So you just broke up with your girlfriend just before you were going to pop the question. Your best friend got the dream job you were both pining for. Your cat died of feline leukemia. You watched the fucking news. It’s time for you to curl up in a ball and drown in an ocean of melancholy. So take a good long look at yourself in the mirror, sigh heavily and put one of these records on.
Bon Iver- For Emma, Forever Ago
2012’s Grammy winner for Best New Artist’s first album is a comprised of fluttery falsetto and vocal harmonies. The track “Skinny Love” is perfect for anybody experiencing love lost. Grab a bucket of ice cream and weep while thumbing a picture of happier times.
Bright Eyes- Lifted or The Story is in the Soil Keep Your Ear to the Ground
Possibly the king of the modern day sad-bastard music Conor Oberst’s “Lifted” takes me back to the time when I was in high school and I was depressed because my parent’s didn’t “get me” or the girl I was too nervous to ask out at the local soda fountain started dating that asshole in a band. I cringe listening to it now but I can definitely remember driving around in my mom’s Ford Explorer belting these tunes in the midst of an adolescent existential crisis.
Fiona Apple- The Idler Wheel…
Fiona Apple has long been the queen of depressing albums about her failed relationships but Idler The Wheel… definitely takes the cake when it comes to soggy love songs about loneliness. Lyrically this is one of the best albums to come out in 2012. My favorite snippet from the track above is when Ms. Apple groans, “I’ve run out of white doves feathers to soak up the hot piss that comes from your mouth every time you address me.” Jesus Christ , what did you do to this girl Johnathon Ames?
Cursive- Domestica
Not surprisingly this is the second record on this list that comes from Omaha’s Saddle Creek records. Arguably the best Cursive album Tim Kasher wrote the songs while he was a going through a bitter divorce. His voice sounds awful but I think that is a bit of the charm of this record. Clocking in at under 30-minutes Domestica is a dripping with self-doubt and the anger of a lover spurned. The final song is titled, “The Night I Lost the Will to Fight” if that is any indication at how miserably sad this album is.
Elliot Smith- From a Basement on The Hill
Literally any of Elliott Smith’s records has a place on this list but I chose “From a Basement on The Hill” because it was released posthumously after Smith committed suicide by stabbing himself in the chest after having a spat with his girlfriend. Ugh.
Honorable Mention
Wilco- Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Dntel- Life is Full of Possibilities
Cat Power- You Are Free
The Smiths- Every Album
Eluvium- An Accidental Memory In The Case of Death
Antony and the Johnsons- I am a Bird Now
