A little bit cocky at times, sure, but with the tightness to back it up, Night People feels like the band’s most natural and accomplished step so far.

While intriguing and often beautiful, it’s also a little frustrating. There’s a sense that this is only half a story, half a tale told.

Throughout this 21-track pop odyssey, Lauv shows just why he’s considered one of the finest pop writers around.

‘The Streets Where I Belong’ appears to aim for ‘80s FM radio nostalgia, while the title track hints at cod reggae, ‘Forever ‘92’ borrows a smidgen of shoegazey guitars and ‘The Bomb’ a touch of trip hop. But with a lack of immediacy, paper-thin production and no discernible hooks throughout, for anyone still humming ‘Chewing Gum’ or ‘Heartbeat’, it’s a disappointment.

Javelin's sense of ambition is certainly commendable, and despite its shortcomings, Hi Beams still provides some examples of dizzyingly odd pop.

After a difficult few years, Snowdonia proves that a steady hand and a playful surf-rock riff has seen Surfer Blood through the darkness and out the other side.

It means that AOKOHIO never quite feels as cohesive as Wolf apparently intended it to be, so it’s a good job that the album’s emotional themes do such a good job of providing a throughline and backbone instead.

It's nice, if a little lightweight.

Musically it's very much as you were, country-tinged alt-rock, a little punkier in places, a little less scared of making a racket.

The fearful funk of inc. isn't just summarised as another outlet for meditative reflection--every song on this record showcases unbeatable quirk-pop perfection.

It’s hard to tell if the first half of Miracle Mile is really better than the first, or whether it’s just that a kind of boredom sets in at some point during a listen, whether it’s your first or your fifth.

After a decade of dividing between his priorities, this is Dallas finally taking the step out on his own. And it suits him extremely well.

Where Asher Roth left house-party hip hop (or just got a little high and wandered off) Chiddy Bang pick it up but bring a whole new focus, a pop-sensibility and a very nuanced delivery.

Hot Motion’s only pitfall comes from frankly how safe it feels. Sure, it’s bigger and brighter than anything Temples have done before, but its whole aesthetic is still nestled deep in their sepia-tinted comfort zone. ... Nevertheless, it’s a solid statement that Temples are alive and kicking, drawing fresh inspo from the past without fading into it themselves.

Two average tracks out of nine starts to feel like too many and leaves you doubting whether the rest was quite as good as you thought.

Methyl Ethel have reached great new heights with this stellar effort.

Let It Reign’s abrasiveness does little to deflect from its disappointing lack of ambition.

They're drifting between The Killers and Two Door Cinema Club in a sea of meaningless tunes with no depth whatsoever.

'Out Of The Black' represents that failure [to push their sound forward].

There is a real sense of Smith genuinely expressing himself through the number of strutting guitar solos and melodic flourishes

In short, if you're a Dashboard Confessional fan then you'll find plenty to enjoy here. Full-blown pretty-boy emotion dished out by a musician as adept at pulling the heart strings with big, simple feelings as anyone you might care to name.

Darlings is warm and expansive and sexy, and feels like a more intimate affair than his debut, 2007’s ‘Spirit If...’.

Perfectly pop yet delicately dark, Spector really have redefined themselves.

Haunting, intoxicating and crystal clear, the record is both sad it’s over and excited that things haven’t even begun.

This is a record made for the cavernous expanse of Brixton Academy, fancy light show in tow, chant-a-long choruses guaranteed.

Lemon Memory shows a band unencumbered by the constraints of genre or even their own musical history.

It’s a bit like listening to someone attempting to fit a round peg into a square hole. But while he might have occasionally bitten off a little more than he can chew, there’s still undeniably some moments with serious bite here.

As a lyrical and moral experiment it’s touching and does what it sets out to; as an auditory experience... not so much.