This is a formidable leap forward. [Dec 2012, p.90]

The gleeful exuberance of Hey Venus! finds the band refreshed.... If Hey Venus! lacks anything, it's the thumping-heart centerpiece that made SFA's early records so special. [Sep 2007, p.108]

He has an honesty, knows how to caress a good song, and phrases knowingly. [Apr 2016, p.89]

The Evangelist is tinged with the voyeur's illicit thrill a Forster spies on his neighbours and loved ones, but these are slso some of the most direct songs he's written. [June 2008, p.114]

Kykeon is an album of simple instrumental guitar rites that, through repetition, drone and variations of melodic line achieve a particular kind of ecstatic cyclic euphoria. [Feb 2015, p.88]

You can fully imagine The Leisure Society penning another hart-rendering minor classic sooner or later. But for the moment, the waiting must go on. [May 2013, p.88]

The Brit School girl undergoes a successful soul-pop makeover. [Feb. 2011, p. 108]

There's more meaty and time-honored blues extractions on the title track and the four-square Zeppelinism of Black Coffee, but somehow, particularly on Fade Out's balladic angular grind, these journeymen lack the emotional oomph to tear your heart out, or, indeed, shake your money maker. [Jul 2016, p.96]

Their third album keeps an open mind. [Nov 2017, p.97]

Though Blue Water is sunk by its stilted piano arpeggios, Lady, the record's other piano ballad, has real substance. [Nov 2014, p.100]

Swaying choruses and gutsy musicianship.... there's life after the circus has left town. [Mar 2014, p.93]

It's all muted lust and seductive Scandi sophistication. [Sep 2015, p.92]

It sags a little mid-show, during the numerous elongated versions of 45:33, but epic, celebratory readings of Losing My Edge and Yeah (Crass Version) are not to be missed. [Jul 2014, p.90]

For every shallow, Banks stirs up a hidden depth. [Nov 2016, p.90]

Comes with the smart lightness of touch that's the Vampire Weekend birthright. [Mar 2021, p.89]

A solid if not spectacular, step forward for a band unfathomably more popular in the Uk than their homeland. [Jul 2010, p.92]

Fire It Up is a slow burner. [May 2021, p.80]

For once, such a retrogressive and deconstructive approach is strangely thrilling. [May 2009, p.104]

With the group of temporary hiatus, Ounsworth spreads his wings here, delivering a solo set that combines his gift for melody with more adventurous instrumentation and stylistic detours, waltzing between deft piano balladry (Holy, Holy, Holy Moses), high-drama orchestral-pop (That Is Not My Home), and lilting, horn-bolstered calypsos (South Philadelphia Drug Days) with grace, confidence and wit. [Jan 2010, p. 90]

A titular palindrome for New Yorkers' covers CD. [June 2010, p. 96]

On their latest LP, the group's influences -- the thrift store soul of early E Street Band, late period Clash, and the besotted rock of The Replacements -- are still worn on their sleeves. [July 2010]

Love Frequency feels overly polished and not entirely convincing. [Jul 2014, p.91]

Gong carry on with positive absurdist elevation via psychedelic jazz rock. [Oct 2016, p.100]

The best thing he's done since [Hard Road to Travel]. [Jul 2012, p.88]

A slightly muted, at times infuriatingly uneven, but ultimately rewarding collection. [Apr 2005, p.89]

It's sweet and vivid, but also a bit messy. [Dec 2005, p.116]

At ease with the mellower cuts... the more aggressive Learnign The Lie and the stop-start instrumental Heji feel more contrived. [Oct 2006, p.112]

[Tallies] inject sufficient Sunday/Cocteaus-ish vocal and melodic bounce to soften even the most calcified indie heart. [Feb 2019, p.93]