2024 Number 2: Kyros

Gemma's Top 10 Albums of 2024: Number 2
Kyros - Mannequin

Few bands have been killing it as hard as Kyros this year. They were unknown to me before now but I've become a big fan.

First of all. Shelby Logan Warne. She is a rock star. One of the most exciting, charismatic, talented singers and musicians in the UK scene right now. And she bought her own studio this year, too. What a legend.

Second, this is an album bursting at the seems with energy. It starts out with a sweet ballad, for the rest it turns it up to eleven. Musically it's a mix of prog rock and synthwave, elaborately produced, with a certain pop sensibility but also a tendency to veer into Haken-like instrumental chaos. And ultimately, they just write the bops.

Third, and most personally relevant of all: perhaps unsurprisingly, Kyros' words of personal struggle, growth and change have resonated deeply with me. I don't have to look for hidden, unintended double meanings to have songs that I can freely and openly relate to. And yet there's a universality to the words that everyone can probably find something in.

The album generated a fair bit of hype, but if you missed it: don't. Plus an honourable mention to the companion EP Fear and Love, which reprises a few of the themes found here. Total prog move. I see what you did there.