Dark, minatory rhythms underpin stark lyrics telling of hard times in the north of Mali. [May 2015, p.95]

It's a huge step forward on their earlier recordings. [May 2015, p.95]

A polished affair, it cannot but fail to eschew their naive early '80s glory. [May 2015, p.100]

Quietly thrilling pop noir. [May 2015, p.100]

Polished and platitude-laden but hugely effective. [May 2015, p.100]

Mostly it rocks. [May 2015, p.99]

There's a sense in almost all the songs of open roads, either beckoning or closed in, or both. [May 2015, p.99]

There was much brooding menace and acoustic industrial, and things have not developed significantly. [May 2015, p.99]

Even if purists find the whole baroque confection too much, they will have to admit there's never been a record quite like this. [May 2015, p.99]

If the album has a fault, it's in sequencing, with some of stronger moments low in the pecking order. [May 2015, p.99]

A record, which, though obviously heartfelt, never sounds unified. [May 2015, p.98]

Hinterland feels less like the spirit of the dance floor and much more like the crush of a weaponed march. [May 2015, p.98]

An album whose wider appeal reaches for powerpop nirvana. [May 2015, p.98]

The razor-wire riffs some of their best. [May 2015, p.98]

Hallelujah, melodies and lyrics are not just sensitive but sharp and witty, glittering with a dazzle reminiscent of Britpop at its deftest. [May 2015, p.96]

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

Sauna becomes a transitional journey of self-surrender, Elverum's soft-sung imagist perceptions slowly reaching toward a quiet, meditative transcendence. [May 2015, p.96]

Witty, tender pieces to charm even those for who wrestling means Shirley Crabtree. [May 2015, p.100]

Edge Of The Sun offers no real surprises, but it is perhaps their poppiest set yet. [May 2015, p.99]

Living Fields is no instant hit, but the twilight world you're eventually drawn into is difficult to leave. [May 2015, p.98]

If nothing here quite reaches the hook-laden heights of Outdoor Miner or Kidney Bingos, there are plenty of sunlit avant-pop uplands. [May 2015, p.97]

It's Bronxie's heart, soul and natural world-inspired epiphanies that charm most. [May 2015, p.96]

Tripp is a complicated, slow-burning wonder that matches Cerulean Salt for fuzzy, bed-headed zingers but adds several layers of regret and self doubt and is all the more rewarding for that. [May 2015, p.95]

They lurch between plaid-smothered unresolved chords and frontwoman Sadie Dupuis's verbose story-telling, delivered deadpan a la early Liz Phair. [May 2015, p.95]

Here technology is merely a vessel for a sound that remains pastoral and beguiling. Truly, a class act. [May 2015, p.95]

Their second outing makes no effort to remap their coordinates: they remain riffy, distorted, full of nocturnal energy, possessed of rollicking good tunes, but also open up a more expansive goth-rock strain on indie-radio cuts. [May 2015, p.94]

The fourth LP is blisteringly confident as the band evolves toward maturity. [May 2015, p.94]

Amid the jagged funk-offs, a synthesized steel band and the odd keyboard etude colour a strong debut. [May 2015, p.94]