This is a collection of elegantly assembled, fat-free pop songs, made from light and air and heart, and great choruses.

Perhaps Nightmare Ending would have been a more interesting record if Cooper had let himself off the leash rather more and explored ‘flawed’ ideas and sounds more purposefully.

Although this is hardly cause for concern, one minor problem with Lesser Evil is that it doesn’t sound quite as fun--in the sell-your-house; buy-sandals; join-the-circus sense--as one expects Doldrums are fully capable of sounding.

Nothing unduly groundbreaking here, yet at the same time always brutally refreshing.

If Other Life isn’t so squarely on the money as Flamingo, it’s not immediately obvious why. Here the melodic riches found on that record are neatly converted to a cute, low-budget soul currency.

Images Rolling is a definite step up in consistency compared to his debut, and will be well-suited as a soundtrack to the famous Manchester sunshine, whenever it remembers to make an appearance.

If the easily distracted are at risk of sleeping through this, fans of emotional tours de force will have a great new addition to their 'best albums of the year' list.

In a genre stacked with pathological mediocrity, Jackleg Devotional to the Heart is a relatively sure-footed success--at worst enjoyable fluff, at best a provocative, quietly electrifying treasure.

Only time will tell whether CSFLY turns out to be as seminal as Crooks and Lovers, but that isn’t important. What is important is that it’s an accomplished, interesting and thoroughly enjoyable body of work that will be played again and again and again, on the radio, at festivals and in bedrooms the world over.

Yes, sometimes it sounds like a circus rave in a toybox, and it's not what you would call relaxing. But it's uplifting, triumphant and inquisitive.

Legacy collects about a decade of Boo recordings under one roof, although there’s no obvious arc of progression here--he’s consistently out on a limb, and with very few exceptions (‘There U Go Boi’, ultra-pitched-up and relatively linear ghetto house), this could only have come from his brain.

Tender but bold and with an array of melodies that strike straight at the heart, it has all the ingredients of a classic Swedish pop album.

There’s definitely still some fine moments in what follows ["Little Love Caster" and "Devil's Resting Place"]--there’s certainly plenty more of everything in a record that stretches towards the hour mark-- but it never quite reaches those early heights again, which are possibly as high as Marling has reached in her career thus far.

While this isn't Wild Nothing stalling, Empty Estate never coalesces into anything as confident as his previous releases, leaving the impression that for now he's running on the spot.

Like horror films or ghost stories, the upside of ADULT.’s brand of dark paranoia is its visceral thrill; it’s as nasty as electro can get whilst maintaining a remnant of a reassuring pop edge.

There’s everything here that those in the know have come to love and expect from The Veils, but there’s also a window in for the rest of you--especially those not-quite goth, dreamer-types lurking over there, I see you with your Low lyric tattoo and Yeah Yeah Yeahs t-shirt.

A disappointingly tepid affair.

After the sometimes frustrating, frequently exhilarating journey, the thrilling, head-shattering, Captain Eugene Cernan-sampling 'Contact', manned by DJ Falcon, simply soars.

Hummingbird feels wiser, grander, and more knowing.

From a listening perspective Drifters is an engaging, and often intriguing concoction. Slightly less appetising is the drawn out and mostly instrumental ambience of Love is the Devil.

The real problem with Limits of Desire is that it’s a decent album that’s difficult to sell.

On the whole, it matches Smith’s cheerier mood. A couple of abstract jam splodges aside, the album is punchier and less dirgy than last time.

Unfortunately, despite his illustrious CV and unconventional route to the release of his first album, it proves to be a competent, but disappointingly conventional affair.

If emotional depth is what you’re after, these eight tracks are never likely to be your bag. But, if you can take Bigfoot for the sun-blushed, sweet-natured collection of songs that it is, then this could be the soundtrack to your summer.

For now though, as an album, as a piece of art, it’s beautifully painted but the colour palette needs to expand substantially.

There is nothing here that is particularly new, but when it comes to the many, many contemporary bands who take their influence--either musically or aesthetically--from the eighties, Wampire are at the top of the pile.

For all its glitz and shine, Dungeonesse feels slightly disingenuous--a rather contrived leap onto the 'summer of disco' bandwagon.

Although a quiet album, it’s not one that ever seems to tire, always remaining interesting.