The entirety celebrates the ecstatic simplicity of that era [1950s-60s] of pop. [Sep 2022, p.86]

Mixture of West Africa and Caribbean influences. Oscar Jerome's glowing highlife guitar opens Dide O, a midway tryptic with Soul Searching (Afrobeat) and We Give Thanks. (soul). [Sep 2022, p.96]

Branch's inspired improvisations, bold melodic leaps and bluesy burr of a voice buoy over Nazary's inventive, depth-charged beats. [Jul 2022, p.91]

Escapology is frequently, characteristically unsettling. [Sep 2022, p.86]

This sequel traverses reassuringly similar zones, with Tuttle's banjo threading in and out of the FX atmospherics, and an expanded instrumental cast - notably fellow travellers Chuck Johnson and Luke Schneider on pedal steel - operating with equal subtlety. [Sep 2022, p.86]

Charming. [Sep 2022, p.95]

Patina exists on an arc where grunge, the rave era, Britpop et al never occurred. What would have happened if the second half of the '80s had defined much of what came next? Tallies provide the answer - these nine tracks are that good. [Sep 2022, p.94]

Wriggins remains his own elusive self, his songs forever moving between the prosaic and the ecstatic. [Sep 2022, p.89]

Intense. But the much tougher stuff here is emotional. [Sep 2022, p.86]

Deschanel's light, Astrud Gilberto-style vocals float wistfully and when they collide with Ward's harmonies on Deirdre or with er own harmonies on Melt Away, it soars. [Sep 2022, p.94]

The band retreated into the more self-contained approach which has spawned My other People. [Jul 2022, p.92]

The result is a sparkling 24-minute digital raga that builds to a tumultuous mid-point crescendo, before gliding elegantly out of the other side. Euphoric synth-pop that's smart and never po-faced. [Sep 2022, p.90]

Its mercurial art-pop is dotted with contrary pulses and unexpected detours. [Sep 2022, p.96]

A diverting curio, then, rather than essential. [Sep 2022, p.87]

As Ever, they're at their best when Amy Millan and Torquil Campbell trade vocal lines. [Aug 2022, p.92]

Without the accompanying visuals, Ugly Season makes most sense when there's a vocal to centre it. [Aug 2022, p.86]

It puts ZZ's impeccably-tuned engine room under the microscope, their "just us and the music" gambit paying off. [Aug 2022, p.90]

It's gauzy visions suggesting some rediscovered private press folk oddity from the '70s, Segall's faultless melodic instincts lent an edge by Bolan-esque warble, inward-looking lyrics and, on Saturday Pt 2, wild saxophone duets. [Aug 2022, p.87]

Its sure-footed '60 psych, garage and country is potently rendered. [Aug 2022, p.89]

It's difficult to detach this record from the harrowing specificity of its backstory, yet Riderless Horse never makes you feel like an intruder. That's testament, after 12 long years, to Natasia's skills, the undimmed songwriter able to transform all the pain and horror into something indelibly beautiful. [Aug 2022, p.88]

It's extra-colourful and top quality. [Sep 2022, p.87]

Moonshine occupies that rich space between hope and melancholy, smooth, maybe, but not without its hooks and catches. [Aug 2022, p.90]

Perhaps the most mellow and settled LP of White's career. ... These slow burns seem good for White. [Aug 2022, p.84]

Making a little go a long way on a contagious return, up there with commercial peak Cabs circa The Crackdown and Micro-Phonies. [Aug 2022, p.94]

At best, Fear Fear is as compact and airless as its title, an existential crisis dancing in warm leatherette. [Aug 2022, p.87]

It's a beautiful, nuanced record, the sound of new boundaries forming and realigning. [Aug 2022, p.94]

Hellfire, for all its sporadic intensity, is less harsh than previous Black Midi records. [Aug 2022, p.83]

The star is Derek Trucks' sweeping washes of whooshes that wrap the five tunes in a warm blanket, 12-minute ender Pasaquan showcasing his stinging, dexterous, raga-blues brilliance. [Aug 2022, p.95]