It seems more about Africa's love affair with US urbana, and so less endearing. [Aug 2012, p.94]

While there's a suspicion that the album format isn't their natural habitat - only the melancholic shuffle of (Vi-Vi) Vicious Games veers away from the acid template - the sinewy, skeletal intensity here has a creeping allure. [Oct 2019, p.90]

The result is an atmospheric sound, refined without losing its feisty, sometimes bitter vitality. [Sep 2014, p.98]

At its best--Northern Blues' soulful echo--a bit of Southern grit's rubbed off on the Canadian. [Nov 2015, p.96]

Embellishments frame soul-searching songs about dislocation and romantic ill-fortune--think a grittier Brendan Benson--which soon demand frequent revisits. [Dec 2019, p.86]

There's enhanced pop acumen and elemental shivers too, so maybe make that the new Lykke Li. [Jul 2015, p.89]

Songs For The General Public astonishes and delights. [Sep 2020, p.83]

Naturally, it's a disjointed exercise, but consumed at one sitting, 5EPs also makes perfect sense, showcasing how each part contributes to the whole. [Jan 2021, p.83]

Where Dizzee Rascal's deliberately diverse third album "Maths & English" found him flirting with more mainstream pop styles, this leaner, punchier fourth record comsummates that union to entirely gratisfying effect. [Oct 2009, p.96]

Songs are complemented by a close-miked acoustic production. [Nov 2012, p.96]

Mohawk finds him reaching an apotheosis. [May 2014, p.90]

A meld of punk brio and grunge licks. [Oct 2014, p.96]

His self-titled debut falls a little short, but Son Little has potential. [Dec 2015, p.89]

This is vaulting, widescreen soundscaping of the first water. [Oct 2017, p.92]

Almond has certainly never sounded better as a singer than on this, largely a collection of covers of often obscure source material. [Nov 2017, p.102]

It's his most moving writing of his career. [Jul 2021, p.83]

Their first album in eight years finds their bond as strong as ever, Burton scoring Mercer's pocket heartaches for widescreen. [Nov 2022, p.90]

A snapshot of the music driving Europe's cooler clubs. [Apr 2012, p.91]

A fifth studio album filled with hooks aplenty and gonzoid fun. [Nov 2014, p.102]

["2012 (Bury Our Heads)" is] a brief downer and nestled among a clutch of songs that demonstrate how far the band has come since their 2003 debut. [May 2011, p.107]

John Schmersal's quirky falsetto lights up this debut. [May 2014, p.96]

Eight songs that drift and haunt with layered voice and moody strings. [Jun 2018, p.97]

It feels like a reaction to the concise, clear-headed It's Blitz; wild-eyed hoopla, in that spontaneous, occasionally brilliant, occasionally patchy kind of way. [May 2013, p.90]

Whether it improves on 2010's First Four EPs compilation is debateable. But as Morris would doubtless observe, 'progress' is but a bourgeois vanity. [Jul 2012, p.85]

The evidence here is that he's maturing nicely. [Jun 2012, p.88]

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

The all-pervasive teenage sexual obsessions on his tenth album can only come across as sweaty-palmed and distasteful. A shame, because musically Pom Pom's 17 tracks are uniquely inventive. [Dec 2014, p.96]