STACK #230 December 2023

Check out this veritable bounty of major league albums! All of these gems were released during 2023, and proved incredibly successful with critics and fans alike. Whether you’re buying for Aunty Martha or nephew Arthur (or yourself, because you deserve it), consider wrapping one of these juggernauts up and popping it under the tree this Christmas. Words Zoe Radas, Jeff Jenkins, Jacqui Picone HEAVY HITTERS Holiday to knock your gift-giving outta the park

MUSIC FEATURE

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P!nk, Trustfall (Tour Deluxe Edition) To which pinnacle of genre do you travel when you’re so well-established in pop that you could climb any one of them that you wanted? The answer is: por que no todo? You make a road trip out of it, and you stamp your handprint on every one of those genres, and then you silk-spin off into the sunset with your sixth number one Aussie album in a row. P!nk’s voice is the puppet master in the middle of these arena-enormous tracks, most of them sweeping around the bittersweet neck

Troye Sivan, Something to Give Each Other Perth-raised multi-talent Troye Sivan has always been a sensitive and nuanced voice on queer love experiences, and with his third album – released just last month – we find his feet planted firmly on the dancefloor. Led by Rush , a piano-stabbed dance track with an irresistible gang-vocal chorus (”I feel the rush/ Addicted to your touch”), Something to Give Each Other serves heart-splitting moments delivered via The ageless octogenarian rock ’n’ roll rebel gang’s first album of original material in 18 years, produced by the in-demand Andrew Watt, features both Stevie Wonder and Elton John on piano. So who picks up Charlie Watts’ sticks? Steve Jordan, who was handpicked by the band’s late, great drummer to fill in for him on what was originally expected to be a temporary basis. Opening with killer first single Angry, you’ve gotta love the whispered ”one-two the thumping thrill of the club. The Rolling Stones, Hackney Diamonds three-four” intro, followed by a Start Me Up -level infectious riff – classic Keef! Mess it Up is a catchy, you-done me-wrong rant, which navigates the bitterest end of a dalliance gone too long, and teeters on the truth-telling/

April this year, some fans were upset at the fact Foo Fighters were making new music at all. ”Does anyone else feel like it’s a bit too soon?” one commenter asked. But this album unequivocally shows that ”too soon” has nothing to do with this particular story of mourning; for Grohl and his bandmates, processing the Danse Macabre of devastating loss could only happen through the purge and production of music as emotionally candid as that of this extraordinary record. Ed Sheeran, Autumn Variations We didn’t think Final Boss of Tenderness Ed Sheeran could crystallise his fortes any further, but the man casually went and did it on his seventh album. Autumn is absolutely Ed Sheeran’s season, and not just because, as a redhead, it is his palette. It’s because of all the things it evokes: the cosiness, the gentle beauty of its colours, the slight melancholy but not all-out depression, a quiet observation of changes, and (leaf) piles of hope. These are

of the woods with lashings of reverb on the vocals. The artist has declared that Trustfall is about necessary change, feeling all of the emotions deeply, and gratitude between humans. This deluxe package includes a second disc which features six live recordings from P!nk’s 2023 Summer Carnival Stadium Tour (which will hit our shores early next year), two covers (Sade’s No Ordinary Love and Sinead O’Connor’s Nothing Compares 2 U with Brandi Carlile), and two new singles. Foo Fighters, But Here We Are With a heart peeled open and a freshly glistening abandon in his voice, David Grohl leads his band into a new volume in the tale of Foo Fighters;

thematic beanies Sheeran has continually returned to across his career, and he wears them so very well. Blue is the record’s gorgeous Skinny Love moment (are we sure Justin Vernon didn’t co write this one?!), and The Day I Was Born is one of the most charming, quintessential Sheeran songs the guy’s ever penned, about no one giving a damn on your birthday. Autumn Variations is an incredibly pretty record, and it doesn’t mind if you think it’s sentimental. It’ll offer you a cup of tea, and in no time at all, whether you want to or not, you’ll find yourself feeling as soft as a warm square of English fudge.

this ode to adored, late drummer Taylor Hawkins truly explodes part the sum of its parts. When But Here We Are was announced in

DECEMBER 2023

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