A midtempo set almost from beginning to end, among Wayfinder's relatively livelier, full-band entries are "A Lot to Ask" and "Big Fan," which features wide-ranging backing vocals by Jay Som's Melina Duterte. Even still, the album never quite steps out into the sun.

While more structured songs such as "Ship to Shore" and "Preoccupation" are also among the album's strongest moments, Fast Idol is all about mood, and it's got plenty to spare.

Cracks is an illuminating exploration of cyclical energy, both inside and outside the body.

Here, Sheeran's melodies are soft yet insistent, and the production glistens with flair borrowed from younger, hipper artists who mine a similar blend of retro new wave and modern R&B, but he knows how to turn this stylish sound into something cozy and reassuring.

At the age of 63, Billy Bragg is not a young man anymore, and The Million Things That Never Happened reflects that but in a way that reveals new themes and thinking in his lyrics; it's a brave, smart, and effective set of songs.

Taken together, Valentine represents both a bold musical step and a signal that Jordan is ready to move on in more ways than one, at the same time that it leaves some of her distinctiveness behind.

Still Sucks stands as a fun and highly enjoyable addition to the band's discography, delivering exactly what a Limp Bizkit listener wants to hear.

Missteps prevent Voyage from being a triumph yet they are true to the rest of ABBA's catalog so, in a sense, they're welcome. If ABBA didn't have cheeseball moments, they wouldn't be ABBA, so it's reassuring that the group brings the lows along with the highs on this unexpected and delightful album.

Rundle has tempered her sweeping post-rock cinematics with lyrical vulnerability in the past, but Engine of Hell is a braver and bolder beast, as it lays bare the soul of its creator and dares the listener to reckon with it.

The changes are subtle and even though the group's sound is a little less thrillingly raw here, they make up for it with stranger melodies and vocals. Overall, a solid effort from a band with the potential to make a great record someday.

Drew's music stresses the importance of the communal rave experience, and reminds us that everything is possible.

Music for Psychedelic Therapy isn't as overwhelming as Hopkins' previous two albums, but it's still an enlightening trip inspired by a lifetime of profound experiences.

The detailing and variable arrangements here, combined with engaging songs, lift A Way Forward above the level of genre exercise, occasionally into something more compositional, as on the final two tracks.

The highlight of these is a ten-minute version of "All Too Well," a bitter ballad that was already one of the peaks of Red and is now turned into an epic kiss-off. This, along with excavated songs, are reason enough for Swift to revisit Red and they, not the re-recordings, are the reason to return to Red [Taylor's Version].

While Public Storage doesn't represent the songwriter's hookiest material, its affecting album-length presentation lingers -- emotionally and sonically -- nonetheless.

Time Clocks slowly comes into focus after the short atmospheric instrumental "Pilgrimage" sets the stage for a moody, cinematic record.

The duo's playfulness here verges on hammy at times -- more often than on their solo recordings. The trade-off is that they push each other into new levels of showmanship without pandering to the audience. Besides, there's some genuinely witty stuff here.

Garbology isn't nearly as complex or conceptually driven as 2020's Spirit World Field Guide, but it still contains an abundance of memorable lyrics, and demonstrates Aesop's talent for spinning fantastic stories out of nothing.

Funky bass and Fender Rhodes are among the featured instruments on songs that feel jammier than his first two albums, though the mood remains mellow and languid, at least for the most part.

The result of these tweaks to both production and attitude is something more mature and approachable yet still impassioned, and it's Slothrust's most cohesive record to date.

The main shortcoming of At My Piano is that even though Brian Wilson is playing songs that he wrote, the mellow, elevator music style of these versions doesn't sound any more significantly connected to Wilson than any other session musician or unknown piano player running through familiar tunes as background music at a martini bar would sound. Despite this, it's pleasant to hear these songs in a new form.

Happily, he retains the melodic sharpness that characterized 57th & 9th, his last solo album of straight-forward pop tunes. The Bridge isn't quite as crisp and clean as that 2016 effort, yet it moves along at a quick clip.

While Brown's songwriting isn't always as sharply honed as it's been in the past, Time Flies is a fine example of just how much fun, and how therapeutic, well-crafted pop can be.

The remix collection is considerably more fragmented than the cohesive original, but it's no less forward-thinking, and is well worth the time of anyone who was bowled over by the proper album.

While much of the album is taken up by experimental mood pieces like these, there's also a significant number of sprawling, progressive tracks.

As lovingly recorded and meditative as it is, Island of Noise doesn't break much new ground for Modern Nature. ... That said, there is much to enjoy within this latest chapter.

Even though Old Friends New Friends doesn't contain any obvious epics similar to the most well-known pieces from Frahm's ambitious albums like All Melody and Spaces, there's still an abundance of highlights, and even his smaller-scale works can resonate in a big way.

"All These Days" is an atmospheric skyscraper that recalls '80s indie even if it has a shimmering modern sheen, and "Ariel" offers a slight sense of sweetness to close out an EP that functions as a good teaser for the full album while also working well as its own mini-LP.