The most fun comes, unsurprisingly, on the funkier first side. [Jul 2018, p.93]

The result is the Foos' finest since There Is Nothing Left To Lose. [Aug 2023, p.82]

While Linkous’s tendencies to smudge and collapse his songs are apparent – not least the atmospheric disturbance of antique hymn O Child – so too is his generosity of songwriting spirit, positioning the bleakest sentiments in dynamic, questioning music.

Emotionally speaking, however, Merritt has recreated an inner life that sound agonisingly real. [Apr 2017, p.94]

It's a subtly sophisticated piece, but it also creates space for Sanders to showcase his tender, measured, lyrical phrasing, abstracted scatting and, 34 minutes into this 46-minute marvel a brief sputtering blast of free saxophone energy that proves, at 80, his fire remains potent. [May 2021, p.87]

It sets the same intense listening pace as XTC, Jim O'Rourke or second-act Black Country, New Road. Amid the coiled violence (In The Blink Of An Eye) and brutalist romance (One Night) lie moments of pastoral loveliness. [May 2026, p.86]

A series of near-overwhelming musical epiphanies. [Jul 2018, p.94]

With Halycon Digest, Deerhunter are dealing in an altogether different kind of tension. [Oct. 2010, p. 90]

Witty, touching, adored by everyone from Bjork to to Jon Snow; the wait is over. [Oct 2011, p.100]

There are some beauties here. [Aug 2015, p.91]

Up close and uncompromising, Exodus Of Venus elevates Cook into the top echelon of Nashville's new breed, an all-too-rare female voice among a a largely make elite. [Oct 2016, p.95]

Laveaux may have set out to rediscover Caribbean roots, but she also underlines how much the islands influenced the early rock'n'roll and soul that emanated from New Orleans ... but with the modernist sheen of France's A.L.B.E.R.T production team. [Apr 2018, p.94]

The result is brooding, often humorous musing on life, joy, occasionally death. ... But it's tender love song Mary, with its meandering sax, that stops you. [Feb 2023, p.92]

The stylistic shifts and sheer quality of the songwriting make Fever Longing Still almost the perfect Paul Kelly album. [Dec 2024, p.93]

Tuneful ’60s folk-rockers Lucky #8 and Mary Miracle raise the tempo while closer Fractal Canyon is a joyful epiphany of redemption. [Feb 2025, p.84]

Futire-proof and intense, this is art-jazz-rock at its most cathartic. [Nov 2025, p.86]

Celebrates the little people with full powerpop majesty. [Jul 2003, p.108]

It's remarkable how organic and right (as opposed to gimmicky) the church voices sound on these 14 melodic folk, spare soul and various-tempo blues songs. [Apr 2006, p.98]

Only on the title track's cavernous '80s-era bass synths does Jaar come close to being conventional. [Apr 2011, p.105]

The inventiveness on display is undeniably impressive, but the process sometimes hides a little too much of the artist behind it. [Nov 2022, p.86]

It's all propelled by an energy exclusive to debut albums, the five-piece pulsing with post-punk fervour. [May 2019, p.89]

Inescapably, Losing My Edge is the best thing here, yet happily Murphy has more than one trick up his stylish sleeve. [Feb 2005, p.101]

An album that ranks among his finest work, not just for its strident messages of hope, but also for simply possessing such a high quotient of unimpeachable songs. [Jun 2017, p.84]

This is groundling rock at its finest. [Dec 2017, p.103]

If nothing else, this yearning, realpolitik-infused road movie of an album is one to point to the next time somebody pronounces there are no decent protest songs any more. [Mar 2017, p.92]

Some of the vocal processing, though pushed to the extreme, will be a little familiar to Bon Iver fans/sceptics. Persevere, though, and yet more classic Low songs emerge from the post-apocalyptic murk. [Oct 2018, p.87]

Diverse yet cohesive. [Jan 2016, p.96]

William Bell has forgotten nothing, it seems, least of all how to make wonderful, eternal soul music. [Aug 2016, p.88]