Favourites Of 2012 (Thou shalt not forget Feist)

I just realised that I forgot to include Feist's album Metals in my Favourite New Releases Of 2012... naughty. To make up for it, I thought I'd share my favourite live performance of hers which is of her performing The Bad In Each Other on Later... with Jools Holland.

Though, my favourite song on the album is actually Cicadas and Gulls. I have some seriously horrific (and oddly hilarious) memories of cicadas so it might have the tiniest pull because of that. It's a truly stunning song. The entire album is honestly one of the most beautiful and interesting albums I've listened to. I lost my album to someone I'd rather not see again, is probably why it escaped my mind last night. Nae worries, I'm ordering a new copy. One of few albums that I'd pay money for twice... and I'm cheap, so that's really saying something.

I feel like I should also mention a few more artists who I have come across in 2012. The first being the lovely Gabrielle Aplin. Her voice is achingly beautiful and her songs are ethereal webs spun of cotton candy, innocence, and vulnerability. They have an uplifting quality to them that makes them as contagious as a yawn in a boring lecture hall. Odd analogy, but fairly accurate. I strongly suggest having a wee listen to any of her tunes but my personal favourite is Please Don't Say You Love Me. 

The next notable artist who I have had the pleasure of stumbling upon in 2012 is the force of nature that is Orla Gartland. Orla is a singer from Ireland who started off uploading videos of herself performing covers of songs on YouTube. The first one I heard was her cover of Jar Of Hearts. And then that led to finding this gem... Lose Yourself (cover). 

And THEN... my favourite Bon Iver song, Skinny Love. 

I can't decide if Devil On My Shoulder or Jealous is my favourite original so I'll share both. 

The cover that makes the original song completely impossible to listen to is Good Time. Admittedly, I hadn't actually heard the song before I heard Orla's cover and had no idea what she was covering until I heard on the radio about a week later. Yep, I'm that up on the times... lol

On the subject of covers that make the original song impossible to listen to... Ben Howard's cover of Carly Rae Jepsen's Call Me Maybe. Ben's cheeky grin through the entire song only adds to the perfection. I mean, they took something that was completely lacking in depth or any emotion into something that is undeniably beautiful. THAT is a true artist.

Whew! I feel better now!