Listen Back: The Letter U
The undulations and ululations of the letter U will be examined in the latest edition of our alphabet-themed rundown of album recommendations
Finding a sweet spot between Pavement’s Gen X malaise and Radiohead’s fin de siècle anxieties, Grandaddy’s Under The Western Freeway (1997) has become a bit forgotten in the recent surge of plaudits retrospectively doled out to 90s albums. Propelled by Jason Lytle’s cracking falsetto, it’s indie rock of the highest order which combines childlike electronic melodies and distortion-heavy chords. Upbeat it may be, but Lytle’s vocals evoke a pathos that complicates the twee psychedelia.
To evoke PJ Harvey or Beth Gibbons is an unfair burden to place on any artist, but those melancholy merchants are the clearest touchstones of Martha Skye Murphy’s Um (2024), and her songwriting can more than shoulder the weight of those comparisons. Compositions snake between darkness and light while Murphy’s sorrowful howl bobs and weaves through lyrics of discontent and disconnection. Skirting on the edge of avant-garde, her keen eye for structure makes this a challenging but unforbidding adventure.
Other U albums: The Universe Will Take Care Of You by Holden & Zimpel (2025), Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division (1979), Ugly by Screaming Females (2012).