Kllo's lyrical themes are nothing out of the ordinary for lovelorn pop music, but their balance of tender introspection and airy yet zestful production sets them apart.

This aptly titled set is perfect for driving fast on long, lonely stretches of highway with the windows down and the wide-open night for company.

These subtle but confident, sneakily catchy songs reaffirm that Land of Talk is as relevant to the singer/songwriter movement of the 2010s and 2020s as they were to the noisy indie rock scene of the 2000s when they first emerged.

Minor issues aside, Made of Rain is a fine and sometimes inspired comeback. It may not be Talk Talk Talk, Pt. 2 or Forever Now again, but it proves the Furs still have plenty of life left in them, and it's always nice to hear Richard Butler's voice no matter what the setting.

Although A Hero's Death does suffer from repetition and a lack of literacy, it remains a fun enough; the mistakes it makes won't deter existing fans of the band, although it doesn't display anything new or exciting enough to propel Fontaines D.C. to any new heights.

While key samples of blues, soul, and gospel vocals still make significant appearances, there's much more of Romare's own playing than on his past releases. Additionally, his tracks sound less wobbly and choppy than they used to, and they seem to progress a bit more.

Hum is resonant, sorrowful, and hopeful. It reveals Johannes to be a songwriter who has more in common with Harvey, Marissa Nadler, and Chelsea Wolfe than his hard-rocking male peers. Hum stands with Chris Connelly's Art & Gender, Nick Cave's The Boatman's Call, and the late Jackie Leven's Creatures of Light and Darkness as a musical cartography of the masculine heart in all of its complexity, contradiction, and oft-hidden vulnerability.

While Dry: The Demos doesn't hold any huge revelations, its small differences and riveting performances are treasures for die-hard fans who have the same passion for archiving that Harvey does.

Her productions have become far more ambitious, abandoning the straightforward house beats of much of her earlier material in favor of more expansive, detailed arrangements that incorporate trip-hop, electro, and drum'n'bass. Her lyrics are significantly more personal this time, and a far cry from the club-dwelling, cheekily hedonistic persona of earlier hits like "Raingurl" and "Drink I'm Sippin On."

No Pressure finds Logic all grown up and ready to give himself over to a new chapter. It's one of his best and most enjoyable albums, wrapping up an electrified run with his most clearheaded and honest material yet.

Long Lost Solace Find has traces of Dinosaur Jr.'s most hushed moments, Anne Briggs' heartbreaking clarity, and the resigned grandeur of legendary artists like Karen Dalton or Nick Drake. It's a stunning turn of heel, and one that instills a sense of anticipatory excitement for where Polizze will take his music next.

If there's no happy ending for the heroine, the album still satisfies with its artful balance of meditation and catharsis.

Much of the liveliness of Hate for Sale is due to Street capturing the Pretenders as a straight-up rock & roll band, adding a little flair to the mix but being sure there's enough color and groove so it's not monochromatic. It helps that the songs are good, too.

Despite its intermediary status, its material comes across as deeply considered and hints at creative growth, with the singer/rapper even more persuasive with heartfelt sentiments despite being as understated as ever.

Exhilarating and unpredictable from start to finish, The Upward Spiral is a fresh, fearless perspective on techno.

None of these are precisely new tricks for Swift but her writing from the explicit vantage of other characters, as on the epic story-song "the last great american dynasty," is. Combined, the moodier, contemplative tone and the emphasis on songs that can't be parsed as autobiography make folklore feel not like a momentary diversion inspired by isolation but rather the first chapter of Swift's mature second act.

Since the beginning, Bo Ningen have been dedicated to experimentation, and Sudden Fictions' previously unimaginable sounds prove their edge hasn't dulled a bit.

As with her two previous records, Cobb's production is warm and sympathetic with arrangements robust enough to add some weight without getting in the way of another reliably strong collection.

While covers records are common, the taste, energy, and imagination Inter Arma apply to Garbers Days Revisited is anything but. As a whole, it stands head and shoulders with any recording in their catalog.

Heart's Ease goes further, revealing she's still a vital performer and an artist willing to explore new and unfamiliar territory, suggesting a more interesting future than listeners might have imagined.

In some respects, Old Flowers could be called a shade too successful, since it casts a specific understated spell, but listened to in the right mood or hour of the day, it's a bewitching affair.

Whether by consequence or coincidence, All the Time has a lighter and more sensual touch than Lanza's two previous albums. Characterized less by lavishly layered and hypercharged whiskings of electro, house, and juke, its pared-down sound and slower tempos suit Lanza's higher prioritization of lyrics.

Wu Hen is the first mature portrait of Williams. In his integrated approach genre, style, and production techniques all serve as building blocks in the creation of a holistic, spiritually instructive sound world.

Life on Earth increases the anticipation for the artist's second album without diluting what has preceded it.

Legends Never Die is as strong a collection of Juice WRLD songs as any, with already-searing songs made more intense by the shadow of their departed creator looming over the album.

Brightest Blue's main disc is Goulding's deepest emotional journey yet, a triumph of empowerment and self-discovery.

They're still mockingbirds, but what once felt derivative is now inching closer to vital.

Flipping the unevenness and sonic confusion of their three 2010s albums on their heads, Bush take this opportunity to prove that they've still got enough in them beyond '90s nostalgia.

As each of the four musicians here have distinguished themselves as distinctive bandleaders in their own right, it's fascinating to hear their individual styles come to the fore throughout the album.

With Devastator, Phantom Planet have crafted an album that deftly undercuts their hooky West Coast optimism with a bitterly cloudy beach bum sadness. You can almost hear the bright pop sound of their youth echoed back through the hazy din of waves returning to shore; California here we come, right back where we started from indeed.

The shift PINS made from their brash debut Girls Like Us to the more eclectic sounds of Wild Nights proved that they can change things up successfully, but it makes their lackluster transformation on Hot Slick even more head-scratching. While the album has some promising moments, after a five-year wait, it's a little disappointing.

While it's just as thought-provoking as the Soft Pink Truth's other albums, there's something magical in how the emotional dimensions and deep beauty of Shall We Go on Sinning So That Grace May Increase? reaffirm that positivity and creativity are the most powerful weapons against hate and darkness.

A set that honors and acknowledges more than wallows.

Given that these musicians have been working together for the better part of 25 years, it should come as no surprise that XOXO still feels like a Jayhawks album, but while conventional wisdom in rock history tells us a band is running short on ideas when they start letting the drummer write more songs, in this case it means they're coming up with new ideas that are working well, and that's welcome news.

Some of the most interesting tracks on 1000 Gecs and the Tree of Clues come from less predictable pairings.

Headier and more reflective than that 2018 release yet laced with some drums with churn and bump beneath Gibbs' double-time wit, it reinforces the reputations of both artists in the hip-hop underworld.

Like other Bing & Ruth albums, Species was thoroughly conceived before the musicians began recording it, yet it has such a river-like flow that it can seem as if it spontaneously poured out of Moore and his cohorts.

Detailed production and collective growth as performers meet with a songwriting style that grows more distinctive with each new release, making Flower of Devotion a further step up. Some of the heartbreak and healing that defined the last album carries over, but more than anything Dehd grows deeper into their sad, summery twilight sound.

Ultimate Success Today sounds timely in 2020, but this music would be a smart, compelling accompaniment for staring into the abyss as it begins to look back, no matter what the year.

While these songs are spare and direct enough to withstand simpler instrumentation, the arrangements the Chicks worked up with Antonoff are subtle and sly; they wrap themselves around the bones of the melody, accentuating the emotions underpinning the songs.

"In Your Eyes" isn't quite tonally of piece with the rest of Rated PG but as it's one of Gabriel's most famous songs, it belongs here and helps put into perspective how so much of Gabriel's film work leans toward the artier side of the spectrum.

Much of what precedes and follows it is up to the same fine standard, predominantly mellow if hot-blooded with Tribe label titans Phil Ranelin and Wendell Harrison adding some intensity with spirited blowing.

One of Laraaji's earthiest records, Sun Piano is a pure expression of his talents, as he projects spirited melodies straight from his soul.

While Love + Light feels a lot rougher than Avery's first two solo albums, and initially takes a few more listens to fully appreciate, it's just as inspired and creative.

Though the first two volumes of Meet the Woo lacked the bombast of Smoke's iconic singles, they demonstrated candor in their representation of the drill heavyweight; SFTSAFTM, by contrast, tarnishes the rapper's visionary style with predatory glitz as everyone jumps for a piece of the pie.

His first set of songs about the real world instead of sci-fi-inspired concepts -- when everyday life is as fraught as it was in the late 2010s and early 2020s, there's no need to rely on dystopian fantasies. These differences make Pure Luxury much more immediate, and immediately relevant, than Lovett's other albums.

Feel Feelings is a richly satisfying album. Soko demands the same commitment from her listeners that she put into making these songs, but as she combines happiness and sadness into something beautiful, the honesty in her music is mesmerizing.

While not quite on par with his best work, it is nonetheless a welcome and surprisingly fun return by one of Britain's great voices who has lost none of his wit and panache.

Barwick has always celebrated the sheer beauty of voices joining together and likely always will, but she's never done it exactly the same way twice. With Healing Is a Miracle, she once again manages to evolve and remain true to what has made her music special since the beginning.

There's a confidence in her vocal performances that reflects the album's spirit: She's comfortable following her obsessions and idiosyncrasies to their logical end, resulting in a record that comforts and challenges in equal measure.

Wainwright's growth as a composer/arranger and his experiences in the classical realm are apparent here. Though, to his credit as a tunesmith, his words and melodies remain center stage.

The Waterfall II offers no clues as to where My Morning Jacket might be headed, but as a document of what they were capable of in the studio, it's consistent, well-structured, and satisfying in a way the original was not.

A potent 11-song set that injects the genre's key trope of overcoming adversity with some considerable gravitas.

In attempting to strike a balance between the raw, emo-punk approach of their debut with the more streamlined indie rock of Natural, Everyday Degradation, they've revealed that their biggest problem isn't settling on an identifiable sound, it's their inability to write a truly memorable song.

As dark and tonally blistering as anything they did in their early years, Inlet essentially finds Hum picking up where they left off in 1998.

Bigger Love sounds cobbled together compared to Love in the Future and Darkness and Light, two of his most recent and inspired albums, with opportunistic and unconvincing stylistic curveballs, no two tracks sharing the same production credits, and few clear standouts.

Sprawling and intimate, breezy and affecting, Women in Music Pt. III is a low-key triumph.

Filled with bouncy riffs, sweet harmonies, anxiety, and kindness, Jump Rope Gazers confirms that the Beths are good at slower, more reflective songs, too, though there's plenty of spark to carry listeners through.

Like the figurative road of its title, Transfiguration Highway follows a winding path with an emphasis on the journey rather than a destination.

Years is a bit more ornate than most Anderson records, yet the layers of guitars and keyboards give the vocalist a rich, sympathetic bed to sing with nuance and grace. His performance, combined with the elegant sweep of Auerbach's production and the emotive songs, turn Years into a minor latter-day masterpiece from the country singer.

What's different about On Sunset is that expansive hybrid of electronic and R&B, a fusion colored by just enough experimentation and craft to make the album feel fresh and distinctly belonging to Weller.

A.A. Williams' ambitious blend of post-rock, folk, goth, metal, and classical ingredients deserves as wide a hearing as it gets, and Forever Blue is a uniquely effective debut album.

Though it's very different from Dream Wife, So When You Gonna… is just as genuine, and the duality in Dream Wife's music only makes them a more interesting, and more relevant, band.

First Rose of Spring is sweet and elegiac, a record that sways gently in the breeze, only picking up its pace when it's time to swing through a cover of Jimmy Dean's "Just Bummin' Around." Original songs are few and far between here.

A gift for those who loved Chester, Amends is a lovingly crafted tribute, adding a bittersweet chapter to his musical legacy that brings his past and present full-circle.

Keleketla! is a powerful combination of activism and musical exploration, bonding the sounds of several locations and eras in order to express messages of joy, optimism, and revolution.

Tracing the emotional arc of the album, a couple of calmer interludes lead into the crashing splendor of "If...." and the brooding shoegaze turbulence of "Is That What You Wanted to Hear?" The glacial drift of "Forget the Credits" feels like all of the previous songs' stress has been released as a balloon, and it feels fine to just lay back and free one's self of all burdens, now that it's all over.

Domesticated is a low-key album by Tellier's standards, but it captures the feeling that settling down is something to be savored, and it's got to be the most glamorous-sounding album about home sweet home.

Naeem's debut album, Startisha, is beautiful and reaching.

It's hard to believe that after two decades together as a band Peter Bjorn and John are still making records as intense, energetic, inventive, and vital as Endless Dream.

The barebones numbers are solid and Townes carries them, but The Lemonade Stand truly kicks when it's at its poppiest, as on the exuberant "Come as You Are" and "White Horse."

All of these cuts are loose, clever, and inspired, and they make for one of Lund's liveliest records.

It's not an ambitious album, nor one of Hayman's best, but it's as cozy and welcoming as its title suggests.

Warbled, atmospheric electronics eventually expand the sound design, as do subsequent tracks, like the bright, harmonic full-band pop of second track "Unready" and the lush, shimmery "Limits," whose arrangement includes scuttling electronic drums. The sparer tracks are where Gordi really excels, though.

None eclipse "Request" off VII, but the Kehlani collaboration "Morning" is a seductive delight, while the snaking (and accurately titled) "Boomin" is a treat for lovers of late-'90s R&B with explicit references to Blaque and much of the Swing Mob (plus an appearance from the latter's Missy Elliott). Confident diversions into breezy Afro-pop and underwater dancehall lead to a half-hour stretch covering various romantic woes.

The individual tunes hold their own, but Monovision is a record where the whole means more than the individual numbers, since LaMontagne strikes a very specific mood -- one that's reassuring, even soothing -- and then manages to sustain it until the end.

Even when they slow down, there's a lot of excitement in Pottery's music. Though they frequently threaten to steamroll over anyone within earshot of Welcome to Bobby's Motel, the band have so much fun that their listeners probably won't mind.

Like so many 21st century psych-inspired bands, Bananagun lean awfully heavily into their love of a very specific era, but they've nonetheless made an exceedingly fun record with plenty of craft behind it.

Shygirl's hard-edged yet sensual delivery on "Watch" is another fine example of KiCk i's forward-looking femininity, while "La Chíqui" is as brilliantly unhinged as a team-up between Arca and SOPHIE should be, with self-destructing beats and vocals that reach for the skies. These kinds of unapologetic contradictions and fragments coexist on KiCk i in startling, beautiful, and genuine ways, making it a complete, and triumphant, portrait of Arca's artistry.

The new material didn't merely simmer.

The songs are carried with energy and control, and even while the influences can be glaring, Gentle Grip is so well constructed -- and so fun -- that it stands on its own.

The album's length is just about right, going by in an efficient 36 minutes but feeling satisfying at the end, and while fans are bound to pick favorites, there's not a real dud in the bunch.

Shah presents as a mystery wrapped in an enigma, when in reality she's just innately talented and resolute in her convictions. Unsurprisingly, the mesmerizing Kitchen Sink distills those two predilections into something that's both compelling and otherworldly.

Khruangbin's music can still work as an ebullient, sun-baked soundtrack to daily activities, social gatherings, or cross-country road trips, but their songs have gotten more expressive and soul-searching, and Mordechai rewards closer listening more than any of their previous recordings.

Civic Jams is comforting in a way, but it generally conveys a sense of wanting to get back into the real world and feel the thrill of discovery and the excitement of shared experiences once again.

Throbbing and covered in sweat, Translation is unapologetic in its intent and a surprisingly welcome reminder of the Peas' power to lift spirits not through socially conscious bars, but internationally appealing, borderless people-pleasing that unites through dance.

Yachty's progress mostly shows up in his drive to push his music to new places, but he takes steps backwards by overpadding Lil Boat 3 with too many similar, unnecessary tracks.

If you've fallen out of love with indie rock -- or even if your devotion never so much as flickered -- Somewhere just might be enough to remind you why you loved the sound in the first place.

The trio -- singer/keyboardist/guitarist Joel Robinow, bassist/guitarist Eli Eckert, and drummer/technician Raj Ojha -- who had played together in various incarnations in the Bay Area before forming Once & Future Band, not only sound like a veteran arena combo here but offer the material to make them shine.

Westerman creates music to think and daydream and plot adventures to. Arriving among a musical landscape of clean, but often vacuous bedroom pop, he has created something of lasting substance and clarity.

Like the obtuse artists that LA Priest takes notes from, the best moments on Gene come when these perspectives are deeply inward looking and warmly welcoming at the same time.

It's retro soul at its absolute best, and anyone who has a partner who makes them feel the way Bryant feels about Ann Peebles on this LP has plenty to be thankful for.

With Planet's Mad, Baauer charts a journey that elicits emotion through physical response, channeling rage and frustration through his songs in a cathartic release that plays like musical therapy for a galaxy's worth of ills.

Hearing Wire riff on their past and present so brilliantly makes 10:20 both a dream come true for longtime fans and a surprisingly good introduction to their music for newcomers.

Though happiness is elusive in Owen's world, beauty is not, and The Avalanche is a striking testament to Mike Kinsella's gifts, where even sadness can pay handsome rewards under the right circumstances.

A sadder, wiser, and stronger album, Shadow Offering reflects big changes in Braids' world, but proves they're still at their finest when they dig into -- and sit with -- complex emotions.

Hearing these (sometimes very familiar) songs in this particular sequence is a journey, one that winds along a twisted road yet provides an experience as complete as its mid-'70s companion LPs. It's not a footnote but an essential part of Neil Young's catalog.

Rough and Rowdy Ways is akin to transformational albums such as Love and Theft, and Slow Train Coming. It's a portrait of the artist in winter who remains vital and enigmatic. At nearly 80, Dylan's pen and guitar case still hold plenty of magic.