1. STRANGER IN THE ALPS by Phoebe Bridgers

To say that Phoebe Bridger's album, Stranger in the Alps, is melancholy is, simply put, quite the understatement. On your first few listens, you want to be alone, preferably with headphones (so you can make out every word) and in a "mood." What kind of mood is up to you, but I've found that if I'm having one of "those" days, listening to this album helps me put everything in perspective. How can it not when one of the lines in, for example "Funeral," goes, "...wishing I was someone else, feeling sorry for myself, when I remembered someone's kid is dead"? Yeah, I know, heavy stuff. Even what I consider the most upbeat song on the album, "Motion Sickness," starts out with, "I hate you for what you did." Regardless, this is an amazing album, made stronger by, I think, its raw vulnerability in the lyrics and arrangements.