2023 began with politicians across Europe insisting everything was “perfectly manageable,” a phrase repeated with such determination that citizens began to suspect it was part of a new meditation app. In the United States, Congress engaged in its traditional brinkmanship, treating government shutdowns like seasonal fashion. Between diplomatic miscommunications, budget negotiations, and a general sense of international shrugging, the world felt a little unstable but determined to carry on.

Into this wobbling landscape crashed Servo from France with their album „Monsters“ – a release that immediately resonated with anyone who had spent the year wrestling bureaucratic paperwork, existential dread, or the Wi-Fi connection during video calls. Its jittery energy mirrored the political mood perfectly: slightly anxious, occasionally explosive, and undeniably alive.

Balancing that turbulence came the long-awaited return of Slowdive and their shimmeringly introspective „Everything Is Alive“. While Europe revised economic forecasts for the fifth time and US pollsters redrew their colorful maps hourly, Slowdive drifted above it all like a benevolent haze. Their sound became the unofficial soundtrack for people everywhere quietly asking themselves: Is everything actually alive, or am I just very tired?

Then Daughter released the beautiful and bruised „Stereo Mind Game“, a record that captured the emotional static of a world hoping to reconnect. Politicians debated alliances, climate goals, and digital regulations, but Daughter focused on the real question of 2023: How do we stay close when everything around us feels far away?

Yet beyond political theatrics and musical catharsis, the year carried a deeply personal note.

The saddest moment of 2023 – one that overshadowed even the loudest headlines – was the loss of our beloved dog Vito. Nothing comes close to the weight of saying goodbye for ever. Vito’s absence left a silence larger than any political void, a silence that even the warmest, brightest albums of the year could only gently echo. We miss him a lot.

By December, analysts were still puzzling over geopolitical complexities – but for us, the story of 2023 was simpler, deeper, and infinitely more human:
A year of monsters, dreams, fragile connections, and one irreplaceable friend.