An image-rich rumination on Scotland past and present. [Aug 2014, p.86]

The true centerpiece is Tiny Wood's autobiographical 20-minute suite, Blue Remembered Hills. With pastoral inserts and thematic crescendos, it's evocative and emotionally raw. [Jan 2017, p.98]

An unexpected treat, as he takes great liberties with some of the material. [Sep 2017, p.93]

This new 11-song album is dense, almost joyous with sound, instruments all jostling for space--guitar, banjo, drums, horns. [Jan 2018, p.90]

The Unthank sisters admirably translate the atmospheric melancholia of the themes, though it's Adrian McNally's piano arrangements that really carry the day. [Apr 2019, p.95]

He and his songs sound beautifully close-knit. [May 2020, p.89]

Baudelaire & Piano isn't instant, but it lingers like a vivid dream. [Oct 2020, p.89]

Not a single ounce of fat on the bone, Return is a road trip well worth taking. [Jan 2021, p.88]

As distinctively fabulous as anything they have released in nearly 40 years. [Jan 2021, p.85]

Nelson has not lost any of his breath control and singular phrasing. [May 2021, p.78]

Humanity's end sounds grim; but beautifully rendered. [Jul 2021, p.90]

Reinvents Burt Bacharach on the Bell Gets Out If The Way and brings an XTC-ish bloom to the downtempo powerpop of Cherub and The Great Child Actor. [Dec 2021, p.84]

12 solo guitar pieces conjure spatial evocations. [Jan 2022, p.91]

Springtime has two approaches, one more methodical, like the intense needling Will To Power. ... The other is rooted in improv. [Jan 2022, p.84]

This excellently curated three-disc set uncovers a selection of previously unreleased outtakes. [Oct 2022, p.102]

These 10 tracks showcase Brewis's beautifully expressive singing and, in the waltz-time jazz of Start Over, deep empathy. [Mar 2023, p.91]

Roberts' dying-Jacobite vocals remain thrillingly feeble, and Nic Jones-ly fingerpicking on Wonderful Grey Horse and Young Airly may draw in waverers. [May 2023, p.89]

Augustine's fourth is celestially good, his own fevered vision. [Aug 2023, p.78]

Three albums in, and King is still full of surprises. [May 2024, p.82]

Ultimately, by stylistically venturing back and forth in time, Aaron Frazer has struck gold with Into The Blue, a multifaceted soul album that blurs the past, the present and the possibilities of the future. [Aug 2024, p.82]

The brothers’ art for art’s sake sensibilities drive pleasingly obtuse yacht-rocker Sounds About Right and fractured prog-funk oddity Curfew In The Square, while I Might Have Been Wrong’s ace chorus feels like an ambush after its clammy, insomniac verse. [Nov 2024, p.91]

With lyrics informed by loss and his current post-divorce relationship with a man, at the age of 64, Friday has clearly found himself and made a deeply heartfelt record, most of which is perhaps best heard at club-level volume. [Dec 2024, p.90]

With piano and dulcimer adding unforeseen acoustic texture, Trees Speak’s soundworld is ever-changing, often terrifying, but rarely short of awe-inspiring. [Jan 2025, p.90]

As always, Genders writes beautifully strange folk songs that wouldn't sound out of place back in folk revival clubs like London's Les Cousins, except they pop and ping with Lindsay's lo-fi beats and organic samples. [Feb 2025, p.83]

It's when he boosts the Zulu content on Emmanuele - his sweet tenor blending with clicks and close-harmony singing - or breaks everything down in a contemporary style on Kea Morata, that you'll feel like you have been transported to a new world, where everything is possible. [Apr 2025, p.85]

The results are as dreamy and swirling as Clouds Taste Metallic-era Flaming Lips, with Smith's unworldly vocals floating over the top. [May 2025, p.86]

There's gentle humour to take the edge off but this is haunting, impossible beauty. [Jul 2025, p.80]

This is college rock meant to be blasted over the radio, a record as vigorous as it is joyous. [Jul 2025, p.87]