The Fashionably Late Top 125 of 2019: Kevin Morby

Another rough year corresponded to another bumper crop of excellent music. Once again, my list is huge, because I fell in love with each of these 125 records and found it impossible to not include all of them in my fashionably late list.

I'm choosing to post my favorites in alpha order from A-Z again this year. You'll probably find some records that everyone and their fifth cousin raved about, but I hope you'll also find a few records that might be new to you, and that you'll fall in love with them as much as I have.

My thanks, as always, to the artists who created these records.

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Who: Kevin Morby

What: Oh My God

When: April 2019

Where: Dead Oceans

Why: There's something spiritual about Kevin Morby's Oh My God. Not in the schlocky Christian rock sense, that's for sure. Instead, Morby's religious experience comes through in songs that, a little like the great Leonard Cohen, reflect on life and relationships and things that are/n't important. As Morby says, "It’s not a born-again thing; it’s more that ‘oh my god’ is such a profound statement we all use multiple times a day and means so many different things." Guest gospel voices, worshipful ticking of the ivories, and Morby's thoughtful, raw-edged vocals add to the reverential feel of the record. The fuzzy guitars are just icing on the cake. This is the kind of record that might wind up being a bonafide classic a few decades down the road.

[posted 3.29.20]