2: The Letting Go (Bonnie 'Prince' Billy)

The title of this sweet and elegant album comes from an Emily Dickinson poem--- "This is the hour of lead / remember if outlived / As freezing persons recollect the snow / First chill, then stupor, then the letting go." And Will Oldham's tunes have a hypnotic quality that helps them build all the way to a richly incoherent final track ("Untitled"). Strings, the blues, soothing vocals--- it would all sound a bit too cold if it wasn't so sincere. But this is heartfelt stuff, and it's lovely.

1: Twin Cinema (The New Pornographers)

I've listened to The New Pornographers' third album a number of times since its 2006 release, but what struck me this time was its "folding tent" quality: the whole thing could be performed at a circus and packed up right after. Musically speaking, it's a one-act. Its songs emerge from similar themes, and it never lets up. "The Bleeding Heart Show" is a serious achievement, grand and intensely likeable. Carl Newman fronts this band, and he's backed up by, among others, Neko Case on vocals. Bands can go places that individual artists can't, and this work is proof enough.