My Favorite Music of 2020

I have a love/hate relationship with my Spotify Wrapped each year. On one hand, I guess the data doesn’t lie, so I really get a clear idea of the music that I streamed the most. But on the other hand, the results are always overrun by the instrumental music that I mindlessly stream for hours and hours in the background of my life.

So every year, I take the Spotify data for what it’s worth. Then I access the data center of old—my brain—and begin to more accurately identify the music that filled my year with the most wonder. I certainly don’t expect any potential readers to possess the exact same music taste as me, but I do love seeing where my listening crosses over with others. Hopefully, some of you can find that with my favorites here, in no particular order.

Albums

Finch by Penny and Sparrow

This album hit my radar right at the end of 2019, so if any album truly stuck with me through all of 2020, it’s this one. Penny and Sparrow is a group that I have heard of for years and years now, but didn’t draw me in until I happened upon their Wendigo record at some point in 2019. In the end, it is the harmonies that kept me coming back, I think. Wendigo showcases the raw talent of the duo with mostly acoustic guitar and vocals, which is great, but Finch showcases even more with a greater production scope.

The melodies of Finch are catchy but beautiful. The instrumentation is creative and organic, not demanding to be heard, which is a standard most of my favorite music falls under. Maybe above all else though, the lyricism reigns over virtually any other artist. For example, “Cult Classically” sings, “[I’m] like a palindrome, clever but I’m not romantic.” Love that. They beautifully sing the word “ibuprofen” in the same song. I mean, come on! And the lyrics make you think. Not only because they are poetic, but because the album seems to be exploring the group’s evolving view of some small, unimportant things like religion, humanity, and morality. But honestly, my interpretation of the lyrics could be so far from accurate; just listen through for yourself.

1917 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by Thomas Newman

I loved the movie, and the score is just as phenomenal on its own. This is one album that my Spotify Wrapped got right. Four of my five most listened-to songs were from 1917. When I needed to focus for an hour, I would turn this score on and listen top to bottom. The opener gives a nice, soft beginning for a minute, and then “Up the Down Trench” gets business rolling, just like the movie. Honestly, I don’t have an in-depth analysis beyond that, because this score did the trick and helped me focus on whatever I needed to get done that day.

CATCH by Peter CottonTale

A friend sent me the fifth track from this record, “Prayer,” one day back in May. I turned it on when I got in the car. Loving it, I queued up the album, and the rest is history.

Every year, there is about one week in the summer (or maybe one and a half weeks) where I get into upbeat, pop music. This year, CATCH, was the soundtrack for that week. The intro, “Do Your Thing,” was one of the four non-instrumental tracks that broke into my Spotify Wrapped playlist. Man, that song is just good. Start to end, I love it. In my experience, most albums start off with the heavy-hitters, but the tunes that stuck with me from CATCH are closer to the end. I queue up “God is Love” time and time again because of the super catchy chorus. “Pray for Real” has stood the test of time with me too; though maybe that’s Chance the Rapper bias, I don’t know. And maybe most of all, I love the finale “Way Up High.” The beautiful way that track starts makes you feel like you’ve started a new record, but ultimately it wraps up the album wonderfully.

Views from Sixteen Stories by Alaskan Tapes

I didn’t discover this beauty until October or November, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if it had found it’s way into my Spotify leaderboard. In a world where most ambient, instrumental artists are just trying to make some singles that get mindlessly streamed on Spotify playlists thanks to people like me, this is a breath of fresh air. A beautiful and noteworthy instrumental album from start to finish. I first heard of Alaskan Tapes reading a press release that he had signed to the same label as me, and queued up this album as a test run. The label didn’t ask me (rightfully so), but I give Alaskan Tapes a big green light.

This album keeps coming back to my speakers as I read, make coffee, try to relax… you name it. I really value the way that the songs feels human. It’s not just a ton of software instruments loaded up to fill some space. It is real piano, electric, and strings. You can hear the imperfections and the background noise in some of the tracks, which I think is wonderful. Even though the title kind of brings images of Pennywise the clown, “And Yet They Float” is the most notable track to me right now. The simple, moving strings consistently make me stop whatever I’m doing, for better or worse, and just listen.

Peace to All Who Enter Here by Josh Garrels

Similar to Penny and Sparrow, Josh Garrels is an artist that I have long heard of, but never been captivated by until this album (exception: his Christmas album, but do those count?). The world was overrun with acoustic releases, live-streams, and living room recordings during the height of the pandemic, but this album stands above the usual quarantine record in my opinion. Legend has it that Garrels set up a microphone in his home studio with the fireplace burning behind and simply recorded acoustic/vocal live takes of some of his favorite hymns and worship tunes. Then, his friends added some piano, strings, drums, and more. The result is this exquisitely honest and beautiful record.

Stand-out tracks for me have been “Exalt the Lord our God” and “10,000 Reasons,” for opposite reasons. “Exalt” has engaged me because it was a melody I hadn’t heard before, with powerful words of worship. “10,000 Reasons” is a tried and true modern worship song, and from the first listen, it hit me right in the heart (same with his take on “No Longer Slaves”).

Honorable Mentions

Favorite Christmas Record: Maverick City Christmas by Maverick City Music

If there was one group I saw hyped up on my social media feed more than any others this year, it was Maverick City. And I don’t know if this will be unpopular, but their Christmas release is my favorite of theirs by far. This thing looks like an EP with just eight songs, but you get over an hour of music.

Two things make this record stand out to me. The first is that it’s actually a worship record. These are songs truly feel meant to lead others to sing, not just to perform a couple holiday hits. That’s tough to do with Christmas songs, I think. But Maverick City layers in new and old refrains to frame the common carols in a fresh and helpful way. Second, this hour of music is pretty much just piano with a little organ boost (and an acoustic guitar for one song, but I’m not positive that wasn’t an accident). The vocals lead the record so well, I didn’t even notice how simple the instrumentation was until my second time through. I kept waiting for the drums to come in, and they never did. But the energy of the piano and vocals is absolutely incredible, and the ability to keep a listener engaged for an hour with only a piano is admirable.

Favorite Spotify Playlist: “Strings for Sleeping”

I’m generally a record guy. Start with the first song and listen through to the last. But sometimes, I just need music that will stream and stream and stream and stream and not stop for hours, and that’s where Spotify playlists thrive.

The primarily playlist that I would turn on as background music for virtually everything (ironically though, not sleeping) was “Strings for Sleeping.” There were many songs on my 2020 Spotify Wrapped playlists that I had never heard of; virtually all of them were on this playlist. I used it most for reading, studying, and working, but I admire Spotify’s commitment to alliteration for the playlist title. What made this playlist a win, in my opinion, was its consistent energy (being chill and unintrusive) while still presenting a diversity of instruments. Notable tracks that I can identify: “Torn Apart” by Infinity Ripple and “How to Be Invisible” by Thrupence (my sixth most streamed song of the year).