After what I considered to be a pretty down year for music in 2021, 2022 felt like it bounced back in a big way, with releases from some of my favorite artists, some new discoveries, and even releases from old artists I was always lukewarm on that finally made me a convert. Read on if you want a three months late list of albums to check out and round out your own 2022 playlists.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

4. Blue Rev – Alvvays

Alvvays have never been a cheery band, per se, but Molly Rankin’s lyrics always had a wry, winking quality that undercut their melancholy and sweetened up the bed of distorted guitars that have come to define their sound. But Blue Rev, their third full length album, feels particularly burnt out and desperate, albeit in a compelling, intentional way. The guitars are noisier and bigger, the choruses louder and more anthemic. It’s what Alvvays has always done, sure, but cranked up to 11 or 12 instead, and speaks to the kind of malaiseful ambiguity that defined much of 2022. 

Recommended Tracks: “Pharmacist,” “Easier On Your Own?,” “Belinda Says”

 3. Boat Songs – MJ Lenderman

The past few years have produced lots of great indie rock, but if there’s one thing that’s been missing, it’s a true blue guitar hero like Jack White or Josh Homme whose tone and style has the potential to define an era. Wednesday’s MJ Lenderman threw his hat in the ring for that role with Boat Songs, a crunchy, Southern fried sophomore release that can be surprisingly profound. Faded and fallen sports heroes (“Hangover Game,” “Dan Marino”), everyday class politics (“You Have Bought Yourself a Boat,” “Tastes Just Like It Costs”), and conflicted feelings of returning home (“TLC Cagematch,” “You Are Every Girl to Me”) all pop up, but the true attraction is Lenderman’s loose and ragged guitar playing. Ripping through each song like a combination of Neil Young and J. Mascis, Lenderman unleashes face melting solos, charming licks, and pleasant leads with equal aplomb. The indie rock of the 2010s was defined by suburban ennui, but Lenderman and his peers are at the precipice of reclaiming it for rural America, with all the contradictions, tensions, and joys that come along with it.

Recommended Tracks: “Hangover Game,” “You Have Bought Yourself a Boat,” “You Are Every Girl to Me,” “Tastes Just Like It Costs”

 2. Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You – Big Thief

Say what you will about Big Thief, their hippy dippy persona, and their stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – there’s no denying the sheer scale of Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You, an album whose tracklist is almost as long as its name and whose stylistic appetite is seemingly endless. After four very good but inconsistent albums, Big Thief finally put it all together, jumping from rough-hewn folk to scraggly country-rock to spectral trip-hop all over the course of one record, securing their spot as the most well-respected American band of the current moment. It’s an album that puts them in a rarefied air, no matter what the New York Times thinks.

Recommended tracks: “Spud Infinity,” “Certainty,” “Little Things,” “Flower of Blood,” “Red Moon,” “Simulation Swarm”

1. God Save the Animals – Alex G 

As I noted in my earlier review of this album, after the underwhelming House of Sugar, I don’t know that I ever expected to love an Alex G album again. But what can I say – God Save the Animals is a brilliant synthesis of his more experimental tendencies and his skills as a traditional songwriter, and a moving portrait of the aging millennial generation. Not all of these songs may be autobiographical, but Alex G’s explorations of faith, fatherhood, and gratitude are moving nonetheless, and only enhanced by his simple but effective arrangements. I understand there are some people who might prefer Alex G’s earlier, rawer work or his more adventurous tracks on albums like House of Sugar, but for me God Save the Animals is the perfect midpoint, a quirky, unpredictable album that nonetheless feels like a piece of the larger indie rock continuum, a definitive statement for an era defining artist.

Recommended Tracks: “Runner,” “Blessing,” “Early Morning Waiting,” “Miracles”