The touchstones - Julee Cruise, Kate Bush, The Blue Nile - are more classic than experimental but the heartbreaking emotions remain utterly real. [Jun 2026, p.88]

While the song selections are unimpeachable, the execution varies massively. [May 2026, p.101]

Questionable sequencing and some strange production choices (layers of synths and suffocating syntheric strings) sometimes make Jordan sound like a guest artist o her own album. [Jun 2026, p.86]

Like Bridgers, Nagler is clearly fond of Elliott Smith's slow-release devastation - see Hammer And Nail or Another Mona Lisa - but even her most downbeat songs come with an easy, melodic shrug that keeps her on the sunnier side of the street. [Apr 2026, p.92]

Motorpsycho's commitment to their heavy cause is admirable, but even part-timers will benefit from a day trip through their universe. [May 2026, p.88]

Indigo Park finds Hornsby in a curiously reflective mood, singing about his past while touching upon many of his signature jazz-inflected idiosyncrasies. [May 2026, p.84]

Bear witness to the city's enduringly restless guitar-led, predominantly white male aesthetic - obnoxious, inventive, middle finger raised. [Mar 2026, p.95]

The track I See Red radiates synth euphoria but the Pet Shop Boys-ish Death In London and single Kingdom Undersea are more about introspection than rapture. [May 2026, p.88]

Some of the 22 tracks teeter on the edge of pure corn. [May 2026, p.86]

West's intimations of mainstream modern pop sit alongside the less direct and impressionistic. [Mar 2026, p.89]

Frisell is travelling a unique, but to old admirers, rather familiar path here. [Apr 2026, p.91]

Largely an album of blues covers that isn't terrible just, well, perfunctory. [Apr 2026, p.84]

Though overly familiar for boomers, perhaps, Wasted On Youth's sibling rivalry-fuelled irreverence will likely chime with Gen Z kids seeking their own Oasis, not mum and dad's. [Apr 2026, p.86]

Despite the numerous positions, No Lube So Rude becomes a little no-note. [Mar 2026, p.80]

The covers format doesn't facilitate too much untamed Scabies (sadly), but Brian himself poignantly appears on The Last Time. [Mar 2026, p.81]

The cumulative result begs a position beyond the band's canon, in an intriguing mini universe of its own. [Mar 2026, p.80]

The album is a great showcase for the Fontaines D.C. guitarist's production skills, which makes even occasionally inert material punchy and dynamic. [Mar 2026, p.81]

Keeps a glossy electropop trajectory, but there's a precarious tilt to the shoegazing rush of Do You Still Believe In Me? or the startling heartbroken lyrics of Dolphins. [Feb 2026, p.87]

If this is a less turbulent FWF manifestation, they're still powerful, churning perilously. [Feb 2026, p.80]

Inner Day's voyage around the edges of the avant universe might be challenging, but it can also be mesmerising. [Dec 2025, p.83]

A lovely album, but not one which lingers. [Jan 2026, p.87]

Holy Island nods to mid-period Flying Saucer Attack, Souvlaki-era Slowdive, maximum-shimmer Ride and motorik. Such influences are offset by an innate drama which inexorably draws inwards. There is, though, a potentially overwhelming backstory. [Jan 2026, p.91]

The shock of the new has evaporated, but she's subtly evolving and broadening her palette. [Dec 2025, p.78]

Describe takes time to coalesce, but even through the mists, Jadagu makes her presence felt. [Jan 2026, p.86]

Mostly it's sparse, as a lonesome album should be. [Jan 2026, p.86]

Everybody scream is both a re-statement of what made her so beguiling and a gentle step forwards. [Jan 2026, p.85]

Hooks and choruses still pour out of White Lies, but there's a lack of cohesion that stops Night Light blazing quite as it should. [Dec 2025, p.81]

It's not always easy to get emotional purchase on these songs, but the hint of something moving beneath the immaculate surfaces makes the challenge worthwhile. [Dec 2025, p.86]