An exercise in soulful, somnambulant alt-R&B with a distinctively British sound. [Jul 2015, p.91]

There's no denying the intuitive understanding Stone has of the often daunting material she tackles. [Mar 2004, p.104]

Coheres as well as anything else in their canon. [Jun 2003, p.90]

Great to hear these session giants unchained. [Oct 2025, p.83]

One Bedroom finds the group in a more forthright mood -- just shifting up a gear makes a big difference. [Feb 2003, p.90]

There's a fine story-telling country song (No One Knows Us); a dramatic rocker (Church & State) - and songs whose piano and multiple harmonies feel like church (You Without Me; Joni). But it never sounds less than gorgeous. [Dec 2025, p.78]

Moments of simple, exultant joy are plentiful. [Jun 2004, p.102]

Beguiling from the outset. [Jun 2023, p.90]

There's no difficult second album syndrome for laconi-pop crew Hooton Tennis Club. [Nov 2016, p.78]

Lightning Bolt consistently sound like no one else. [Dec 2005, p.105]

B.E.D.'s nine-tracks barely top 20 minutes, but it's terrific while it lasts. [Dec 2018, p.87]

Reflection Of Youth swoops through grandiose, visceral and skeletal arrangements (producer-engineer Nick Rayner is a revelation): Full-tilt rock on I Wanna Dance; warped folk bleeding into orchestrated glitch on Christine; steely, shivery ballad Survived. [Jan 2018, p.96]

Much of Days Are Gone packs bubblegum snare, toe-stubbing synth bass, and contemporised '80s pop trappings that evoke everything from Scritti Politti's Cupid & Psyche 85 to Laura Brannigan's Self Control. [Oct 2013, p.95]

Ultimately, Transmitter is a quiet beauty. [May 2026, p.86]

The idiosyncrasies of her voice are showcased to full effect in soul showstopper Call Me A Fool, with dramatic rasping and swooping that some might find off-putting, but which undeniably underlines her distinctive character. There's a delicacy too. [Apr 2021, p.80]

Jardin retain the EP's satisfyingly minimalist approach. [Feb 2017, p.92]

Rhythm takes Mahalia Jackson into orbit. [Dec 2014, p.98]

This remains at its essence an album of beguiling, rain-splashed intimacy. [May 2007, p.106]

In all, a fiery triumph. [Nov 2014, p.100]

The set includes seven songs left off This Note's, many now sturdier than versions previously issued. [Feb 2016, p.104]

This is beautiful music. [Feb 2013, p.91]

This baker's dozen mostly adheres to the Hardin principal: shorn arrangements, nuanced vocals, emotions on a short leash. [Feb 2013, p.96]

Following the creative upswing of 2012's Silver Age and 2014's Beauty & Ruin, this is definitive work. [Apr 2016, p.87]

The balming glow of the Sparhawks' sunray-through-clouds harmonies, their surfeit of haunting, enigmatic melodies, makes immersion in The Invisible Way's melancholia a sublime pleasure. [Apr 2013, p.96]

[Sleep] have customarily not rushed into nailing The Sciences, nor departed from their rubric of burroughsian ganja mythspinning, set to eardrum-busting, down-tuned slo-mo jams. [Jul 2018, p.88]

For all its romance, this is a record at the sharp end of mortality. [March 2011, p. 96]

It represents the singer's best work since the aforesaid "Urban Hang Suite." [Sep 2009, p.93]

As with its predecessor, 2006's Continuum, not a note, not a breadth, is wasted--and the playing, from a crack team including Pino Palladino, Steve Jordan and Ian McLagan, is unfussily superb throughout. [Jan 2010, p. 90]