1. Barley
Early on in the year, my friend Brian shared a link to the music video for this song, and I was immediately hooked. The first few seconds of the song played, and I knew it would land on my 2024 playlist.
“One two three four/I count mountains,” Water From Your Eyes’ Rachel Brown numbly intones on the experimental rock band’s latest single, “Barley.” It’s a mantra that evokes a Sisyphean quest, soberly taking in all of the craggy terrain you still have left to scale, or else a sleepless night tallying sheep. Discordant and jittery, the song is a little St. Vincent, a little Deerhoof; its herky-jerky guitar riff hurtles along uneasily while a blenderized synth swirl cuts in like an intrusive thought and a shrill, buzzer-like drone jets off like a firehose.