Best of 2024

 10) Pijn - From Low Beams of Hope

This was my little secret of the year. It will not appear on any other lists unlike the rest of my picks. It's a modest little post-rock album, the best post-rock album of the year.

I was one of the misguided youths who got way too into Godspeed You Black Emperor and Explosions in the Sky in my 20s. Since then I've followed the zeitgeist and moved away from post-rock as a genre. There just isn't much interesting activity happening in this space. New bands are largely local acts retreading familiar ideas that have a hard time breaking through.

I'm not sure what it was about the 90's and 00's that created an environment where post-rock was allowed to gain popularity in the first place. The genre is missing the primary element that makes a band compelling, a charismatic leading presence. The genre instead relies on a continuous interplay of musical elements. The selling point is in dynamics. The best albums of the genre find a way to marry quiet moments with big cathartic crescendos in long-form compositions. But, I get the feeling it's incredibly difficult to strike gold with this formula because it happens so seldom.

Pijn reset my expectations for post-rock this year. I doubt it'll reinvigorate the genre, but I have been doing my best to spread the word.