90: The The’s Dusk (1993)

I’ve never been really sure why this record (follow up to Mind Bomb) was never a bigger deal. It’s one of my all-time favorite depressing listens. Dark, roomy, hostile and perverse, Dusk oozes fear and longing. Even “Love Is Stronger Than Death” hints at the looming end and its constant presence in all our moments. Matt Johnson and Johnny Marr created an epic portrait of life’s sordid details, and it deserves a lot more credit than it gets. The album art also ranks high with me, the city’s red-orange monster representative of the content moreso than almost any other cover in music history.

The The “Lung Shadows”