Fever Ray put out the best album of the year. Animal Collective is also very good.

I can't sleep, and this incarnation of insomnia has me thinking of what is the best record of the year. It always seemed silly to me that declarations are made so far before the end of the year, but I can always say "I told you so" to myself later if I come up with a better/rebuttal.

To be fair, the top song played in my itunes over the last year was "Daily Routine" by Animal Collective from Merriweather Post Pavilion. I love it. I listened to the album on repeat for days on end. But when all is said and done, I don't know if it will be favorite out of the greater body of work. That is why I like Fever Ray's self-titled debut. It is like it came out of nowhere. I had been into The Knife, but it is something different altogether.

Karin Dreijer is amazing. In her work with The Knife (the group w/ her brother) she did the whole dropping vocals into lower registers until she was the sole vocalist for the group. As Fever Ray she is a vocal spectrum. Every time I hear one if the songs it sends me back to when I first heard it, which was winter and I was just coming to terms with living in New York. It is empowering. It is weird. I love it.

Apologies if this is too early, but perhaps now I can sleep.