The Best Albums of 2022: #15-11

I’m back for another year of counting down the best albums of 2022! Each article will cover five albums. As always, share your thoughts on the chosen records in the comments below. Check out my write-up on #20-16 before reading through the next five. It’s worth noting that I spend the entire year working on this, listening to 204 this year. Let’s get to #15-11!

#15 – Mitski, Laurel Hell

For an artist who was ready to take a big step away from music, Mitski put every ounce of her psyche into her 2022 effort, Laurel Hell. With one final record due for her label’s contract, she decided rather than record it and step away, she’d follow up the release with a major tour that fans would want. She didn’t have to do it, particularly after seemingly a decade of touring in support of her avant-garde indie pop. She did take the opportunity, however, to release an album ripe with contradictions reflective of her complicated relationship with stardom.

The synth-heavy Laurel Hell has moments of melancholy joy and Mitski’s signature isolation ballads. It isn’t like any of her other works because it’s so comfortable taking things in such a drastically different turn. The first half of the album is so drawn out and unhurried that by the time “The Only Heartbreaker” hits at track six, you’re convinced it’s a parody of what people want to hear from her. In reality, Mitski has always been an artist of self-confutation. Desperate for joy but so seemingly miserable, we can only wait optimistically for an eventual nirvana to be realized.

#14 – Pool Kids, Pool Kids

Ask my friends if I tried to turn them onto Pool Kids this year. 2018’s music to practice safe sex to is criminally underrated, and I wasn’t going to let that happen with another record from Tallahassee’s most promising emo-adjacent act since Mayday Parade. Vocalist and guitarist Christine Goodwyne is the easy choice for the standout member. However, the band’s chemistry is so evident in their gliding instrumentals and effortless ability to evoke emotion that it’s a team effort propelling this band to another echelon.

There’s an awareness to the album’s flow of tracks that indicates a band that is well-established and conscious of its sweet spot. The impressive thing is that there’s not only room for the band to expand out of that groove, but they’re great at it too. Some of the tracks on Pool Kids explore guitar rock, punk pop, and other corners of the DIY scene the band cut their teeth in. That said, there’s a fully realized confidence to this album that demonstrates that the sky isn’t even the limit for Pool Kids. They’ll go beyond the stratosphere.

#13 – Kendrick Lamar, Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers

Larger-than-life artists have the unfortunate burden of every project they release being compared to their seminal work. 2015’s To Pimp a Butterfly felt untouchable until DAMN, and here’s Kendrick Lamar yet again raising the stakes by swerving into another space to explore the demons and blessings of his past, present, and future. Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers doesn’t exactly demand your attention, but it creates a space in which you’re able to grow while listening to each of its 19 tracks.

Rap albums are largely suffering from a bloated tracklist as of late thanks to streaming. Kendrick is one of the few artists who need every track on these over 60-minute projects to work through the emulsion of someone at the top of their game who still feels like they have room to improve. The music video for “The Heart Part 5” shut down social media for a few days. That’s the power of King Kendrick, and it’s hard to think of another expert of their craft with a stronger decade of work to their name than Lamar’s 2012-2022 discography.

#12 – Black Country New Road, Ants From Up There

It’s impossible to point to the immediate impact of Black Country New Road. In 2021, critics and fans praised the band for their forward-thinking indie rock. Ripe with hints of every genre imaginable, it was tough to see how another band could touch the path they were paving. In these cases, it’s often up to the band to figure out what’s next, and it is often derivative of their debut. Ants From Up There is instead an expansion of the different shades BCNW aim to emulate with their chaotic sound.

I hate boiling down bands to comparisons, but BCNR is a Lou Reed fever dream. The way that the Cambridgeshire outfit fosters grandiose moments isn’t by building up to the peak, but by exploring the elevation freely. It’s not about a gradual raise but accepting the plight of production. It is hard work to make things that matter, as vocalist Isaac Wood’s departure indicated days before the album’s release. Great things take something from you, and impactful art has a cost. The best we can do is be grateful lightning struck twice in consecutive years and we were there to see it bottled.

#11 – Angel Olsen, Big Time

After losing her mother, Angel Olsen wrote a traditional country western album following her coming out as queer and the death of her parents in a very short amount of time. While always comfortable teasing out country influences in her work, her full commitment on Big Time feels like the blueprint for throwing yourself into something in the midst of a helpless chapter in your life. Not only does Olsen live up to her wishes for a true country album, but her lyrical themes are some of the strongest of the whole year.

Love, longing, and loss are all sides of the same coin. And just like a three-sided coin, they don’t make much sense on paper. How can hurt feel so similar to the passion ignited by endearment? Big Time doesn’t aim to separate them out but spread them out on a single canvas as a tapestry of the human condition. Better yet, every high and low in life is what makes life, whether you’re flying in a moment you never want to forget or sit trapped in a moment you’d rather forget. I’m grateful for Olsen’s open heart on this record and it surely will serve me in moments of good and bad for years to come.