RELEASED in January, Iechyd Da (Domino) from Merseysider Bill Ryder-Jones set the pace for the year. Informed by a serious case of heartbreak, it’s a hugely ambitious record — check out the immense This Can’t Go On, with its Mercury Rev-sized grandeur and reference to Echo & the Bunnymen’s best known song.
 
Romance (XL), Fontaines DC’s fourth album, feels like a conscious decision by the Dublin indie guitar outfit to strive for a bigger audience. Starburster, supposedly about a panic attack frontman Grian Chatten had at a London train station, In The Modern World and Favourite are all oven-ready arena anthems.

Across the pond, Vancouver duo Japandroids released their swan song, Fate & Alcohol (Anti-), a scuzzy set of punky rock about drinking, women, touring and more drinking. As I said in my five-star Morning Star review: “Romantic, young and rowdy, it’s a glorious racket. This band could be your life.”

There was no new music from The War On Drugs this year but they did release their second live album, Live Drugs Again (Super High Quality). On this evidence it’s clear the Philadelphia rock group have become a potent live act, their motorik-Heartland Rock giving their music the size and scope of their hero Bruce Springsteen (though lyrically there’s no discernible engagement with the wider social and political world).