The songs don't hit quite as hard or as immediately as that high watermark [Celebration Rock]. But there's also nothing to suggest that Japandroids couldn't have carried on, dropping albums when they had material, touring when it suited their schedules.

PRUDE's half-hour-ish run time packs plenty of punch, mixing old and new strengths well, exemplifying why Drug Church have so much staying power.

They aren't reinventing the wheel at this point in their career, but as young artists with explosive, disillusioned and wrathful emotions for the world and social conventions around them, there isn't a rock band more suited to the times.

Spiral in a Straight Line is an album that represents the logical next step for a band who have honed in on what works — not reinventing the wheel but finding subtle ways to improve on what Touché Amoré is and what they can be.

The record's weakest moments often come when Amstutz flexes her pipes. .... Still, the record has enough shimmer and verve to keep it afloat. Amstutz has made a chart-friendly pop record that never loses sight of what made its central character so compelling in the first place.

Snaith's work is meaningful, and it pushes music forward in a way that's genuinely exciting.

The songs on Cutouts feel jammy and jazzy, and while the trio are of course experts at their craft, the instrumentation tends to meander.

It's a successful album, but it's not quite a SOPHIE project. If you follow the sounds long enough, you'll eventually find her — quietly commanding the aux cord from another, better dimension somewhere in the kitchen.

Wherever he goes, it's a journey solely for himself. That we're invited occasionally to check on his progress in all its disarming, emotional breadth is simply a blessing.

Sparhawk's plastic electronics are less invasive but still serve to create a new reality, sublimating the sadness and anger to a degree where they are less raw and more manageable.

If it was offensively bad, at least it'd be camp. Instead, each track is an ADHD simulation — so understimulating you forget what it sounds like seconds after it ends.

For some listeners, these lyrics might strike as free association, but there's a coherent logic to be traced from one line to the next, and strong thematic ground to be established as Menuck makes an important connection between the privatized experiences of the domestic space and that of the globally conscious citizen.

Nearly a decade on, Jamie xx proves he still has the X factor. It was worth the wait.

If there was ever any acquiescence to the particularities of one or another mode of creation on the part of Davachi, The Head as Form'd in the Crier's Choir is a sign that that is now over, and that she's freed herself to fully embrace the impulses that have made her work so rewarding all along.

There's a sophistication to the vocal phrasing on "Call It Love" and "Made Out of Memory," a newfound confidence that alone is enough to propel My Method Actor to heights not frequently reached on past albums.

From the lonesome synth pop of 2016's Pool and 2018's The House to 2020's hyper-Auto-Tuned Ricky Music to the freewheeling indie rock of All Day Gentle Hold ! — Shirt is an intoxicating feat.

Sensual and honest, Viva Hinds feels close to the chest, with throbbing pianos, soaring synthesizers, and drum machines accompanying profound reflections on staying true to oneself in love.

There are no more ghosts in these guitar solos, and the wiry licks and riffs are as sure-footed and confident as the tightly crafted structure of each song. It's easy listening, yet fiercely complex.

The return to a more electronic-based production style is a welcome homecoming, allowing every pluck of the guitar and gentle synth stroke to speak for itself. Infinite Health is medicinal music for the soul. Santé!

Although there are outliers (particularly "Final Rescue Attempt" and "Conversion"), for the most part, the album revels in its own straightforwardness, and the band makes it sound effortless.

Though Short n' Sweet falls a few inches short of the masterful pop its singles suggested it could be, it's buoyed up by its incredibly high highs, and establishes Carpenter's identity in a pop landscape saturated with next-main-pop-girl hopefuls.

The piece has a propulsive quality, even if it isn't travelling at a danceable BPM, and at 41 minutes, it never lags. It's also very listenable, its infinite aural nuances — blips and bloops, pounds and crackles, hisses and animal sounds — offering a constant source of delight, calm and exploration.

[Producer John Congleton's] keen ear helps make POWER Tudzin's most sonically complex album, with electric and acoustic guitars, keyboards, strings, crescendos of feedback and other sounds subtly layered just beneath her bright vocals.

This is no elementary Valentine's card; it's a treacherous and wonderfully unreliable encyclopedia of romance.

Creativity is what keeps Ill Times pretty damn fun despite its darkness. While soul-meets-rock can easily slide into awkward pastiche, the synergy behind this collaboration keeps its collage of free-floating ideas tight, yet effortlessly unrestricted.

FOREVER sees Charly Bliss firmly planting roots for themselves within the pop sphere with a sense of purpose and playful, joyous intention that even well-seasoned pop bands struggle to do.

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.

Bird's Eye is tinged with her signature futuristic nostalgia, but her sonic and personal growth is clear, creating a vibrant kaleidoscope of sound and feeling.