Let’s be real for a moment: We’re dealing with a lack of sincerity in music nowadays. Ethel Cain said it best. In a world where mainstream pop fodder rarely touches on anything meaningful, there are quite a few albums out there that you’ve probably never heard about that are devastatingly serious. If that sounds like something up your alley, let’s take a look at four absolutely incredible and underrated albums with tragic backstories!
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1. ‘Amends’ by Them Are Us Too
This ethereal wave record is a stunning piece of work. You don’t hear outfits like this much nowadays. Run by Kennedy Ashlyn and Cash Askew, Them Are Us Too was meant to have a 1980s sound with a touch of noise, with vocals similar to Kate Bush. They succeeded in that, and the band’s debut record was quite acclaimed.
Tragically, Askew died at the age of 22 during the Ghost Ship fire of 2016. The accident also took the lives of 35 other people. Amends was released by Ashlyn alone and features songs that Ashlyn and Askew planned on recording together. Ashlyn retired Them Are Us Too after this record’s release.
2. ‘King Of Hearts’ by Camu Tao
The late great Camu Tao was an important figure in underground hip-hop for a time. His voice is quite unique, and his musical style was different from what was out during his heyday. It only makes sense that he’d get out of Ohio and make it big in New York as part of the Definitive Jux collective.
Sadly, Tao was diagnosed with cancer around 2008. That didn’t stop him from continuing to focus on making music right up until the day he died later that year. King Of Hearts is his only studio album, and it was released posthumously in 2010. Knowing that Tao died before it could be released is devastating, considering how much introspection can be heard on this beautiful electronic hip-hop album.
3. ‘Three Days Til Christmas’ by I Have Dreams
If you like screamo, you have probably heard of I Have Dreams or their original moniker, New Ethic. Their record Three Days Til Christmas, like the other underrated tragic albums on this list, followed the sudden death of one of their band members. Guitarist Daniel Chapman died in a car crash just as the band was ascending to pretty substantial local fame in Florida.
Following the release of this EP, the band broke up only six months after they got together. The name change came after Chapman’s death. I Have Dreams was more or less a tribute to the band’s beloved guitarist.
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