CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE MUSICAL THESIS: ALBUM OF THE YEAR PLAYLIST

At the center of every album is a musical thesis. This thesis can be the driving force behind the album, a theme that interweaves songs together, or a feeling you are left with after the very last song plays. With some albums, the thesis is easy to find. On others, it is hidden and requires you to be more than a passive listener. These reviews are not about rating an album. Instead, it is about uncovering a musical thesis. 

“Power is not shared. Power is taken.”

“All Visible Objects” by Moby is a meditation. In a year filled with disappointment, loss, pain, corruption, heartbreak, and few glimmers of hope, it is the album I returned to most often for some sense of relief. In its big, grounded, inclusive, expansive, and devoid production, I found opportunities to wrestle with what I was experiencing via my television or as I “doom scrolled” social media. I found myself meditating on its use of silence and sparsity. It does not have a lot to say but it says every necessary thing. It provided peace, calm, and reflection. In a year of such monumental change, it was a crutch I leaned on for support. This year was filled with lots of magical music, but no album did what this collection did for me. For that, it is my album of the year.

Be good to each other,

Nathan

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