These beautiful songs are what you need to hear this Valentine's Day

It's that time of year again – and love it or hate it, there's going to be no getting away from schmoozy love songs on Valentine's Day.

Unless you've just had your heart broken (in which case, have a hug), we say it's easier to just go with it and embrace the day.

With that in mind, we've chosen some of the most underrated love songs from the past decade to see you through. Sorry lads, this is an Ed Sheeran-free zone.

*

1. SUFJAN STEVENS – 'Mystery of Love'

You'll know this song from 'Call Me By Your Name', but it's just one of a plethora of beautiful Sufjan Stevens love songs (check out 2015's 'Carrie & Lowell' for some real heartbreakers). There's no faulting this song, though; from the simple arrangement to the vocals to the lyrics (“The first time that you touched me / Oh, will wonders ever cease? / Blessed be the mystery of love”), it'd bring a tear to a glass eye.

*

2. JOHN GRANT – 'Caramel'

John Grant's entire solo debut album 'Queen of Denmark' is a start-to-finish stunner, referencing everything from his addiction problems to growing up gay, all bound up in Grant's self-deprecating humour. That facade falls away on this beautiful, classic love song – with a sentiment as pure as any you'll ever hear. “His heart is a shield which protects me from the vilest foe / His smile's an elixir which heals the wounds of my darkest years”. Swoon.

*

3. FATHER JOHN MISTY – 'I Love You, Honeybear'

Don't quote us on this, but we get the impression that Josh Tillman was a bit of a gadabout in his younger years. That all changed (well, kinda) when he met his wife Emma, and wrote most of the songs on his second solo album 'I Love You, Honeybear' about her. The title track is one of the best, combining grandiose statements of love (“Don't ever doubt this, my steadfast conviction / My love, you're the one I wanna watch the ship go down with”) with references to the more carnal aspect of love, all swept together in this gorgeous, sumptuous, string-drenched arrangement.

*

4. MARGARET GLASPY – 'Emotions and Math'

It might seem like a throwaway addition because it's an upbeat indie-rock song , and maybe you've never heard of Margaret Glaspy before (if so, off you toddle to Spotify, immediately). This track is both musically and lyrically superb, wryly capturing that feeling of missing your lover and counting down the minutes 'til they return. “When you're gone, I start to snooze the alarm / Cos I stay up until 4 in the morning / Counting all the days til you're back...'.

*

5. BEST COAST – 'Crazy For You'

Another perfect pop love song that doesn't try to gloss over how 'imperfect' love can be at times; this enjoyably frivolous little rock 'n' roll number is about loving your significant other, warts and all (“You drive me crazy, but I love you / You make me lazy, but I love you”).

*

6. VILLAGERS – 'Everything I Am Is Yours'

Conor O'Brien has written some brilliant songs over the years, but few of them have been as heart-on-sleeve as this one, taken from his 2015 album 'Darling Arithmetic'. The Dubliner perfectly captured both the exhilaration and accepting the terror of falling in love with lines like “I cannot control these ever changing ways / So how can I be sure the feeling will remain? / It'll always change - but everything I am is yours”.

*