Every month staff of The Northwood Omniscient recommend something for students and staff. For the month of October, staff members recommended their favorite albums for students. Ms. Brinkley, advisor for The Northwood Omniscient, also recommended an album for staff.

For Students

If I Know Me

Morgan Wallen

If you need some “sweet southern storytelling with an irresistible drawl,” then Morgan Wallen’s If I Know Me is for you. Wallen’s debut album from 2018 makes the country experience come to life. From “The Way I Talk” to “Had Me By Halftime,” listeners are sung through memorable moments that any country folk knows like the back of their hand. Upbeat songs like “If I Ever Get You Back” will make you want to get up and dance while slower songs like “Chasin’ You” will make you want to sing along to Wallen’s slow drawl. The country storytelling of If I Know Me is irresistible for anybody looking for a little piece of home.

-Ella Sullivan, Co-Editor in Chief

The Way It Ends

Currents

The Way It Ends improves upon every aspect of the band’s first album in every way and shows what modern metalcore should aspire to be. Frontman Brian Willie has improved his vocals immensely and shows off his impressive range in “Split”. The album opens with the deeply anguished intro “Never There,” which sets the tone for the deeply pensive album. The Way It Ends switches from songs which are slow and make you confront the themes within, like “How I Fall Apart,” and songs that make you want to headbang, such as “A Flag To Wave” and “Monsters”. Although they are still new in the scene, Currents is sure to become a new monster in metalcore in the 2020’s.

-Torin Priddle, Co-Editor in Chief

Wake Up

The Vamps

The 2015 album Wake Up is the second album The Vamps have ever created. Featuring songs that make you want to get up and dance around your room such as “Be With You” and “Burn,” their music is lighthearted and entertaining. Lead singer Brad Simpson’s unique vocals will entice you to put the playlist on repeat. The British pop songs from this album will never fail to put a smile on your face, including the most lovable song of the album: “Boy Without A Car.” If you enjoy these fifteen songs, be on the lookout for The Vamps’ upcoming Cherry Blossom album release. 

-Grace Leonard, Social Media Editor

Prom Queen

Beach Bunny

Beach Bunny gained popularity due to their relatable lyrics and pop-punk influences, these influences are on full display in their 2018 album. Prom Queen is a rather short album, featuring only 5 tracks, but it packs a punch nonetheless. With themes of eating disorders, depression and the insecurity of growing up, Prom Queen never stops feeling truly personal. The album is carried in equal parts by it’s instrumentation and impressive lead vocals by Lili Trifilio. If you’re in the mood to bop your head and also probably cry, you should give this album a listen.

-Ethan Westmoreland, Design Editor

Traveller

Chris Stapleton 

If you are a person who enjoys country music that also possess meaningful lyrics then you should give Chris Stapleton’s album Traveller a listen. The album features 14 songs with themes such as love, traveling, wandering and being truthful. The album covers the genre country rock. My favorite song in this album is “Parachute” because it has an upbeat rhythm and reminds you not to take things for granted and to realize what you have. 

-Loren King, Staff Writer

Punisher

Phoebe Bridgers

For those who enjoy alternative music with somber melodies, Punisher is for you. The album, Bridgers called “a diary about your crush during the apocalypse,” is eleven songs long.  Bedroom-pop and folk-like beats serve as a backdrop to Bridgers’ haunting vocals. Fast, upbeat tempos in “Garden Song” and “Kyoto” fade into the lethargic “Savoir Complex” and “Moon Song,” both combined with devastating lyrics. Fans of Better Oblivion Community Center and Bridgers’ first album, Stranger in the Alps, will enjoy Punisher.

-Gianna Cacciato, Staff Writer

These Two Windows

Alec Benjamin

If you’re someone who’s into softer pop with meaningful lyrics, you may want to give These Two Windows a listen. The album has a length of 10 songs and was released on May 29, 2020, marking the artist’s debut studio album following 2018’s Narrated For You. Featuring deeply personal, thoughtful and emotionally-charged lyrics, the tracklist takes you through a number of stops along the road of Benjamin’s life from heartbreak to self-realizations. Slow-paced songs like “Mind is a Prison” and “Demons” cover the relatable struggle of feeling trapped in one’s head, while songs further down the list such as “Match in the Rain” and “Must Have Been the Wind” take a more wistful, melodic approach. Each song tells a different story through Benjamin’s perspective, woven together with the singer’s unique vocals and rhythmic melodies. By the time you reach the end of the last track, “Just like You,” it is almost guaranteed that you’ll have felt every emotional high and low and nodded along to every beat. 

-Oliva McMurray, Staff Writer

Blue Neighborhood

Troye Sivan

Released in 2015, Blue Neighborhood is the first album from Australian singer/songwriter Troye Sivan. The full and complete album consisting of sixteen songs falls in the genres of electro, indie and dream pop. Based on Sivan’s childhood, the album is about growing up in a suburban town. It overall has a feel of melancholy through a cinematic telling. The songs touch on many subjects the youth can relate to. The possible emotions you can go through. A memorable topic is of cruel but honest young love.This is shown in the Blue Neighborhood Trilogy, where three songs from the album were released as music videos. The videos star and show Sivan as someone who is not accepted because of who he loves and the hardships of it. Despite the heartbreaking feel from most of the songs some are upbeat. “Youth” is about one’s youth and can immerse you in its beats. The whole album can make you feel like a main character of a coming of age movie. If you enjoy dreamlike but heartbreaking feelings, Blue Neighborhood is the album for you.  

-July Two, Staff Writer

For Teachers

After Silence

VOCES8

VOCES8 is a British vocal ensemble of men and women that sings a broad repertoire of music, both acapella and with instrumental accompaniment. Their newest album, After Silence (released July 2020), boasts a mix of classical and contemporary pieces by British and American composers. If you need music to help you focus while you study or to calm your anxiety, this is the prefect album for you. And if you’re just the kind of person that marvels at gorgeous dynamic harmonies performed by professionally trained singers, this album will make the hair on your arms stand up and send shivers down your spine. Get a peek at the awesomeness that is VOCES8 here in a 2016 rendition of the American folk song “Shenandoah.” 

-Ms. Eliza Brinkley, Adviser