Anna Domino – East & West

I first heard a track from this album on Kiran Sande’s monthly radio show. My ex had listened to the mix before me and said ‘there’s a track on the latest Blackest Ever Black show that you’re really gonna dig’. As soon as it came on, I knew it was the track he had been talking about. The track was ‘Everyday, I Don’t’ and it’s a bit of an outlier on the record, perhaps the most subdued or introspective one on there. It sounds like world-weary resignation to me, but the guitar line throughout brings a whole other dimension of melancholy or wistfulness. The rest of the album is beautiful. I used to push this album on anyone that would come into Low Company. It's perhaps different to other albums on this list because it’s a studio album made with session musicians, but unlike some other 80s synth-driven albums it doesn’t sound maximalist to me. There are intricate melodies but it also sounds restrained. This also has a lot to do with the way Anna Domino sings in a really unshowy plain speaking way.