This is restrained music-making; a slow-release capsule of languid grooves, haunting vocals and crafted songwriting. [Sep 2015, p.93]

He likes to throw an occasional hot coal into your lap, such as The Pugilist’s angry strings, and Comfortable Love’s rock torrent, somewhat Jeff Buckley-esque. Yet the naked, tearful Alright and Good Lust cut the deepest, when time seems to stand still in the face of Keaton’s suffering.

The sisters soar even higher here. [Feb 2022, p.91]

A bewitching brew of experimental jazz, droning electronics and raw, progressive rock. [Dec 2017, p.87]

Matt Maltese's second album persists with velveteen schmaltzy AOR; like yacht rock on a budget. His graceful croon, though, is more jaded this time, combining with the hollowed-out production for a deluxe dose of remorse. [Jan 2020, p.84]

Brightly flags up their sixth album's abundant strengths. [Jul 2023, p.98]

Polwart conveys contrasting themes of tragedy, redemption, hope and homecoming with immensely affecting guile. [Jan 2018, p.93]

Deer Tick impress with their pop nous and sheer verve. [Aug 2023, p.81]

Thundercat has finally made the all-out pop album he's been hinting at. It fits like a glove. [May 2026, p.91]

If you can bear the canonical duplicates, the seldom played discs, and, above all, the cost, this is a box no John Martyn fan can do without. [Nov 2013, p.96]

It has a home-made, handcrafted feel and an almost impossible intimacy. [Feb 2020, p.91]

Volcano continues where 2021's Loving In Stereo left off. [Sep 2023, p.86]

Songs of experience, beautifully realised. [Jan 2025, p.86]

The arrival of his first child and Trumpism, shadowed by a friend's death, have filled Brighter Wounds with heightened bliss and anxiety. [Mar 2018, p.94]

Ominous drones, clanking banjos, filthy weather: a winning combo. [Feb 2025, p.87]

Her jazziest yet, expressive alto-sax and hypnotic spoken words ladle emotional gravitas onto its fevered meditations and splintered storytelling. [Nov 2023, p.94]

The 12-tracker doesn't feel as "big" as 2020's funky On Sunset, nor as even as the woody True Meanings, but the array of styles means no one will walk away untouched. [Jun 2021, p.88]

On this form, long may Damian Jurado stay lost. [Feb 2014, p.88]

Two nuanced, outstanding duets with French avant-popper SaraSara help lighten the all-consuming existential despair. [Jun 2020, p.91]

A radiant light cutting through the gloom, illuminating icy drone, crepuscular ambient and reverb-heavy beatless trips. [May 2025, p.91]

This is a galvanising return. [Apr 2013, p.96]

Their easy familiarity is evident throughout The Siren's Song, with its beautiful mix of of Kacy's crystalline vocals and Clayton's inventive, deep-groove country guitar. [Jun 2018, p.91]

Hopelessness sees Anohni take a harder radical line--her rich, red velvet voice set not in the pastoral piano landscapes of lauded past albums, but in the contemporary electronic stylings of two producers: Glasgow DJ Hundson Mohawke and his Warp label contemporary, Brooklyn's Daniel Lopatin aka Oneohtrix Point Never. [Jun 2016, p.89]

A fine writer who is really finding her voice. [Jun 2019, p.94]

Red Barked Tree compares favorably with the very best of the definitive Wire. [Feb. 2011, p. 98]

It's essentially a particularly dark MSP bravely attempting to go a bit ABBA, failing miserably but in the process creating a skewed but alluring new pop persona. ... A hit. [Oct 2021, p.97]

Expand their ragged country-rock sound, the strings, horns and choral backing vocals investing in Wriggins' frayed ruminations and road-weary baritone with a necessary blue-collar grandeur. [Sep 2025, p.80]

Imagine the Bronte sisters trying to play Yo La Tengo music on Air's instruments with Joe Meek producing.