After a debut that spent much of its time slinking like crawlers out in the shadows, it’s intriguing--if slightly disconcerting--to see Purity Ring in a warmer light.

Atari Teenage Riot have made this their most accessible album yet.

Through exhibiting effortlessly strong songwriting with infectious hooks and warm, albeit slightly corny lyricism, the other slacker from Canada has matured into an amorous connoisseur of alternative pop.

There’s little doubt that she’s not finished yet--We Slept At Last gives hints of an artist who could go on for decades, so long as she continues to transport everyday souls into different worlds.

What seems to work best--in the fact that it stands out from other pop-punk solo artists--is the more hypnotic, vintage cuts.

Far from snug or welcoming, the Gang’s overpoweringly thick-sounding ninth album is as refreshingly abstract as anything they’ve done before.

Despite the luxurious, audible excess, Dying is a masterclass of refrain.

It would be difficult for any band to return with new music after 35 years of absence but with Citizen Zombie the always challenging Pop Group have succeeded in returning with something vibrant, urgent and necessary.

The result is a rocket-fuelled silver screen roller coaster.

Dutch Uncles’ most direct and user-friendly album yet.

While each track is meticulously crafted, you can’t help but feel a sense of familiarity and perhaps repetition settle in the last half of the album.

Their newest full-length isn’t by any means leaps and bounds from what they’ve done before, but when they’ve got their brand of metallic pop so well-honed, why would we hope for anything else?

While ‘Take it to the Max’ sounds like Battles and Gold Panda had, well... a battle. These elements only enhance rather than inhibit, proving Deacon’s ability to find the best ingredients for his eclectic recipe.

If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late is by far Drake’s most dense and complex album.

Aalthough Great Big Flamingo Burning Moon is perhaps done little favours by its February release date; woozy summer drives are when it’ll really find its feet.

Like punk Doogie Howsers, MOURN use intellect and talent beyond their years to muscle their way in amongst the grown-ups and blow them all out of the water.

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

Given time to develop and augment their tribal leanings, Ibeyi could and likely will prosper--but in current form it feels a little to offer a half-hearted hand on something more sacred.

Transfixiation, named appropriately, demands a trance-like attention across its duration, but very little sticks once the ride is over.

‘Leaf Off/The Cave’ and ‘What Will’ are the strongest of the 10 new strands to this web, yet it is hard to assign priorities to what is a consistently good album.

For all its instant appeal, this is for the most part an album that eschews pop convention. After years of being synonymous with the prefix ‘ft.’ Charli XCX has found her voice.

The Idlewild comeback may not see them scale the heights of their previous output, but this album is certainly a heart-warming success.

On Scatter, Crushed Beaks find their a solid centre, as well as a gift for urgent, spangly melody.

There are moments on Coming Up For Air that lay claim to a genuine force, the kind who’ve earned their Chris Martin-endorsed stripes. They’re yet to truly claim their own territory, though, and any attempts to reinvent the wheel fall flat with an almighty thud

Despite the evident WTF factor, this remains a record chock-full of invention, a pursuit of the new and--most importantly--gigantic songs.

The Districts end up finding an in-between, where emotional songwriting becomes the selling point, without being overdone.

Still, for all his determination to thumb his nose at convention, I Love You, Honeybear finds Tillman falling face first into perhaps the most expected of musical tropes: the “mature” sophomore release.

Aspects of the record come off slightly muddled.