Dalliance Tracks of 2010 – Dawn broke out the window, The glass filled up with pink…

  1. Ghost Train - Summer Camp
    Everything that singles should be Ghost Train is instantly loveable, endlessly replayable and imbued with all the right sentiments reach deep and caress the heartstrings as it energises the feet.
  2. Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) - Arcade Fire
    Songs do not come more alarmingly powerful as this commanding statement which caps the theme of the album in a way that is both wearisome and wonderful. A cautionary tale of course, and one of escape and recapture. It is atypical of the band, and the album, but the difference renders it bright and brilliant.
  3. Taxi Cab - Tracey Thorn
    Thorn's cover of the Vampire Weekend track replaces preppy optimism with the sound of a woman battered by experience to create something more heart warming, but more harrowing.
  4. The End of the World is Bigger than Love - Jens Lekman
    Lekman's pop is a personal take on all consuming concerns. He sings about the specifics set against common concerns and in The End of the World is Bigger than Love he sets Obama's election against the end of something which he describes as "About a girl, and yes it hurt."
  5. Marathon - Tennis
    Tennis's moody, romantic wooziness to is sweet, not saccharine and edged with a darkness which could see them settle into a David Lynch soundtrack.
  6. I Don't Know What To Say - The Magnetic Fields
    There is a sublime intelligence to Stephin Merritt's work which separates it from even his peers in the upper echelons of song writing. This murder ballad of an increasingly desperate lover combines a razor wit with a moody edge that concludes in a swift demise.
  7. Write About Love - Belle & Sebastian
    ...and when Stuart Murdoch was good he was very, very good. A babbling success of a tune that sees Murdoch play off Carey Mulligan's vocals although one is left with the enduring feeling that there is a God Help the Girl song here waiting to get out.
  8. A Little Lost - Paul Smith
    The Maximo Park front man covers Arthur Russell staying closer to the original than Jens Lekman - who did this tune a few years ago - and breaking out a melancholia.
  9. Oh, the Divorces! - Tracey Thone
    Music that has an earnest statement to make is seldom appreciated but Thorn's single - and album opener - is a detailed and rich talk about the changing tides of lives as they pass forty. As troubling as it is triumphant.
  10. Them That Do Nothing - Field Music
    Smart, intelligent pop.
    • Love at the Bottom of the Sea by The Magnetic Fields
    • Love Ire & Song by Frank Turner
    • Valentina by The Wedding Present
    • Workers Playtime by Billy Bragg
    • Black Sheep Boy by Okkervil River
    • Torino by Cinerama
    • Illinoise by Sufjan Stevens
    • Down the River of Golden Dreams by Okkervil River
    • I Am Very Far by Okkervil River
    • Talking With The Taxman About Poetry by Billy Bragg
    • An Argument With Myself by Jens Lekman
    • Vs. by Pearl Jam
    • A+E by Graham Coxon
    • The Best Of The Velvet Underground by The Velvet Underground
    • Talkie Walkie by Air
    • Life of Leisure by Washed Out
    • Original Pirate Material by The Streets
    • Fever To Tell by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
    • Greatest Hits by The Cars
    • Dream Sequence by Tangerine Dream
    • Flight of the Conchords by Flight of the Conchords
    • Little Death by Pete and the Pirates
    • Arecibo EP by Little Boots
    • Wolves and Thieves by Goldheart Assembly
    • Crystal Castles ( II ) by Crystal Castles
    • The Holy Bible by Manic Street Preachers
    • I Speak Because I Can by Laura Marling
    • Remain in Light by Talking Heads
    • Funeral by Arcade Fire
    • Clap Your Hands Say Yeah by Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
    • The Suburbs by Arcade Fire
    • Hail to the Thief by Radiohead
    • Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness (Dawn to Dusk) by The Smashing Pumpkins
    • Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness Disc 2 by Smashing Pumpkins
    • The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads by Talking Heads
    • GOLD AGAINST THE SOUL by Manic Street Preachers
    • Daydream Nation by Sonic Youth
    • Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots by The Flaming Lips
    • The Beatles [White Album] by The Beatles
    • Tallahassee by The Mountain Goats
    • Born To Die - Deluxe Edition by Lana Del Rey
    • Slow Dazzle by John Cale
    • Teen Dream by Beach House
    • Happiness by Hurts
    • We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves by John Maus
    • American V: A Hundred Highways by Johnny Cash
    • Bloom by Beach House
    • Treme: Music From The HBO Original Series, Season 1 by Various Artists
    • Phrazes For The Young by Julian Casablancas
    • Beautiful Freak by Eels
    • The Suburbs by Arcade Fire
    • Electro-Shock Blues by Eels
    • Antics by Interpol