Forth is a good, but not great Verve album, then, its glimmers of brillance all too brief. [Sep 2008, p.98]

An album of melancholy and heartbreak that's at its best when the songs fall between all-out country rock ballads and bare bones ballads. [Apr 2012, p.84]

The resulting album is, as expected, old school chest-beating man-size heavy rock. [Jul 2009, p.104]

This is a brave, bold, inevitably flawed record from the kind of talent we should be esctastically happy to have around. [Aug 2009, p.92]

There's a first-take feel, which the Horse are known for, and a whole lot of background harmonies, which they're not. [Dec 2022, p.84]

The only drawback is that 16 tracks and 55 minutes feel too long for a set of minimalist adventures. [Jun 2015, p.91]

A gloriously unviable alternative to dullard R&B/X Factorism. [Jun 2012, p.92]

A pleasant appetiser until ZZ Top bring out another main course. [Nov 2018, p.86]

Her ideas and unabashed sexual allusions, certainly, are a good deal more interesting than her inflexible retro-electro rumble. [Oct 2015, p.92]

Occasionally, the lyrics veer into fuzzy abstraction, but the music never does. [May 2021, p.82]

Less niche cartoon-rave abroad, more classic-rock and baggy/disco. [Jun 2017, p.86]

Juliette Lewis's third shot at crossing over from award-winning actress to respected songwriter appears to br gatherng pace. [Oct 2009, p.98]

FramesPerSecond is an atmospheric introduction. [Aug 2017, p.90]

Despite the eclectic material, the slow tempos and monochrome tone gets wearing. [Sep 2017, p.94]

Sometimes their brutish irreverence works.... But Audio Bullys' vignettes of suburban lad-life can't quite equal Mike Skinner's deft way with a lyric. [Jul 2003, p.106]

The group's fourth album confirms that their default setting is a bit four-square nuts-and-bolts punk pop. [Jun 2012, p.92]

For all its neo-classical leanings, Frahm's music engages emotion as much as intellect, these sketches and fragments offering a meditative respite from a world far more chaotic than this music. [Jan 2022, p.83]

An often winning fusion of power-pop, electronics and blue-eyed soul. [Nov 2017, p.103]

It's impressive stuff, full of craft and invention, but there are moments when there could be more mellow - and a touch less pyrotechnic indie-rock Roman candle. [Sep 2024, p.91]

While perhaps not as momentous as Joni Mitchell's similarly intentioned Travelogue, the gentle, surprising pleasures throughout Simon's autumnal tinkering with his oeuvre make for a rich and nuanced listen. [Nov 2018, p.86]

While ably constructed, particularly on the wistful The Old House, these songs feel slight - a starting point from which Konschuh's own individual voice may blossom. [Oct 2024, p.84]

Spectral Lines tries to come at hurt, loss and destiny afresh, with Ritter's dexterity with universal themes often paying dividends. [Jun 2023, p.86]

With this first album, Stealing Sheep join that weird and wonderful place inhabited by Warpaint, Bat For Lashes and The Raincoats. [Oct 2012, p.94]

Some are enchanting. [Oct 2014, p.90]

Nervy, fragile set. [Feb 2018, p.99]

If you can get past the redundancy--and what a redundancy it is. [Jan 2016, p.106]

Sadly, there's little to propel them to radio ubiquity or challenge the Britrock big hitters, but then, maybe, that's the whole point. [Mar 2007, p.95]

Protest and dissent rarely sounds less strident than on Widdershins, but any resistance to the dark tide is an inherently good thing. [Mar 2018, p.96]