Producer/arranger Joel Burton steeps Bock's butterly-rich voice in shifting contours that match the nuances in her words while leaving acres of space. [Aug 2022, p.90]

You do wonder what, exactly, fires his pistons and to what end, but quality control remains excellent. [Aug 2022, p.91]

At 70 minutes it's worth wallowing. He's pushing his own boundaries. [Aug 2022, p.90]

Sounds great and further reveals the era-oddness of Prince's blending of '80s drum machine funk with late-'60s heavy rock. [Jul 2022, p.100]

It's the garlanded ritual folk of Kan Me ("May Song"), however, that underlines this is a record of changing seasons and transitional states. Accept the offer of tea but prepare to lose days in the process. [Aug 2022, p.90]

Each of them [psalms] is spoken word, less than two minutes long, and set to music that's ominous, ambient, spectral and spiritual. That's side one; side two is taken up with a 12-minute instrumental - a ruminative play of dark on dark, with a deep drone and synthesized choir of ghosts that's quite lovely. [Aug 2022, p.96]

Household Name is their Cannonball moment, supercharged pop that also acknowledges Smashing Pumpkins and Veruca Salt. Momma wear it well; celebrating, not denying, their inspiration. [Aug 2022, p.91]

Nuanced writing, full of tender challenges to lost souls, and Shelly's warmest sound yet. [Jul 2022, p.92]

It's all expertly arranged to maximise the unbrushed bohemian intensity. [Aug 2022, p.86]

All in all, it's lovely, uplifting stuff. [Aug 2022, p.87]

Throughout there is a sense of making music for the sheer thrill of it. ... This is Newcombe celebrating the moment and at his best. [Aug 2022, p.92]

While Reggae Film Star is often droll, Jurado's empathy for his characters - from the enduring recriminations of Lois Lambert to the aching isolation of What Happened To The Class Of '65? - often makes for affecting songwriting. [Aug 2022, p.87]

It just sounds so good. Warm and natural. And Earle's voice has rarely sounded better. [Aug 2022, p.91]

His singing, always restrained, is so low-key that it risks losing the listener's attention, but the playing supplies the feeling. [Aug 2022, p.95]

Its four long, richly-textured instrumentals thrum with existential reverence. [Aug 2022, p.89]

Occasionally, the joke is pushed too far (the feigned English accents and campy synth-pop of Muscles). Mostly, however, McBean's native gift for riff and songcraft transcend any conceptual archness. [Aug 2022, p.92]

It's when Spektor is less showy and more direct that her songs are most affecting. [Aug 2022, p.86]

Up And Away is warmer and grittier than its '80s-polished predecessors, infused with the '50s/'60s trad folk and hybrid pop records her grandparents and parents spun for her. [Jul 2022, p.90]

The debut - one of several solo releases by CSNY post-Deja Vu - is the stronger of the two, heartfelt and unpretentious. Nash's voice has barely changed and the band arrangements are mostly subtle and complementary. [Jul 2022, p.86]

There might only be five songs here, but each one has a similar transformative effect. [Jul 2022, p.88]

Her insinuation of millennial angst-pop into pre-millennial alt-rock is so deft and affecting that Sometimes, Forever rewards the investment. Soccer Mommy feels like the real deal, [Jul 2022, p.92]

In Amber goes the whole hog. ... Frequently beautiful and occasionally offers succour. [Jul 2022, p.90]

Strange's earnestness is artful, and Farm To Table an uplifting triumph. [Jul 2022, p.88]

This trick of balancing heavy and light serves Mercury well. [Jul 2022, p.88]

It's a beguiling mix for the most part, even if they have overly sacrificed melody on the altar of rhythm. [Jul 2022, p.93]

These opaque, often uneasy sounding songs conjure nature's unpredictability and vulnerability as well as its beauty. [Jul 2022, p.89]

O'Brien prowls around angular guitar and drums. Imagine a Kim Gordon-fronted PiL. [Jul 2022, p.97]

Whip-smart and wonderful. [Jul 2022, p.89]