The herbally-enhanced sound he creates is blissfully minimal and knowingly sultry, Galcher Lustwerk's enervated baritone amplifying the somnolent mood. [Jan 2020, p.91]

Definitely one of 2016's better achievements. [Jan 2017, p.99]

It's not perfect--you want it to shift up a gear occasionally, or to try different approaches, but the songs are all stuffed with daffy musicality and charm. [Apr 2007, p.102]

Full of regret, hard-won wisdom and DIY pop artistry, No Need To Be Downhearted transcends bog-standard indie to build a world of sophisticated melody and ingenious arrangements. [May 2007, p.112]

That play of sonic summer and spiritual winter shades this. [Mar 2008, p.102]

Chance-taking, richly rewarding. [Apr 2019, p.89]

An exhilarating step beyond [the 2005 and 2007] albums' late-'60s foundations. [Feb 2015, p.93]

Many of these 25 short pieces are rich in layered melody and texture, and full of primary coloured sonics. [May 2018, p.94]

That Lucky Old Sun is easily Brian Wilson's most consistently enjoyable, moving solo albums; indeed you have to go back to "Surf's Up" itrself to hear a Beach Boys long-player as good. [Spe 2008, p.99]

It's not easy listening, but profoundly engaging and redemptive. [Aug 2021, p.80]

The musicianship's great, Lloyd Maines' production's gorgeous and there's a slew of highlights. [Aug 2021, p.87]

[A] very fine third album. [Mar 2012, p.98]

A hell of a production. [Apr 2013, p.87]

This is a record that more frequently speaks and embodies the language of connection, of entwining and union, the clash between hard-edged politics and the beautiful fractals of their music less stringently juxtaposed than in earlier work. [Jul 2025, p.76]

Country-soul songs full of warmth and comfort. [Jun 2018, p.97]

The whole thing carves out and inhabits a persuasively exotic world of echo that invites total immersion. [May 2015, p.97]

Classic songwriting creatively re-imagined in pulsating, droning, rackety new environs. [Apr 2024, p.89]

A beautiful slice of contemporary singer-songwriter craft that gently nods to their love of Sandy Denny. [May 2018. p.98]

The trio return with 12 mesmeric tracks that are a love letter to their native south Manchester and its iconic brutalist architecture. [Aug 2025, p.85]

Anima is his third solo album, outside of soundtracks, and it's his richest. [Sep 2019, p.87]

How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful is more lyrically direct and honest, even if the lure of The Big Music remains strong for Welch. [Jul 2015, p.87]

The use of computers and electronic SFX here emphasises their dark, distorting, disturbing qualities...

Genre-hopping in style with one-woman band Merrill Garbus. [July 2011, p. 114]

Performance is White Denim's most produced album, thickly textured with brass, keyboards and studio atmospheres. Play it loud, though, and you easily imagine the euphoria at the bar after every track. [Sep 2018, p.84]

The sound of Beans returning to the hip hop that hatched him, remaking it in his image. [Dec 2004, p.100]

Never one to be soul-bearing or crass, Corgan pulls off his "Songer" task with enigmatic, starlit aplomb. [Dec 2017, p.86]

Nada Surf have always been close to greatness, and Moon Mirror won’t win new fans, but it is wonderful. [Oct 2024, p.82]

The sprawl of her vision is impressive; the mystic excellence of its execution suggests she should make a habit of such recordings. [Sep 2020, p.88]