31 songs: part 1

On Monday I posted about closing down the project/website I've worked on for years, Mentioned Reviews. For whatever reason I never posted any listicles or opinion pieces there, so I thought posting some here might be an approrpiate way to finish things off.

Nick Hornby, author of High Fidelity, wrote a book called 31 Songs. I'm a big fan of his work and even I wouldn't say it's his best offering, but I wanted to post a selection of my desert island favourite songs and 31 seems a good amount - not as brief as 10, not as labourious as 50, and can be almost split into thirds, so I've a few low-maintenance posts to put out whilst I get back into the swing of uni.

Here are the first ten, alphabetically.
  1. Gabrielle Aplin - November
    This list has taken a lot of editing. I was going to start the list with Air Traffic's Shooting Star, but replaced it for 23. When Aplin released her first album I only listened to a couple of songs, but from last July when I started by traveling a train a lot I ended up listening to this album all the way through. It was nearing the end of October, it was raining a lot, and somehow this song struck me like lightening. It's one of my favourite songs ever.
  2. Julien Baker - Something
    I get a lot of my music recommendations from one of my closest friends. I'll be honest, about half of them wash over me, and of the half that have any impact, only half of those I become any level of fan of. Julien Baker snuck through every loophole, and Sprained Ankle caught me like nothing has in a while. This track is fantastic.
  3. Billy Bragg - Milkman Of Human Kindness
    I got into Billy Bragg last summer and managed to wind up seeing him after queueing an hour and a half. A speech he did that night persuaded me to join the Labour party. This is my favourite song of his. I once listened to this five times in a row to motivate me to clean my stairs at uni.
  4. Bombay Bicycle Club - Luna
    This song was played on BBC Radio 1's review show and I tweeted in saying I loved its summery vibe. My tweet was read out and then I knew I wanted to have a go on radio. I was gutted when the show was pulled. A college friend bough me the album this is on - the first I personally owned.
  5. Brand New - Soco Ameretto Lime
    I adore Brand New (emo? Who knows). I'm pretty sure when I saw them at Hit The Deck, they finished with this, but I can't remember. I've a lot of favourite when it comes to them, but as I'm currently 18, it seems most appropriate.
  6. Bright Eyes - We Are Nowhere And It's Now
    Another band my aforementioned friend got me into - one of the first, in fact. First Day Of My Life was one of the first songs I learnt on guitar, and the next show I play I'm gonna start with At The Bottom Of Everything. But currently this is my favourite - mostly because I realised I'm drinking a lot of wine I hate the taste of.
  7. Counting Crows - Anna Begins
    One of my favourite bands. August And Everything After is a fantastic album, so many songs off this are wonderful. Anna Begins is a song very close to my heart, it covers a lot of complexity I felt last September. Again, it's an album where my favourite rotates.
  8. Crowded House - Always Take The Weather With You
    There are so many songs I wanted to include as a token one from my childhood. R.E.M.'s It's The End Of The World As You Know It is one of those, but I went for Crowded House because I'm pretty sure I've never intentionally listened to this song after the age of 14, but I still love it.
  9. Death Cab For Cutie - Tiny Vessels
    One time I listened to all of Death Cab's songs approximately a million times. This one hit me for the line, "you are beautiful, but you don't mean a thing to me".
  10. George Ezra - Breakaway
    I fell in love with this song at the same time I fell in love with 1. "You may think that he's a demolition expert / When he's finished with your self esteem", is one of my favourite lines written this side of... ever, actually. I love this line.
More on Monday.

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