This debut is a more than pleasant listen. Here's hoping a sophomore release won't take a decade to surface.

Its upbeat synth work and swirling crescendos are not just an illusion, or a cheap trick, like many songs that make up a "Happy Songs That Are Actually Sad" playlist.

It's a tasteful and mature evolution for one of the genre's key names, and long-time fans will have no problem assimilating this well-crafted, down-tempo album into Moby's already eclectic body of work.

Much of The Lookout is subtly fraught.

Working with Portishead's Adrian Utley and adding Matt Tong (Bloc Party) on drums, Algiers have managed to create a dizzying tapestry of sounds that incorporates wavy synths, industrial fuzz and gospel choirs into a protest record that embodies the key stages of grief.

I'll Tell You What will keep listeners on their toes, as the album is both immersed in footwork but also pushes against its boundaries, frequently dropping the signature drum machines, working with droning synth, crossing vocal samples, and generally taking left turns just when you think you've got a hold on a track.

There is a timelessness to this record that's as connected to the electric jazz pioneers of the '70s as it is to today's best fusion players.

Her tranquilizing balance of wandering purity and unconvincing bravery is intimately grasped and yet confronted with anxiety and disbelief that decorates her daydream-like prose in conflicting ways.

Fans just finding Alkaline Trio, perhaps via Blink-182 fandom, will undoubtedly enjoy this album for its prevalent, socially conscious lyrics, delivered like a paintball to an already bruised arm with the band's signature passion. Longtime devotees, meanwhile, will appreciate the way Is This Thing Cursed? calls back to earlier Alkaline Trio albums, and its mix of both nostalgia and originality.

Clark promised us "sex and drugs and sadness" on MASSEDUCTION, and while that sounds like a recipe for clichéd disaster, she kept her word and managed to fashion a totally refreshing take in the process.

Spacey synths and trippy percussion give listeners a taste of her internal world; dreamy and wistful but also riddled with disruptive bouts of gentle chaos.

Repetition in lyrics throughout Basic Behaviour amplifies the anxiety and restlessness that seem to fuel the record entirely. It begins to feel like an interrogation, the need to know, the frustration and a thirst for clarity. The melodies reflect these pangs, too, as the guitars twitch or tremble, trying to make sense of it all.

Wall falls on the folky side of the Americana divide, generally, and fans of Townes Van Zandt (whom he covers here) will be well served for sure. But there're some nods to Jerry Jeff Walker, David Allen Coe and others in the shambling troubadour tradition scattered throughout the record, a rare, confident, and remarkable debut from a talented newcomer.

On A Lesson Unlearnt, the insights on love are articulated both from the position of the one being sought and the one seeking affection, offering an entry point for anyone who can identify with love's effects.

While Marked For Death felt more cathartic and Some Heavy Ocean felt more plaintive, there's no denying the emotional heft of On Dark Horses. This is another confident step forward by an artist who continues to dazzle us with new sides of herself.

Lucidity, seldom felt as strongly in the kaleidoscopic cacophony of 2018's Some Rap Songs and on the shadowy, spectral 2019 EP Feet of Clay, is at the core of SICK!

If only he'd overcome his demons, finished these fine songs and enjoyed the accolades they surely would have garnered. Justin Townes Earle fans were robbed of that deserved future, but at least we can make do with this collection of songs that bookends an exceptional career that should have gone on so much longer.

As an album, Shadow Kingdom is an alternate universe that reflects another side of Bob Dylan's craft and creative muses. It's not a funhouse mirror reflection per se, but it's definitely really fun the more you look at it.

Windy City isn't a revolutionary album, or even the most adventurous release in Krauss's deep, rich catalogue, but it's a welcome reminder that Krauss remains a song interpreter with few--if any--peers in Nashville.

Their albums just get better and increasingly fun to listen, and Blood for the Master confirms that.

Seer is certainly another step towards greatness for Golden Retriever.

This is feel-good music. On Home Wrecking Years, Canning has developed a sound that is genuine, heartfelt and liberating.

If previous King Krule efforts could be accused of sad-boy narcissism, Man Alive! shows that Marshall's gaze has never been entirely directed at his own navel. Despair is still there in his songwriting, but so is the capacity for change.

With Blue Skies, the production is crisper, the melodies are sharper, the moods hit deeper and Dehd seem ready to conquer the indie rock world — from Glasgow to Chicago, and everywhere in between.

This ain't the easy listen they've become known for, but it is a rewarding one.

From her visceral chemistry with her collaborators to their razor-sharp take on Americana and — above all — Price's deeply personal lyricism, there are plenty of elements that make That's How Rumors Get Started one of the year's strongest country releases.

While the album showcases the band's equilibrium and by now unquestioned versatility, it does mean that amidst the intended dissonance and vocal cameos, Black Thought's verses are not as prominent.

Throughout the album's 12 tracks, of Montreal manage to come off inspired, inventive, re-energized and wide-eyed on Innocence Reaches, utilizing new sounds rather than rehashing old ideas.