Acts like the Cinematic Orchestra are sometimes dismissed as background music. To Believe refutes that completely. Its gentle warmth makes the work accessible. But once you've pressed play, there is no ignoring it.

No Better Time Than Now is a mature, immersive work that carries with it an intense emotional weight--the passionate, human energy of the live drumming dovetails beautifully with the optimism and spiritual healing expressed in the melodies.

Gou has invited us into her musical world, showcasing the artists whose music she's studied to guide her into crafting her own sound. If the LP she's currently working on will sound anything like this, we will be in for a real treat.

He has picked up the promising pieces from his last release, putting together a distinctive and more ambitious sound. Jenkins' hero, Scott-Heron, would certainly be proud.

Over ten tracks and 40 minutes, Post Tropical never picks up any steam, never comes to life. Mere gorgeousness is, it turns out, not quite enough to sustain a record.

The results show the oft-dramatic vocalist crafting some of his most meditative and emotional songs to date, as the high drama is cleverly delivered through pained phrasings and gently cinematic instrumentation.

While the album's emergence is wholly indicative of frontman Joseph Mount's supposed "need to feed his children," in Metronomy Forever, the band have nonetheless blessed the world with at least a handful of tracks worthy of even the snobbiest dance floors.

Rub is fun for a few listens, but it's hard to really fall in love with.

Sincerely, Future Pollution is Timber Timbre's most confident record. The lyrics remain obtuse, but even if it's not clear that Kirk knows what he wants to say, he surely knows how he wants it to sound.

Just musical enough to swallow, and just raucous enough to rattle your bones, Girl Band's Holding Hands with Jamie represents all the harmful and healing qualities of noise. It won't be long until you're hooked.

Despite that fact that this music is now two decades old, it doesn't sound at all dated.

Like Maus's best work, Screen Memories converses primarily through its musical and instrumental affect. These songs are so clearly laboured over and full of detail that their impact as a whole, coupled with bizarre and often-obfuscated lyrics, can easily wash over a first-time listener. Spend some time immersed in their depths, though, and watch as they unravel and fill in Maus's immaculate vocal sketches.

Atonement is a monster record in an almost untouchable career.

Ballad takes Hardware's craft to new heights of sophistication and richness, establishing him as a master of melody, an exquisite popsmith, and a brilliant compositional mind.

Lily's clean and refined songwriting on Big Picture has her following in the footsteps of the similarly polished and venerable Laura Marling while sharing an emotionally intuitive sharpness and tongue-in-cheek propensity with fellow contemporaries like Lucy Dacus and Phoebe Bridgers.

It's yet another solid rock record from a reliable group who are very good at this sort of thing.

KicK iii practically dares listeners to come closer. The opener "Bruja" makes it clear from the get-go: Arca will not cater to those easily spooked out of her turbulent cyborgian utopia.

Anchored by the cinematic piano compositions of chief-songwriter Hazel Wilde--who seems to have learned vocals from the Bilinda Butcher School for Barely Audible Singing--and the ambient excursions of lead guitarist Paul Gregory, rarely has an album about England's eroding economy and cultural upheaval sounded so exquisitely triumphant.

Combining the uncontaminated brawn of 2004's The Woods with the hip indie sensibilities of their early LPs, Sleater-Kinney have finally relieved their all-encompassing crowd-pleaser with the sonically pleasing Path of Wellness.

On The Love Invention, Alison Goldfrapp shows that she's more than just the face of Goldfrapp. In fact, she might still be the face of modern UK sophisti-pop.

Wild Beasts have always been strong performers, but only when seemingly unaware; by tackling the trope of hubris-laden bro rockers, Boy King finds them becoming the butt of their own jokes, with little more than mindless dance tracks to show for it.

Nozinja Lodge maintains its novel authenticity and stands as a curiosity that is definitely worth a listen.

The Nature of Imitation is a prime example of an established artist brilliantly redefining and redeveloping their sound to the highest degree. It's also a prime album.

Color certainly announces Katie Gately as a force to be reckoned with, a true auteur with a singular--and highly listenable--vision.

Unmistakeably, each track encapsulates the old and new in Wire's musical history.

While the echoing melodica used throughout gives everything a sort of "Clint Eastwood"-y sheen, that's not necessarily a bad thing--if anything, it's evidence that Marching Church know how to create an atmosphere on par with far more experienced songwriters and performers.

Lonely Planet is a pleasing collection of well-crafted, often beautiful sketches, and while they may not always end up anywhere specific, you'll always enjoy the journey nonetheless.

Vermont make their retro intentions more than clear on their self-titled debut.