In ‘Harry’s House’ lives a songwriter confident enough in both to start playing with convention.

On all fronts, this is a stirring return to form.

‘A Beautiful Revolution Pt. 2’ is a sweet paean to music’s mood-boosting properties, as well as it capacity to effect meaningful change.

Monomania is an easy album to become monomaniac about.

A carefully crafted and expansive release from a group of young musicians truly coming of age.

A curious collection of contrasts. Most notably, that between the protagonists’ own voices. ... That said, the duo know when to complement each other, too.

Subtle swells of synth and strings back up the album’s most emotionally intense moments, but her vocals can do the job on their own, especially on beautiful highlight ‘cradle’.

HO99O9 get it right far more frequently than not. This record remains incomparable to anything else being made right now.

WHY? have always been an acquired taste but anyone with a shred of interest in Yoni Wolf's idiosyncratic talents will find much to savour on a very impressive return.

A witty, succinct debut album.

Panda Bear’s penchant for innovation has always seemed to conflate seamlessly with his distinctive creative vision. On ‘Sinister Grift’, this takes a more accessible form, showcasing the robustness of his songwriting and ultimately cementing itself as a complete and vivid work.

Offering up another soundtrack for the disenfranchised and downtrodden, Sister Cities is a renewed example of just how powerful and poignant The Wonder Years can be.

Its lack of slickness and idiosyncrasies are where its charm lies.

Consistently, Short Movie is wonderfully unlike anything she has ever attempted before.

Slight emptiness aside, this is one of the most confident, self-assured debuts of the year--striking, exciting, and intimidating to Little Dragon fans everywhere.

The Sea & Cake could have been in danger of becoming an indie-band-by-numbers, but 'Runner' is performed with all the vigour and aplomb of fresh-faced youngsters and executed with the deftness of touch of grizzled old hands.

Expect to cry - then get fired up.

Beneath the familiarity, Tame’s fourth is operating in a subtly different world. Where ‘Currents’ doffed its cap heavily to R&B within its pop smarts, creating his most commercial work yet, ‘The Slow Rush’’s ingredients feel slightly more disparate.

For all the twists and turns that Rolo Tomassi have made, this is their first album that can reasonably be described as being, first and foremost, riotously good fun.

‘Juniper’ is an album that reflects growth, is a testament to Joy’s inner strength, and one which places her lyrical prowess centre stage.

She’s created a world of her own, and on this latest record she sinks deep into its clutches.

An album that is brimming with curiosity and exploration – an album on which, from the off, Nilüfer strives to make an excavation of the core of who she is. More expansive and undiluted than its predecessors, she seems to find room to explore both sonically and lyrically.

There is no reinvention of the wheel here from Tigers Jaw, but when they do heart-on-sleeve emo this convincingly, that doesn’t matter.

Its second half is abrasive to the extreme, but by this point the hypnotic album’s already worked its charm. If Blunt is ever to settle into a routine, this should be his blueprint.

In short, the Canadian four-piece’s third LP is a terrific fusion of indie, new-wave and house that demands attention.

If the songwriting on Hitch is, to coin an old music hack turn-of-phrase, ‘mature’, it’s also concise--in a good way.

“How many years are we gonna last?”, she asks on standout ‘Stop Me Now’, over glitchy guitars and drums that suggest the breakdown of a machine: a pleasing synchronicity between form and content.

While some might mourn the loss of their one-time raucousness, ‘Gigi’s Recovery’ shows that their momentum swings only forwards.