Unmistakably influenced by the late SOPHIE, who appeared on Hi This Is Flume, the production has a stretched-out, rubbery-yet-metallic quality, and the songs balance sugary vocal hooks with truly intense beat formations.

On Madness as a whole, Poliça were evolving even when the world seemed to come to a standstill.

This Is Brian Jackson's music is timeless, a musical montage reflecting his multi-disciplinary immersion in jazz, funk, soul, and hip-hop, without sacrificing the focus, generosity, inspiration, and openness that have been at the very heart of his music all along.

Not only is it nice for long-time fans of his work, it gives those looking for someone making these kinds of desperately beautiful, painfully human songs a new artist to discover and love.

Inside Problems deals with weighty themes in a modest, manageable way, and that's one of its greatest virtues; here, Andrew Bird is a mildly quirky regular guy with some thoughts to share and a fiddle to help carry them across, and self-analysis is rarely as fun and rewarding as this.

Once again, the Drive-By Truckers have made a strong album well worth your time and attention, but Welcome 2 Club XIII suggests they're having a problem embracing uncomplicated joy in 2022 -- but then again, so do most people.

They've tapped into the source of indie rock's greatness like few bands have been able to and Versions of Modern Performance isn't merely a homage or a neat trick, it's another very strong, very satisfying link in the chain connecting past to present.

Love conquering all can sometimes be a hackneyed notion, but here Fantastic Negrito makes it feel earned.

Rather than offering something for everyone, Big Time wrangles complex, overwhelming emotions with a broad palette that's commanded by its lyrics and tormented vocal performances.

It's clear that they miss their friend and the pain of carrying on without him is crushing. That they manage to convey those feelings to the listener in such a pleasantly sweet fashion is a credit to them as a group and the album takes them from just another (albeit really good) chirpy indie pop band to one ready for the big leagues, sonically and emotionally.

Stars' endlessly detailed arrangements are as impressive as ever, and become more powerful in the context of these highly reflective songs. Stars fearlessly investigate difficult feelings on From Capelton Hill, and capture a complex beauty in the process.

Harry's House is what happens when Styles steps out of the spotlight to live his life. And despite the fact that there's nothing as immortal as "Watermelon Sugar" to be found, this album, as a whole, has solid bones and is sturdy enough to last.

Cruel Country, however, feels as unified and well plotted as anything in Wilco's catalog, and it's deeply moving, powerfully heartfelt music from a handful of gifted players serving their songs beautifully.

Adding to an already impressive list of achievements, HAAi's first full-length is a stunner.

Blue Skies elevates Dehd's mysterious auras, thoughtful experimentation, and strong songwriting, but reaches its highest levels of beauty and intensity when the band shares more of their unobscured personalities.

Brought up on a steady diet of singles, Templeman has some trouble stringing together a substantive 14-track set and a number of the cuts simply coast along on groove and tone without much else to recommend them. Minus the filler and occasional bouts of clumsy wordplay, Mellow Moon does little to damage the young singer/songwriter's reputation and adds a clutch of well-made tracks to his growing canon.

This is a disappointing backpedal from America's drill ambassador.

Much of Face the Wall brings to mind the kind of ebullient, instant-classic indie pop that filtered through college rock stations in the 1990s. Think something along the lines of Juliana Hatfield improbably crossed with Liz Phair and Enya and you'll get a sense of the giddy, buoyant vibe she captures here.

The sound of Come Home the Kids Miss You is polished and ready for the massive level of worldwide commercial success Harlow has been building up to, but it's difficult to find much substance beneath the expensive sheen.

The lack of variance in tempo across the hour-long sequence makes Heart on My Sleeve downright torpid at points. All upticks are welcome -- the one with an incongruous Kirk Franklin appearance included -- but slow and low is undeniably the singer's forte.

Cave-In have crafted a dense (over 70-minutes long) and rewarding work that's both mindful of the past and focused on the horizon.

Regards / Ukłony dla Bogusław Schaeffer reveals itself as an inspired tribute to Schaeffer and another fine example of how Matmos' circular interplay of invention and reinvention remains exceptional.

More D4ta is Moderat's most introverted album, artfully expressing the tension of lockdown and facing an uncertain future.

Phillips' commentary on the state of the world is quite artful, but a look at the lyrics and a careful listen to the vocals allows the activist side of the songs to step forward, and when they take shape it's effective in the way it whispers rather than shouts in our ear.

The overall impression of Parks' second solo album is less a collection of tightly crafted songs than of a willowy chunk of music captured during its slow passage on the timeline. How appealing this is depends on one's proclivities, but there is enough ear candy here to hold the attention, at least for a little while.

A Legacy of Rentals captures him at the peak of his powers. It's art wrought from real life which is all the more devastating for it's easy recognizability.

The album is warmer, friendlier, and fuller than anything Hardware has presented before, yet somehow just as emotionally naked.

With a title partly inspired by a surrealist collage by Eileen Agar and partly by the Biblical Jacob's Ladder, it was produced by Tom Carmichael, Porridge Radio drummer Sam Yardley, and singer and songwriter Dana Margolin, who continues to evoke artists like Sarah Mary Chadwick and Torres here with her raw and passionate vulnerability.