Emily's Albums A to Z

When I was in college, David Gray was rather mainstream, but I considered myself to be above all that in my indie universe. It wasn’t  until later that I learned to appreciate him, after all the mainstream fans had moved on to the next thing.

White Ladder is an unappreciated classic. The songs stick with you, bury inside your head, and won’t let you go. It sounds a little dated due to a very specific kind of folk-rock sound of the late 90s, but the themes and feelings are universally appealing. I also love the Soft Cell cover (Say Hello Wave Goodbye), which closes the album brilliantly. David really makes it his own.

The 1999 version of me would be surprised to hear this. But it’s lasted like I wouldn’t have expected it to.

Throughout college, I had always heard how great the White Stripes were from all my indie-music-loving-brethren. To this day, I’ve never listened to their first 2 albums, but White Blood Cells and their followups were the soundtrack to my 20s.

Particularly White Blood Cells – which came out just as I left college and entered the big, bad, real world. I loved the rawness, and the fact that Jack and Meg seemed to want to do things their way, which might or might not be the “right” way for rock stars to behave.  White Blood Cells sounds old, but also respectful to all those that came before.

I’ve always thought I’m Finding it Hard to be a Gentleman was a pretty dirty song no one knows is dirty – what else could “every single girl needs help
climbing up a tree” mean?