The Top Ten Songs Of 2019

Every year, it amazes me when we get to this point in the year that 90% of my thinking is focused on albums, and only a small fraction goes to individual songs. I am that old creature of habit that thinks about albums first, which probably explains my frustrations with the bands that have taken on the strategy of releasing singles, as opposed to anything more substantial. Songs are the building blocks of everything we do, so it's only right that I give attention to some of the best of the best this year. Last year, I wound up choosing an anthem that roused me from my malaise. Will that happen again this year? Let's find out.

10. Hayley Griffiths - Haunted

I loved the most recent Karnataka album, and the chief reason for that was Hayley Griffiths, and how her voice carried the melodies. This song finds her creating her own path (I know it's her second solo single, relax), and it's every bit as magical. Borrowing much of that former sound, this song has the dramatic backdrop that gives the song a bit of a theatrical flair, and Hayley's voice is piercing, and rather unique. After this, I want to hear much more.

9. Sister Shotgun - She Lives

As I write these lists every year, I realize there's no real way to explain why a melody is so catchy. This is one of those melodies. I listen to it and bop my head. I play it over and over in my mind afterward. And yet, I can't put into words what quality is in there that makes it such. All I can say is that certain songs are memorable, and endure, and this is probably going to be one of them.

 8. Forever Still - Is It Gone?

It was touch choosing between a few options Forever Still gave me, but I couldn't stop myself from picking this ballad. Not only does it have a stirring melody, but the atmosphere of the song is the perfect canvas for Maja Shining's voice. She is at her absolute best here, and it's haunting, especially if you can listen to it on a cold, grey, rainy day.

7. Yours Truly - Circles

As it happens, I don't listen to a lot of music that's bright, shiny, or happy. Yours Truly's EP was one of the exceptions to that, and this song in particular was a ray of sunshine that burst through the small slit between my curtains. This band is more pop than before, but that leads them to a sound that is effervescent, vibrant, and simply fun. "Circles" still has enough guitars, but it's a big and cheerful pop song at its heart, and I for one love it for that.

6. The Beautiful Monument - Stay

When people say rock and pop can't mesh, play them this song. That hook is pure pop, but the song around it is plenty rock enough for all but the 'truest' of fans. It's heavy, in both respects of the word, and that hook is relentless in how it keep coming at you, wearing you down until you're willing to turn over your head to the earworm.  On a very good record, this song stood head-and-shoulders above everything else. That's not a surprise.

5. Michael Monroe - Wasted Years

Not many people make rock n' roll with the kind of swagger Michael Monroe is right now. His music has attitude, but also a slithering groove to it that Axl Rose could be snake-dancing to right now. The best example of that from his new album is this song, which hits that amazing combination of bar-band bravado, and stadium-sized hooks. It's everything rock should be.

4. Kim Jennett - Love Like Suicide

This one is techincally a cover, but that doesn't diminish how much I love it. The original song (which I only hear after) is fine, but Kim Jennett raises the bar several levels. Her voice is a force of nature on this song, necessitating the over-saturated guitars just to keep up with her power. If Kim Jennett becomes the star her voice has the ability to make her, it will have started here. And rightly so.

3. Vanishing Signs - No Regrets

I am a sucker for ballads, and this dramatic number is my favorite one of the year. It has tension and emotion, and two fantastic vocalists delivering powerhouse performances. Both Dilana and Maggy Luyten breathe life into the song, using their voices like daggers to cut us open, making sure it can get into our bloodstreams. It's the sort of song that should be playing during the crescendo of a masterpiece of dramatic cinema, because it just rules.

2. Soen - Covenant

On "Lotus", Soen mastered the art of making the melancholy into something beautiful and uplifting. That was most apparent on this song, where they build a somber atmosphere just to twist everything around when the chorus comes, releasing the tension into a glorious burst of melody. It's an epic song packed into just five minutes. It's absolutely magnificent.

1. Dream State - Hand In Hand

Like last year, I wound up choosing the song that raised my spirits the most. In what was a relatively bleak year, no song felt more like the kick in the ass we (or I) needed more than this one. Dream State fused anger, emotion, and elation all into one swirling ball of energy that explodes into one of the most sing/scream-able choruses of the year. It's a four minute cleanse for the soul, a barbed hook that you can't dig out of your mind, and the best song of 2019.