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Person Pitch (2007)
Released
Panda Bear (2007)
“Bros” makes a chorus feel like a place you can spend time in. The voices repeat, and other sounds drift into the picture until a longer change of texture feels like moving to another part of the same room. Choose this when you want a hook that can hold up through a track long enough to wander.
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Boxer (2007)
Released
The National (2007)
Listen to the drums under “Mistaken for Strangers.” Bryan Devendorf keeps the song moving while Matt Berninger delivers lines about getting through a night that already feels over. The track has more urgency than the vocal lets on, a tension the album keeps finding new ways to use.
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Everything All the Time (2006)
Released
Band of Horses (2006)
Let the soft guitar figure in “The Funeral” run long enough that you start to trust it. When the full band arrives, Ben Bridwell’s vocal still has room for an uncertain edge. Start here when you want to hear how a song can get that loud and still sound like it is asking something of you.
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Sound of Silver (2007)
Released
LCD Soundsystem (2007)
The repeated piano in “All My Friends” keeps a nervous little rhythm going while James Murphy sings about the people he wants to see at the end of the night. Give it enough time for the rhythm to stop sounding like an introduction. It’s the thing that lets the song get more emotional without asking the singer to spell everything out.
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For Emma, Forever Ago (2007)
Released
Bon Iver (2007 self-release)
The guitar in “Skinny Love” has a scraping sound that puts a little resistance behind the singing. Justin Vernon leans into that feeling when the voice gets louder. Start with this one if you want to hear why the album’s intimacy can feel raw as well as quiet.
More about For Emma, Forever Ago30
The Warning (2006)
Released
Hot Chip (2006)
“Over and Over” gives the band’s deadpan delivery a beat that sounds far less restrained. Follow the little keyboard answers between the vocal lines as the arrangement grows more crowded. The record works when you want an indie album you can dance to and still pick apart afterward.
More about The Warning31
Fleet Foxes (2008)
Released
Fleet Foxes (2008)
The voices come in one after another on “White Winter Hymnal,” bright enough to make the words easy to glide past. Follow the winter image in the lyric on the next pass. The uneasy picture inside those closely stacked harmonies gives the song more to come back to than the chorus alone.
More about Fleet Foxes32
Vampire Weekend (2008)
Released
Vampire Weekend (2008)
The guitar figure in “A-Punk” moves quickly enough that the song feels over before you’ve got its measure. Listen again for the change to the airier middle passage. The band makes the contrast count in a short space, a knack that keeps the rest of the debut from blurring into one bright tempo.
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Saturdays = Youth (2008)
Released
M83 (2008)
“Kim & Jessie” puts a small, private story in the middle of a wide wash of keyboards. Follow the shape of the sung tune once the synths spread out around it. If you’ve ever wanted a song that treats a teenage attachment with the seriousness it has in the moment, start here.
More about Saturdays = Youth34
Bitte Orca (2009)
Released
Dirty Projectors (2009)
Amber Coffman’s singing in “Stillness Is the Move” takes long, smooth turns above guitar accents that never seem to land where you expect. The song becomes easier to follow once you choose one part and keep with it. Start here if you want the band’s rhythmic puzzle with a vocal you can sing along to.
More about Bitte Orca35
Veckatimest (2009)
Released
Grizzly Bear (2009)
Start with the piano in “Two Weeks,” which gives you a simple pattern to keep in mind while the voices layer up around it. The tune is strong enough to come through the detail. Try following one harmony on a second pass and the song starts to feel like a different arrangement.
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Merriweather Post Pavilion (2009)
Released
Animal Collective (2009)
On “My Girls,” the sparkling loop is big enough to get lost in, but the words narrow it down to a place to live and a family to look after. Listen to the way the voices get clearer as the track grows. The album can feel dense on first contact. This song gives you a human-scale way in.
More about Merriweather Post Pavilion37
xx (2009)
Released
The xx (2009)
Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim trade phrases on “Crystalised” with enough space for each one to change the mood of the last. Follow the small guitar figure that keeps threading through their exchange. This is the album to reach for when you want to hear two voices suggest more than either one says outright.
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Hospice (2009)
Released
The Antlers (2009)
The piano in “Kettering” repeats in a quiet enough space to make the vocal feel almost uncomfortably near. Hold on to the pattern when the arrangement starts gathering weight. It’s a way into the album’s grief that gives you something concrete to follow as the sound closes around you.
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