landscapes is an album that shines in its contrasts. It is light and airy, yet textured and dense at the same time. It shows me that surprises lurk in the most mundane moments and I wish for the new year to be filled with beautiful contrasts like these. A fresh smell when you least expect it, a pleasing melody while passing by a busy street, an intriguing taste that’s hard to place. Here’s to 2023 and all its rich complexities!” – Alec
Grouper – A I A: Alien Observer
“I’ve been constantly returning to this album throughout the past year, as it never fails to bring me solace and calm my anxieties. It’s also been on endless repeat lately, and I feel like definitely entering this new chapter along with its tone, wishing peace and only peace, everywhere and to everyone.” – Martyna
Merope – Salos
“I saw Merope live in a church in Leuven. It happened to be the first gig I went to in 2022 and their performance had left a deep impression on me. Before their show started, I saw them backstage and they were rocking a baby to sleep. Since then, I also feel a bit like a newborn baby wrapped in a blanket when I listen to their music. It’s a record I put on weekly at home because it gives me a lot of peace and the music captures my imagination. I hope for 2023 to also be like their music: serene, imaginative, enchanting, spiritual, organic.” – Lise
Felbm – Elements of Nature
“This album represents my longing for nature and how I would love to immerse myself more in its humbling beauty for the year ahead. Just as everything in nature unfolds in its perfect time, I hope for 2023 to do the same. May the coming year bring calm, restoration, and balance, but also growth, patience, and blooming.” – Aimee
Adrianne Lenker – Songs
“I hope 2023 unfolds as beautifully and as soothing as Adrianne Lenker’s album called Songs. There is so much darkness in this album, but Lenker’s writing holds such a lightness in it. It’s delicate and sweet as much as it is exacting. In many ways, Songs is about the longing for a normal, everyday life.” – Zoé
Good Sad Happy Bad – Shades
“Like the band’s name, the songs are either good, sad, happy, or bad and sometimes either slow, fast, heavy, or light. Sometimes they’re also cold, hot, freezing or warm and sometimes tasty, nasty, spicy or bland. This kind of versatility in music is my wish for 2023, hoping that music and sound in general can expand boundaries to a point where they become an exception instead of a rule. An album fitting for every occasion, for every mood and for every eclectic listener.” – Natasha
J Foerster / N Kramer – Habitat
“Opening doors to enter rooms filled with rays of light, fresh air, and plants. I hope 2023, just like this album, brings us to unknown, unexpected places and may we find intimacy and comfort in them.” – Romy
