Patrick Watson's 'Wave'

On their eighth LP Wave, Patrick Watson (the man) is figuring out how to stay afloat as personal tragedy and loss threaten to drown him in an ocean of hopelessness and despair. Lush, sophisticated, and at times transcendent, Wave isn’t just Patrick Watson’s (the band) best album, its ability to speak to not just personal pain, but the existential threats many are facing in 2019 make it a late entry in the race for one of best albums of the decade.