‘Find Me’ and ‘Anymore’ channel the danceable charm of ‘Pool’, while the powerful swell of ‘Now The Water’ proves as immersive as its title suggests. By and large, though, The House is marked by a hands-off recording style that dials back on the fine-tuned production of its predecessor.

A dazzlingly creative effort, it might well be SHOPPING’s most complete, concise, and fascinating release yet.

In context and execution, Songs Of Praise is one of the most daring, scorching, seethingly intelligent, and at times downright funny British guitar albums to come our way in years.

While the album is undeniably well produced and generally well performed, unfortunately Woods' fails in his first attempt to stand out from the crowd.

Whilst the initial surprise felt on the original ‘Saturation’ may have subsided, the erratic excitement and experimentation on that album has been executed more confidently on each subsequent chapter. The LA group are everything progressive rap music should be; forward thinking, energetic and perhaps most importantly, exciting.

Was it worth that wait? That’s open to debate, but it’s definitely not an album you listen to and wish they hadn’t bothered.

The record thrives because of this surface-level wokeness, Miguel continuing to occupy his own lane as a vital, progressive artist.

It may not even share the same ambition as ‘No Line On The Horizon’ however, it’s an undeniable improvement on their two misfiring predecessors, marking this collection as their most cohesive and heartfelt in almost 15 years.

Throughout the album, a more mature sound can be heard, which reflects their break from recording music, allowing them to evolve as musicians and songwriters on this more mature, risk-taking production.

The first half of the album follows an upbeat style, reminiscent of raspy rhythm ‘n’ blues, sharp-edged funk, and early Motown. ... The second half of the album harks back to the golden era of soul with gospel roots and orchestral interludes.

While Bailey’s true-to-self, organic approach on Revelations should be celebrated, the record serves more as a transition than a defining peg in Bailey’s young career.

For Sufjan fans, despite not belonging exclusively to their hero, The Greatest Gift is immensely enjoyable. For anyone not yet sold on the Michigan music-maker, well, you’re in for a treat.

Just like all the very best albums, I Tell A Fly is by turns thought provoking, musically challenging and genre defying but perhaps more importantly, it imbues a sense of uniqueness that suggests you can’t imagine anyone else making it.

All this does is reassert the effortless, enduring power of those original pieces; find the originals and save your pennies for the forthcoming Carpenter tour.

It’s not an Oasis record and it’s not a wholly experimental album either. However, it is his best work in an age and an interesting marker for a Weller-esque creative purple patch from an artist rediscovering their sense of purpose.

Stranger is at its best when it steps away from the safety of cloud rap melancholy in favour of Lean embracing his outsider identity.

Swift’s unencumbered analysis of the tectonic shifts within her personal and public life are equal parts razor sharp and self-indulgent. But as a pop album, Reputation is never revolutionary, the adrenalin rush heady but ultimately short-lived.

Low In High School feels confused, misplaced, and tedious.

Wizard Bloody Wizard proves that the music Black Sabbath birthed can still hit hard without much in the way of embellishment nearly fifty years later.

The execution may at times be slightly slapdash and a little heavy-handed but the message is still there.

By its very nature, Nat King Cole And Me isn’t anything groundbreaking; however the project is ultimately a well produced and excellently performed tribute album.

For first-time listeners the distinctly compilation nature of the record could prove disorientating and less rewarding a listen than any of Olsen’s singular, more complete albums. But that’s generally the case in any rarities album. For fans of Olsen's work this is a treasure trove of lesser known recordings that capture the artist in a period in which her sound was ever-evolving and progressing.

There is plenty of time for Guwop to build upon the formula that already has him winning.

The pervasive dreaminess and charm ultimately results in an absorbing debut album.

Living up to its title, Phantom Brickworks proves a spectral set, a fragile sounding record that confidently conveys the intent of its creator. It may not win him any new fans, and old fans may even be puzzled at the lack of sunny beats seen on last year’s ‘A Mineral Love’, but it still stands as a great escape for those who like to get lost in sound rather than riffs.

With Screen Memories, Maus once again welcomes all that dare enter into his all-consuming, oddball world.

The result is an LP that displays an encyclopaedic knowledge and understanding of its references, without being reduced to mere reference.

With Face Your Fear, Harding has given us a captivatingly concise project brimming with soulful and pensive reflection.

A record bursting with artistic emotion and vulnerable resilience.

At once a relatively pragmatic re-release of already heard material and the satisfying conclusion to its previous flirtations, Joli Mai is a hybrid: part-album, part DJ-toolbox--and totally playable, in any context.

Stereophonics don’t have the lyrical potency of their earlier incarnation, often erring on the side of grand generalisation--as is the way when you have to appeal to enough people to fill your next arena tour. But frontman Kelly Jones has got one of the damn finest voices in rock ‘n’ roll, and that’s surely worth the price of admission in itself.

There's nothing that innovative or thought-provoking, but that's hardly the point. It’s freaky, it’s naughty, it’ll get your head nodding.

Krept and Konan end up sounding like features on their own songs.

There isn't really a dull moment on 7 Days, as the pair clearly enjoy being allowed to flex lyrically without any thought of watering down due to commercial considerations.

This latest from Lindstrøm weighs to heavy on the pedestrian side. Sure, the whole package is professionally crafted and confidently gets you drifting away from your day-to-day woes, but what we really need is for Chewie to punch it into hyperspace.

Dissolve is a fine album for the time being, but it has a built-in sell by date and TUSKS may well want to diversify before the tide changes and she's left gasping on the shore.

A rich, fascinating, and perplexing album, The Curious Hand continually deals out new and unexpected elements, stretching Seamus’ until it breaks into the spirit of fanciful experimentation.

An album that suffers from feeling just too assured.

A cohesive, immersive listen that heartily repays repeated listens.

A fluid, effortless and absorbing listen, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard aren’t just one the industry’s most prolific bands, they are also one of the world’s best.

By cementing his role as musical heir to the mantle of Serge Gainsbourg (if you ignore the fact that Charlotte Gainsbourg herself is a pretty worthy heir), as well as perhaps the only musical peer of Sleaford Mods, Baxter might just have succeeded in further escaping Ian Dury's long, dark shadow.

Able to walk the line effortlessly between animalistic lyricism and tracks that are more melody-focused, Wretch has managed to paint a picture where the brushstrokes are appreciated by all.

It feels like a genuine step up for the duo, and the divine collage of sounds and futuristic atmosphere make it an essential listen.

Neō Wax Bloom begs for multiple listens and, once you’ve digested every morsel, you’ll be wanting to visit Mamu more often.

Ash serves as a stirring, reflective statement in uncertain times. Russell’s production throughout is outstanding too.

Ogilala is nothing particularly new or revolutionary for fans, more a strong reminder that there’s a reason why Corgan managed to shift millions of units with his brand of moody rock.

While it wouldn’t be unfair to say that the best moments generally belong to Barnett, the combined force of the duo produces a piece of work that certainly doesn’t seem like too much a step down from the superb ‘Sometimes I Sit And Think…’ and ‘b’lieve i’m goin down…’ that had us all so captivated back in 2015.

While Carry Fire showcases some of Plant’s best and most confessional lyricism, there’s no denying that this is an album that stands out most for its lusciously complex musical structures and influences, allowing for it to purvey an other-worldly quality.

Aromanticism is style over substance, certainly his sentiments run the risk of evading the listening, such is the beauty of the dreamscape he weaves. Yet as you revisit the record, the case for being ‘aromantic’, has never sounded so fully realised, so complete and so utterly inviting.

At its best, The Saga Continues captures some of the old Wu magic but unfortunately these moments are few and far between.

Instrumentally, the generous helpings of tenor sax, soft electric piano and clarinets give Fatherland a depth that warrants further listens once Kele’s rounded melodies and acoustic guitar structures have been dissected.

It’s just sad to hear the spark of reinvention that ignited their last powder keg of an album confined to a handful of tracks on a largely mediocre album. They can do better. They have done better. They will do better again.

The OOZ is undoubtedly another thought-provoking entry into the discography one of Britain’s most exciting and challenging young artists. An intense, yet rewarding listen.

Bring On The Sun’s fascinating sonic tensions never make the listener feel tense. This is cure-all musical therapy for the ages.

There are plenty of hooks and the pace rarely relents, but it’s hard to ever imagine Colors ever being in anyone’s top five favourite Beck albums.

Rationale is a project which highlights Fazakerley’s vocal and songwriting dexterity, and is delivered with an impressive style and confidence.

But for all its merits, much of the chaos on MASSEDUCTION tends to move rapidly in one ear and out the other, making it a pleasant but somewhat faceless affair.

There is a defining (and high-definition) period where the mix becomes less interactive, a little noodlier, and more prey to a mass observing sway.

There’s more than enough life in his work to shock, provoke thought, and inspire for another two decades.

Kelela treads new ground unlike anything in music today--cavernous, avant-garde R&B that moves the body and heals the broken heart.

Over-produced but under-written, the combined cast of co-writers and producers have failed to knit together a cohesive whole. Plenty of these songs are pleasant enough, but there’s very little to mark an artist in their prime.

With Arise, the London singer continues her excellent run, delivering a refreshingly enchanting and intriguing project.

With greater room for booming electro-ballads and crisply produced dance numbers, Tenderness is more engaging than its predecessor but no less immersive, making it on the whole a hugely accomplished return.

While this sonic nonchalance means it can lack singularity and impact, Parallels feels like an organic and necessary evolution for Chung, his affinity for dense, hazy, dreamlike production still as mind-altering as ever.

While Harmony Of Difference will delight jazz fans, it is a truly incredible record irrespective of genre. If you are capable of feeling, you will find much to love here.

The songs are forgettable odes to familiar topics--home, heartbreak, dusting yourself off and picking yourself back up--that wouldn’t get a second glance if they’d been penned by someone less famous. Add to that some horrifically hackneyed clichés.

Maybe the product of a transitional period in Rowsell’s life, it’s easy to get lost yourself in the singer’s endearing lyricism.

V is the record that has finally given The Horrors a set identity. Perfecting every element they did so well on their four previous records, V is a pure and unadulterated celebration of The Horrors.

Aside from a few big hitters, Wonderful Wonderful has too many middle-of-the-road moments. ‘Life Itself’, ‘The Rut’, and ‘Have All The Songs Been Written’ are barely distinguishable, and instantly forgettable.

While there’s nothing that will diminish their legacy or standing in rock music, there’s very little material that pushes the band forward either.

Sleep Well Beast is an album that rewards repeat listens and unfurls its beauty slowly over time: The National have yet again made an album that’s as brilliant as it is ambitious.

Dedicated to Bobby Jameson offers an enticing preview, delicately ebbing and flowing between irreverent pastiche and tender melancholy, and in the end striking a balance that makes it one of Pink's more accessible and immediately gratifying records in recent memory.

A strutting, assured 42 minutes of funky indie-pop indulgence born out of the ashes of a pretty stagnant indie rock band. Proof everyone deserves a second-chance.

The end product is another outstanding record, executed with fearlessness and grace.

On each listen Love What Survives is a record full of raw honesty, both musically and artistically, and is worth your undivided attention.

A solid album that despite getting into a more forward stride, does slow burner as patience tester.

Aat only just in their twenties, they’re still wracked with as much uncertain as they self-assure; a dichotomy conveyed perfectly across Try Not to Freak Out, and something which makes the record both ballsy, and utterly irresistable.

CCCLX is fantastic as a momentary escape from the lights and sounds of the mad world we’re living in, but once you’ve holstered the pastel pink desert eagle and left the booth, you’re left with only a handful of killer moments that might entice you to return.

While A Moment Apart has the foundations of a great album, ODESZA fall slightly short of the mark.

Even if the laid-back and relaxed atmospherics are endearing, there’s plenty of room to push the musical perimeters which the London duo fail to take advantage of.

Pure vaudeville, pure theatre--and pure Sparks.

The production is absolutely masterful. The conviction is assured; the weightiest of subjects: that of 'life' and 'death' are tackled and shackled by Zola exper

The intuitive, steady flow of writing in the studio means that the record can lack form. And yet, despite some generic meandering, none of the productions come across as derivative.

Outrage! finds them actually enjoying the process of writing and experimenting with the potent formula they concocted back at the start of the millennium.

With such weighty subject matter, and with some own personal trauma influencing the record, it’s sadly lacking in bite or overall attack.

Fifteen years on from their first album, it reminds you that this band's trajectory is beholden to nothing except Andrew's own insatiable curiosity. Long may it remain this wayward.

Being a tad derivative isn't a crime, however, and everyone needs an influence. What's important is that the songs are good--and they are.

Vivid, compelling and unafraid of delving into new territory, Mogwai have found the ideal combination of progression and familiarity.

With this expertly curated and brilliantly sequenced collection, BadBadNotGood have demonstrated that there’s still life in the compilation, and have shown the benefit of getting professionals on board to create them.

By focussing in on softer deployments of electronics and more subtle processing, and staying resolutely in an ambient soundworld, Art In The Age Of Automation does feel comparatively safe; well turned-out and nicely polished, but generally risk-free in execution.

Some songs do pack a bigger punch than others, but at a brisk 33 minutes, the album never once outstays its welcome and even throws in a few surprises along the way.

In returning to the project that best suits his sense of adventure, James Murphy has done nothing to tarnish what has gone before. American Dream is a darker, more diverse record than its predecessors and a more human one too.

The real issue with the album though, more than any other, is its length (and the inconsistency that this brings with it). Few albums ever benefit from being 17 tracks long, particularly when there are obvious candidates for exclusion. And without wanting to sound too dismissive of the aforementioned chart ambitions, it’s here that sacrifices could have been made for the benefit of a more coherent and engaging record.

However dreamy the music may be, mind, it's not all quite so heavenly. The main distraction is how overwrought it all is. This is especially prevalent in Granduciel's lyrics which he sings in whispered reverence.

Villains is the kind of album that sits at the back of class openly smoking a cigarette but still manages to ace its exams at the end of the year.

A fantastically uniformed piece, Dark Days + Canapés boasts a rare sense of unity, the aural palette bringing together hugely disparate elements to conjure something of real impact.

While Beast Epic doesn’t quite match the strength of those records, it still remains his most pleasing work since 2007’s ‘The Shepherd’s Dog’.

Rainbow is a muddled hotch-potch that offers little beyond the fact it heralds her return. It's great to have Kesha back--it really is--but let's hope the quality improves in future.