Lantern is this duality between experimental and easily-grasped embodied. Unsurprisingly, it is the more left-field elements to the production that are the most intriguing.

Full marks for exploration, but in this case the simplest tricks work the best.

Much like Lorde’s ‘Pure Heroine’ before it, ‘Cheap Queen’ possesses the perfect amount of devil-may-care attitude to counter the heaviness with which it feels its emotions.

‘Aperture’ stays true to its title, Hannah adjusting her lens with ease and darting nimbly between styles. The album bridges the gap between adolescence and adulthood; Hannah Jadagu jumps high between the two and lands firmly on her feet.

With Koi No Yokan the band have not only delivered on their promises, but exceeded them so, whilst remaining one of the most engaging but remarkable heavy bands of our times.

Each soundbite from Highway Hypnosis is heavy and layered, every track an earworm.

A record of reflection and connection, it’s one that, at its best, ranks among the more beautiful-sounding you might hear this year

It’s an accomplished rock record that’s a very welcome addition to the band’s enduring history.

’History Books’ is an album that personifies The Gaslight Anthem’s magic all over again.

What begins as a deeply personal commentary eventually evolves into a world-renowned producer taking the attention away from his ability to refine others’ work, alternately placing the spotlight over his own voice, with its startling ability to carry a tale of kindred love, loss and the weight of fame.

Lady Wood isn’t an album made for radio or easy digestion. The hooks are there but, like Tove herself, they aren’t succumbing expectations.

Like Syd Barrett or, more recently, Euros Childs before him, White Fence continues to make the peripheries seem oddly accessible.

The gambles pay off, and all add up to her most accomplished group of songs to date.

As singular and engrossing as heavy albums get, its heavenly heights may well induce levitation.

On the evidence of To Pimp A Butterfly, Lamar’s work continues to place itself among the best.

I Love You Like My Brother builds all sorts of these clean bridges, and though Alex Lahey’s world springs from small images and clean sentences, it says a lot with very little.

With Sore Dilly Dally prove themselves as a hungry, relentless band ready to make a lasting mark.

Produced by acclaimed synthpoppers Hot Chip, the record creeps and sizzles with their circuit-board infusions to layer an added eeriness upon Ibibio’s Afrofuturist vision.

Sampha’s journey to now has developed a wonderfully versatile artist, and on Process he succeeds in tying these strands of his musicianship together into a record that’s concise and focused.

Despite its flaws ‘Blood Bunny’ does a great job to showcase what this bright young star has to offer.

A luscious album that sees the singer shrug off the pressures of present day virality in favour of creating something much more classic.

‘Razzmatazz’ is fun, flamboyant, and entirely of its time. A record that truly lives up to its name.

Whilst Heems’ verses amble along with wry humour and charmingly lazy wordplay (“Inshallah, mashallah, hopefully no martial law”), Riz MC’s (actor Riz Ahmed) are typified by a razor-sharp flow, as fast as it is furious, and breathlessly references the refugee crisis, Aeneas from The Iliad, Trump and his film career in short order, before throwing down that he “run[s] the city like my name’s Sadiq”.

It’s not a light listen, that’s a given, and Frye’s perplexing outlook on everything is the record’s only consistency over nine tracks. But those open-minded enough to explore Frye’s dystopian world of disgust and despair will find themselves ultimately wearing a shit-eating grin by the time it’s all over.

Lo Moon is a daring and complex debut album scored through with emotional tumult and a nuanced understanding of the groups that have inspired them.

Will SASAMI be challenging those at pop’s top table for their spots any time soon? Perhaps not, but this latest metamorphosis feels invigorating for both the genre, and the singer herself.

Jacob’s tender touch on themes of fantasy, dreams and love feels earned across ‘In Limerence’, as if repairing themself via songwriting rather than declaring experiences from a distance. This transparency, in turn, is worth its weight in gold.

It starts with a slow drip and builds to a raging flood. It’s irresistible and so eloquently convincing that despite their claims of failure, Protomartyr are unstoppable.