From start to finish, Nobody Lives Here Anymore is a seamless expression of nostalgia, love and hope for brighter days to come.

She is loud and thoughtful. The melodies are flirty and messy. Fake It Flowers is an album made to play with guts and grit. At such a young age, Kristi knows herself extremely well, yet is mindful enough to give up only so much of herself to this strong collection of songs.

it's also about how those feelings of weariness and romantic ambivalence can so quickly knot up with ones of jealousy and longing. There is, of course, no resolution in sight by album's end. But it's in these in-between-spaces where Deland thrives. It's a gestational document, thrilling to witness.

For a solo debut, Serpentine Prison seems like a natural first step and a safe bet for both the artist's individual ambitions and the comfort of existing fans.

Sundowner's glow begins to fade in the album's latter half. The final two tracks, the instrumental "Velvet Highway" and "Provisions," are pleasant enough, but taper the album off on a muted note. It's a minimalist ending showing that less isn't always more.

Sad Hunk captures the band's lively chemistry, proving that five albums in, Jurvanen and company are still finding ways to make "something new for all of you with some old refrain."

Stage Four was a momentous release that found ways to musically express its heart-wrenching story. Lament feels more like Touché Amoré's essential form.

Low-end synth tones throughout the album provide a melancholy aura that at times is given additional weight from Halstead's dreamy, wistful notes. But together, it all paints an exquisite picture; dramatic worlds that in themselves can evoke vast seas of emotion. Like the sum of life moments, memories or feelings encapsulated in songs, every element with its own purpose.

For those not moved by this more unhinged side of the band, MYBH may prove disappointing. ... Still, MYBH makes the case that the field recording that plays out album closer "Laughter and Silence" is now as integral a part of the Sumac sound as any other. If you're willing to consider a musical choice like that to be just as "heavy" as a lurching dirge or a colossal chug, then May You Be Held will prove a rewarding and expansive listen.

While Savage Mode II is by no means a lacklustre album, it may not be the exact product their fans hoped for.

METZ are an animal that's evolved to its benefit, with an appetite that's more refined and teeth that are still razor sharp.

Future Islands' landscapes of sound are more intricately detailed here than they have been before. Their poetic angst has matured into something more subdued and dripping with acceptance. As Long as You Are feels, in a way, like the band coming home to itself.

As intriguing as Strange's music already is, Live Forever demonstrates that there's still tremendous potential left to unlock.

Midnight Manor is a chooglin' good time. The album holds true to that classic Nude Party sound; there's a direct sense of growth in its tone, without losing that flavor of personality that makes the Nude Party the characters that they are.

Yves Jarvis has brought his insides out on a spellbinding album that's equally puzzling and gratifying.

There's nothing super memorable about this record, nor is there anything horribly offensive about it either. Ultimately, ACR Loco doesn't match A Certain Ratio's past glories, but it doesn't erase their legacy either.

On By the Fire opener "Hashish," Moore and his trio wholesale borrow the intro, main riff and melody from Sonic Youth's 1998 single "Sunday," while the most poppy and compact track on the LP, "Cantaloupe", freely cops the guitar rhythm of SY's 1992 classic "Sugar Kane." But once Moore becomes tired of repurposing old riffs, noise breakdowns, and tunings, he reverts to simply repeating intros and harmonies across the album's nine tracks and 80 minutes, melding together elements from the sluggish "Calligraphy" and the guileless "Dreamers Work."

Some of album's more pedestrian elements slide by — bouncy, sing-song verses that Pitts can obviously write in his sleep and which come off as a bit insubstantial sometimes, the whole thing threatening to blow away with the faintest breeze. Carefree Theatre is certainly pleasant enough to get swept up in however, and a good capstone to a decade's work.

Shore finds them exploring vaster range than before. No longer do they sound burdened by the need to commit to a particular mood; Pecknold sounds freer than ever to be himself.

This record is just as unique and innovative as each album before it. It's truly and honestly a breath of fresh air, it's just once again under the helm of the producer who fleshed out their unmistakable and haunting sound in the first place.

From the prog-rock storm cloud of "Back to Rock," to the metallic disco stomp of "Worst Comes to Worst" and "C'est parce que j'm'en fous" or the slate grey dissonance of "Lead Sister," the record is a delirious reconfiguring of '70s and '80s pop textures.

While many albums start out catchy and then become more introspective, Haunted Painting loses some of its moroseness to become more pop-ish.

Roísín Machine is among Murphy's best works, a showcase for one of dance music's most endlessly fascinating figures

Lyrically strong, thought provoking and groovy as hell, What You Gonna Do When the Grid Goes Down? shows to the world that Public Enemy still has plenty of gas left in the tank.

Generations feature a magnitude of emotions, both raw and sincere.

NO certainly caters to longtime fans, especially ones who rather be pummeled with noise instead of pulled into new realms, which may disappoint fans of their more experimental songs. But their cacophony continues to provide comfort, especially in these strange times.

His care and preservationist approach to each arrangement gives everything an authentic vibe that transports you back to a much simpler time.

The seven songs that make up The Times are stark and haunting.

Always honing and building upon their sound, Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism is an outstanding testament to Napalm Death's continued legend and evolution.

It's simultaneously a distillation of his many trademark sounds while also a massive departure from his previous works. The album demands multiple, active listens, but it's well worth the effort. Hidden beneath its complex layers lies an endless well of new modalities, critical interpretations and potent ideas. ... It's not an album we could have ever expected in 2020, but it is the one we deserve.

IDLES are at their best when they know their limits and play to their strengths.

Down to the Lowest Terms: The Soul Sessions is a triumphant return from a funk dominator.

It's all delivered with such fresh energy and so many original production ideas that it's honestly hard to gripe too much. If you've been vibing on Hannah Diamond's Cook-produced debut Reflections recently and were somewhat baffled by 7G, look no further than Apple, a bold and exciting album that boasts focus as well.

How Ill Thy World Is Ordered is a thoughtfully orchestrated masterpiece that reveals something neat and new the longer you stare at it. Lyrically, musically, and critically, Daniel Romano is a soothsaying sorcerer operating in plain sight.

Find the Sun is an uncompromising record from an artist intent on mining further depths, one that finds the beauty in unease — and a sense of purpose in the darkness.

Cantus, Descant is accessible without ever feeling thoughtless, plays to Davachi's sonic strengths, and provides just enough experimentation and variety to justify its daunting running time. It's a journey worth taking.

Even though Protean Threat proves to be an adventurous, quirky and downright strange album at times, Osees manage keep the whole thing sonically grounded and consumable, all while keeping Dwyer's winning streak impossibly alive.

Shame is not only hard to listen to, but also hard to swallow and hard to digest. It thought-provoking music which is guaranteed to make listeners feel uncomfortable in their own skin; what more could you want from a new Uniform album?

Listening to Conway's latest is hearing the sound of an underground king ascend to the status of the esteemed guest artists he attracts.

For a band that's spun fanciful yarns from the farthest reaches of time and space and the inner recesses of their own minds, this grounded perspective could be another interesting change of direction. But for now, it feels more like a retreat.

Medium Rarities isn't essential. A few tracks stand out, but the real excitement lies ahead. Mastodon's last few albums have crept up the top 10.

Whether she is quite literally questioning her own happiness in "Hannah Happiness" or dealing with the act of sharing feelings with others in "Stranger Sat by Me," Read awakens the overwhelming feeling of second-guessing choices or misremembering a specific experience.

Tricky has injected so much raw emotion into Fall to Pieces that it can't help but stand out as one of his most notable, memorable and authentic releases.

Georgas gives listeners the bittersweet beauty of recalling turning seasons and turning points on All That Emotion.

There are no head-turning licks or subtle details that take away from Callahan's ever-deepening purr. And when Callahan is at his most outlandish and personable, he's able to draw out the most emotion, made all the more powerful in spite of the album's limited sonic palette. If Callahan's finding himself increasingly unable to relate to other characters, he's using his music to forge a different path, inviting his audience to stand in his place.

Mirrored Aztec is also more tight and clean than February's Surrender Your Poppy Field – that Pollard still has this many hooks in him is mystifying.

King's Disease is a record that's occasionally swollen with too many ideas, backed up by lazy rhymes and unsavoury politics. Thankfully, with impeccable production overseen by executive producer Hit-Boy and bolstered by a slew of excellent guest features, Nas overcomes these pain points to pull together his most satisfying project in close to a decade.

Mama, You Can Bet! highlights Muldrow's encyclopedic knowledge of jazz, hip-hop, funk, R&B and soul, making for a stylistically eclectic album. The 15-song sequence, however, is eminently cohesive, each track building on or seemingly responding to the previous one.

Ulver doesn't do anything to push the synthpop sound they pursue out of its comfort zone and this keeps the album from greatness, but Flowers of Evil stands out as the band's most accessible album to date.

At 16 tracks, Dream Nails seems lengthy at first glance, but each track is punchy and goes by quickly.

The potency of Toots Hibbert's material is evidenced by the presence of his classic tune "Pressure Drop" in a current TV beer commercial. No single track on Got to Be Tough matches up to that song, but this is a solid offering from the 77-year-old.

No Joy have learned a lot in the five years since their last full-length, 2015's More Faithful and Motherhood is the perfect encapsulation of that.

Where All Mirrors pushed at the sky, Whole New Mess explores the vastness of the mind and peculiarities of the heart. It may take repeat listens to hear these roughly hewn songs as more than demos for their gilded twins, but once you've waded deep enough into the record's shifting, disintegrating twilight, it becomes something wholly new.

Owen's second album is nonetheless a triumph of soundscapes, an album not meant to analyze and decipher but to daydream, sleepwalk and stargaze through.

On In Sickness & in Flames, the Front Bottoms decided to let their stream of consciousness dictate the majority of the 12 songs on this album, it's harder to decipher what many of them even mean. It's infuriating, but that's what also why band has such a dedicated fanbase.

Girl Friday doesn't allow you to consume their music conveniently; you have to recognize the group of people who made it. They speak bluntly, demand respect, equity, and play a ton of enjoyable music.

Eva Moolchan reaches new heights in her career on Happy Birthday, but not without encountering a few bumps in the road. Even at its questionable points, though, there is something beautifully refreshing about a new Sneaks album — Moolchan is having fun, and she doesn't care what you think about it.

The Consuming Flame is Matmos at their finest. Daniel and Schmidt have taken the simplest of concepts and manipulated it into a gorgeous and grotesque beast of an album.

Throughout, D'Agostino's words are intricate and so tangled in detail that the stories are obscured; it's more like flipping through a photo album without footnotes — you're not told the story, but you feel the impression it leaves on you.

By shedding any cool pretence and steering directly into the skid of adult alternative cheese, the Killers have followed a lifetime of perfect songs and made their first truly great album.

Nothing is overdone here. Washington's saxophone grounds the entire project. His fiercest fans will miss hearing him out front, but that's entirely beside the point. No one's at the head of the table here. Instead we get a group of friends with genuine history and the kind of outsized talent we can only marvel at. Savour this.

Simply put, Bully knows how to make music for feeling young and utterly confused, sometimes hopeless, and ultimately, completely alive.

While not groundbreaking, it's a revitalizing rock record that is bound to rekindle the excitement of taking a chance on a (relatively) new band.

As short a release as it is, the tight six-track EP packs a punch. This is essential material for both country listeners and fans of Orville Peck, who, through his dedication to authenticity in aesthetics, joins the likes of Shania, Reba, Dolly, Johnny, Kenny, Merle, Hank and countless others among the genre's greats.

It's a logical continuation of 2007's slick Cassadaga (less so 2011's rock-inclined The People's Key) — but given the renaissance Oberst has enjoyed with his side-projects in recent years, it doesn't quite live up to Bright Eyes' lofty name.

A committed listen to O'Rourke's latest iteration reveals the piece to be understatedly eloquent, its movements and progressions restrained yet effective.

Despite the underwhelming musicality of Total Freedom, many of these songs still pack some undeniable emotional force, especially the more joyful tracks like "Who Rescued Who" — a charming ode from Edwards to her dog. In her songcraft, Edwards remains dependable and enjoyable.

On Bad Vacation, the emotions may be heavy, but that won't stop listeners from dancing along to them and air-guitaring in their bedrooms.

Given that the chillwave craze only lasted a year or two, this is another solid outing from an artist who has turned a flash-in-the-pan trend into a deep discography.

While Eight Gates seems mostly germinal and is not the ideal introduction to Molina's work, fans will likely forgive the album's inchoateness and simply appreciate another dollop of the artist's distinct melancholia — nine tunes that underscore his attunement to suffering, inconsequence, and the brutality of the corporeal world.

The result is that Pyramid is an imperfect and uneven album that satisfies two different audiences, as the front half is packed with wandering jam band noodling while the second half tightens into a slightly more focused and rhythmic set. It's just a shame that Jaga Jazzist wasn't able to give the listener a more cohesive and unified version of what they were trying to achieve with Pyramid.

It's a release that somehow feels like it has less to prove from a duo not quite overdue for their follow-up to a huge success.

Skullcrusher's debut points to Helen Ballentine's undeniable skills, particularly as a melodist. A bit more distancing from popular templates, however, may have served to further distinguish her work from that of her abovementioned contemporaries.

What looks like an odd couple cover album at first glance turns out to be one of the best matched and executed collaborations of which either group have been a part.

Indistinct Conversations doesn't so much pare back as it does reveal depths: Powell's putting their inner life on display, and giving it the full range of space and volume it deserves.

No Horizon pairs ecstasy with pensiveness, using experimentation, static, tension and texture to push Wye Oak's skills ever forward.

B7 is meticulous in its references to pop and R&B history, of which Brandy's own career is such an important facet.

The propulsive spark that lit their debut lingers, keeping the record from drifting off into malaise.

While Brain Candy does lose creative steam towards the back end, there's still plenty here on offer for those looking for a reprieve from the oppressive reality of day-to-day life in 2020.

With progression and reinvention a staple of Romare's work, we can only wait in anticipation for his next release

The music slides along with a relationship to various genres that is curious and sincere while not making a firm commitment to any one, and with a depth and complexity that underlies the gentle waves on the surface.

There is very little melody on The Upward Spiral; the sounds are more like drilling, sawing or machines beeping than traditional instrumentation.

Swift is still unquestionably a pop artist, and folklore is unquestionably a pop album, albeit a quiet one — and as is the case with most recent pop albums, it's about four songs too long. It's hard not to wish that Swift would apply her written concision to her tracklisting, to do away with the stream-grabbing bloat and deliver something more thoughtfully tailored. Still, it's hard to complain about too much of a good thing.

It is emotional, redemptive and leaves an indelible mark on the listener. Andrews provides a raw, honest and unflinching look in the mirror of a failed relationship and finds herself; it's a story as old as time, but somehow told more achingly beautiful here.

Lanza zooms between feelings and situations so nimbly that every time you revisit All the Time and the accompanying artwork, it's just as easy to imagine a freewheeling Lanza doing gleeful donuts in that parking lot as it is to envision her having a breakdown behind the wheel.

Lianne La Havas is boldly authentic and infused with passion.

On paper, the inclusion of saxophones, bass clarinet, flute and cello should make Ultimate Success Today expansive. In practice, the auxiliary musicians often add the sonic equivalent of extra seasoning to an already good dish; it's often unclear whether Protomartyr needs the addition.

Free I.H: This Is Not The One You've Been Waiting For is Illuminati Hotties defying the record industry while balancing purposefulness and playfulness at the same time.

As certifiable members of rock royalty, the Pretenders hit all the right notes with this latest entry to their expansive catalogue. Hynde teases at the borders of the expected, without disrupting the core formula that has contributed to the band's longevity — unwaveringly authentic as ever.

Every step is like the last, every dune made up of the same inconspicuous pebbles. Species can make for an exceptionally trance-inducing listen if you have it in you to push past the monotony.

While EG.0 holds Goulding's mainstream radio hits, it's Brightest Blue that has evolved Ellie Goulding as a songwriter. She's created two distinct spaces on this record, which allows her to continue her musical evolution while simultaneously maintaining her pop throne as pop royalty.

Both sides of the coin show all the trappings of a '90s Warp Records release, which we know has been done before, and is certainly nothing new for Avery, but damn if he doesn't do it well.

Much of this material would be hard pressed to directly sweep anything off The Waterfall in its wake, but the The Waterfall II is enjoyable closure to those who will soon turn to anticipate the next new album My Morning Jacket have on deck.

The Chicks have always had strong backbones, and Gaslighter shows that their conviction hasn't faded in their time away – if anything, they've only become more indignant, more willing to explore, more ready to speak. It's an inspiring, swift-footed return.

The Ghost Inside proves that the band are back to operating at their creative peak, with an expert synthesis of theme, composition and delivery that makes for their strongest material to date.

Massey Fucking Hall captures Japandroids in this unique (for them at least) setting at the peak of their powers.

Though their music can be playful and funny, 100 gecs are very much not a joke. 1000 gecs & the Tree of Clues makes it clear that Brady and Les know exactly what they're doing and that they've got an army of highly inventive and creative supporters standing with them.