Top Ten Albums of 2011 – Album of the Year
1. I Break Horse – Hearts
Now playing: Hearts
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Swedish duo Maria Lindén and Fredrik Balck released their debut album and melted our hearts, in fact long before the album release the textured landscapes of the title track Hearts (listen above) gave us goosebumps every time we listened. The woozy sway of their romantic dream pop is a blissful experience from start to finish.
Sure they get called dreampop and shoegaze and they have those elements at their centre (Slowdive and MBV of course) but what really makes this the best album of the year for us is the consistently high quality of songs throughout and despite operating in a genre seemingly saturated with bedroom bands willing to fuzz their sound and operate at a ‘glum’ level I Break Horses sounds otherworldly, exciting and transcendent so if you’re seeking comparisons maybe think Cocteau Twins for the 21st century.
Although Hearts reeled us in many other songs like the sparkling glacial repetition of album opener Winter Beats, or Wired with its rolling bass-lines and tinkling synths or maybe the simultaneously energetic yet laid back beats of Pulse keep the fascination going. The Stockholm pair have delivered an album which is referential but not derivative and that’s a difficult trick to pull off considering the influences they cite and the company they seek to keep and they’re worthy of all the praise heaped on them in 2011.
A magical debut and and a wonderful album full stop.
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