12. Massive AttackMezzanine
The darkness of it is what makes this album stand out to me. It’s categorically been one of my favourite records for quite a long time, and I’ve kept coming back to it over and over again. Again, it would have been one of those discoveries I had as a teenager. It was hard not to at that time because they were a really well-known act; you would hear them on the radio or whatever. I don’t know if it had that much of an effect on me musically until considerably later, aside from the obvious canon tracks like ‘Teardrop’, but it’s a record that means more to me every time I come back to it. There’s something about the tension and bleakness of it that speaks to me. I don’t know if I’d call ‘Teardrop’ pop music but it’s such a beautiful song. Even the moments like ‘Man Next Door’, which are quite euphoric and anthemic, also have this darkness to them and I like that interplay and ambiguity.
