5 Songs for the New Year

Tomorrow is New Year's Eve, and this is my last blog post of 2013. I'd love to do a great big review of the last twelve months, but to be honest, my memories of early '13 aren't all that detailed. Besides, I'm sure you're all busy buying alcohol and newspapering the floor in preparation for the big blowout tomorrow night, so I'll keep this one short.

Here are five songs that are ideal for a brand new year:

This Will Be My Year by Semisonic (from Feeling Strangely Fine)
A defiant ode to the hope that, this time, you'll win. The fact that I first purchased Feeling Strangely Fine (also featuring big hits like Closing Time and Secret Smile) around this time of year only cements its newyeariness in my own mind.

So Brand New by Fyfe Dangerfield (from Fly Yellow Moon)

Not a proper new year song like the Semisonic track is, but it has a feeling of freshness and renewed opportunity that's very much in line with the 'new year, new you' ethos. It makes you feel glad to be part of another day.

New Year's Resolution by Camera Obscura (from Desire Lines)

In this case, Tracyanne Campbell's resolution is "to write something of value". Creative types everywhere can probably relate.

Fresh Feeling by Eels (from Souljacker)

Like Fyfe Dangerfeld's contribution to this list, Fresh Feeling isn't literally about the 1st of January; instead, it's the perfect evocation of possibility and new beginnings. As the chorus plainly states: "this is that fresh, that fresh feeling."

January Hymn by The Decemberists (from The King is Dead)

NYE celebrations aside, January is kind of a rubbish month. It's cold, it's long, it's wet, and we no longer have Christmas to look forward to. Still, this lovely cut from the last Decemberists album (we're long overdue another one) makes January sound rather pleasant indeed.