A Broke Moon Rises sheds a gentle but persistent light in the darkness. [Sep 2018, p.86]

Their contrasting flows clip together surprisingly well. [Jan 2021, p.88]

All Roads Lead Home holds together surprisingly well. [May 2023, p.86]

Its breezy charm belies clever compositions and the odd jagged stylistic shift, but at 58 minutes feels overlong. [Nov 2018, p.96]

Everything Is Recorded has its sublime moments, but despite a pervasive post-tricky hip-hop nocturnalism and some loopy-interlude glue sprinkled through, it's just too disparate to cohere into a compelling whole. [Mar 2018, p.92]

Of the 12 heat-seeking tunes, Daughters sounds the best bets. [Mar 2016, p.100]

Given the backdrop to Joan Wasser's second album was her mother's passing to cancer, it's unsurprising that To Survive also packs a soporific sadness that can be draining despite our hostess's artistry. [July 2008, p.110]

Barman was keep that Keep You Close had a warmer sound than the "very loud, in your face" approach of its predecessor... while we can just about give him the benefit if the doubt, it's not quite that straightforward. [Nov 2011, p.98]

Haze's impetuosity may've harmed Dirty Gold's commercial prospects, but the purity of her intent speaks volumes. [Mar 2014, p.94]

This brisk, well-crafted follow-up maintains the feeling if a pop band masquerading as something harder. [Mar 2012, p.102]

The record's familarity is nourishing rather than revelatory. [Jun 2009, p.99]

She gets into her stride with French electronic maestro Martin Solveig. [May 2012, p.84]

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]

Some ace stuff aboard here.... But you do long for MES to turn up with a sheaf of structured writing, as per Hex Enduction, rather than a sozzled brainful of scattered grievances and in-jokes. [Jul 2013, p.86]

An immersive trip, if not one to take that often. Smith, though, is in her element. [Oct 2020, p.89]

Powerful to the point of brutality, but affecting. [Oct 2017, p.98]

A supercharged, hook-heavy pop-metal attack that impresses but rarely convinces. [Oct 2017, p.98]

Their refusal to accept stylistic boundaries when playing songs works well here. But balancing structure and freedom can be like trying to square the circle, and when you record quickly to preserve spontaneity, not everything will be successful. [Aug 2013, p.91]

The synths are always used imaginately, forming an intricately shifting mosaic structure on Sheen. [Aug 2014, p.91]

A little loosening up might help those serotonin levels. [Jul 2014, p.96]

A rare sustained tension between sex and spirituality bristles throughout. [Jan 2021, p.88]

A third of these songs can rightly be claimed as classic Placebo pop. [Apr 2006, p.106]

The first half of the album is techno-pop, finely balancing euphoria and heartache. .... The subsequent ballads' more fragile. [May 2022, p.89]

Much like Dirty Projectors, it takes an adventurous soul to absorb much of this. [Mar 2019, p.93]

A familiar narrative, perhaps, but rendered with uniquely mordant wit. [Apr 2017, p.91]

Colour Theory showcases a more lavish, studio-based approach. [Apr 2016, p.87]

His retro-pop stylings are just as keenly observed and affable. [May 2025, p.93]

Ghostly lullabies from the Birmingham, Alabama two. [Jan. 2011, p. 105]