The bulk of Back and Fourth is more insular, though, serving as Pete Yorn's personal therapy rather than his audience's ear candy.

On This Is Us, the group sounds great for their age, and they sound like they're at their peak.

Keys never gets gritty, she remains reserved, never letting her singing or arrangements obscure the melodies or the classy veneer of the entire proceedings. All this determined detachment keeps The Element of Freedom from packing a primal, passionate punch, but there is charm in Alicia's enveloping, quiet cool.

The band are an almost classic example of one element working incredibly well and another almost tripping it up as it goes. What works is the group's collective ear for those previously mentioned sounds and styles, which the trio plays excellently throughout.

With its restrained arrangements and spacious production, The Devil You Know allows Jones' enigmatic voice the room it needs to rise and deliver these songs, not from rock & roll history, but from her heart, marrow, and bones.

Stringfellow's fourth solo outing is as riveting as it is willfully schizophrenic, incorporating elements of progressive art rock, country, soul, R&B, and straight-up Posies-inspired jangle pop without a care in the world, resulting in his most daring studio offering to date.

The way he mixes sounds, styles, and moods on the album is, like it was on To the Sea, a nice step in the right direction; the songs are typically strong; and the whole thing goes down as easily as ice-cold soda pop on a hot summer day.

With Gameshow, Two Door Cinema Club ultimately balance a growing pop maturity with a stylish strut worthy of Saturday Night Fever's Tony Manero.

Ultimately, the outcome is similar to Drift: while the band's anything-goes spirit is admirable and their passion is unmistakable, they simply sound much better when they're rocking out, and the other songs are just not as interesting.

It's nice to have the Posies back in the studio again, but Every Kind of Light isn't the triumphant return fans might have hoped for.

With such a terrific combination of depth, melody, and out-and-out charm, It's a Corporate World is the perfect summer jam for anyone who spends more time wearing headphones than swim trunks.

While these eclectic songs are intentionally less cohesive than either of the duo's albums, Nun's progression from Tracer and 7AM is equally logical and exciting.

Friday Night is a stronger and more engaging work than Butler's solo debut, and the new songs suggest he should have something memorable next time he goes into the studio by himself.

An impressive debut from a very promising songwriter, hopefully with more to come.

Of limited appeal, but appealing nonetheless.

Despite having many strong songs and a more focused approach, the Duke Spirit's third album is also their most uneven.

Bones is inventive, unsettling, imposing, and utterly arresting.

Despite the obvious--and deliberate--reference points, most of Howl is a solid chapter in the evolution of a fascinating band.

The unpretentious intelligence and skillful wordplay of Weaver's lyrics go a long way towards making The Ax in the Oak a richly satisfying work for grownup listeners, and the imaginative surroundings Weaver, Deck, and a handful of sympathetic musicians have crafted for these songs only make them stronger and more affecting.

Shogun is easily Trivium's most challenging and ambitious album yet, and even though it isn't likely to spawn any hit singles, it was clearly the album Trivium had to make in order to get unduly prejudiced metalheads off their backs and finally silence undue suspicions over their abundant talent and devotion to heavy metal.

The Postelles (who produced the remaining tracks themselves) spend most of their time re-creating Is This It? with scrubbed-up, squeaky-clean results. Ultimately, that's where the album fails.

Instead of sounding labored and forced, System Preferences is gentle and effortless, as if it were recorded four months after Hymn and Her, instead of four years.

Texturally, there's not much of a surprise but The Dream Walker does have its own distinct momentum.

Simply viewed as a contemporary ska album, Subculture is fine stuff with some inspired moments and consistently engaging performances, and if your tastes run to the old school in both ska and reggae, this should be just what your sound system has been missing lately.

Health&Beauty sound like a group well into a long career here, an auspicious trait for what is essentially a debut.

While Imposter doesn't get the blood pumping as much as 2015's Angels & Ghosts, fans in need of a soundtrack for brooding will find this to be an ideal outlet.

Acknowledging that Night Beds' strict chamber-folk fans are bound to be disappointed if not horrified, taken on its own Ivywild is sonically rich, adventurous, envelopingly wistful, and undeniably stunning.

The Blake Babies are back, melodic hooks and great songs in tow.