Lightburn is on fine form throughout – vocally, he’s been compared to Morrissey for most of his career, but on Lovers Rock he’s more like a downbeat Damon Albarn.

This music emphasises an unhurried, thoughtful approach to life that is beautifully at odds with the noise of a bustling metropolis in a General Election year.

The record dazzles with its detail, beguiles with its lyrical performances and leaves a lasting impression with powerful songwriting.

It’s fun, but accomplished too, and shows how Hesketh has taken her knocks, used them and come back bolder, brighter and better.

This is, essentially, a folk album, taking the chance to dip in to Peel's Irish connections. And yet the aspect of folk music that wins through is the one that connects directly with the listener, on their level, with few airs and graces.

This might be blues, it might be doom, but the return of Goatsnake can be nothing other than a good thing.

Nelson's voice is the shining star on this album, and that feels like the only thing that matters.

For those with open minds and without unfair expectations of artists, it will be another fascinating addition to a long and exceptional career.

Are they a country band playing alt.rock or an alt.rock band playing country? These questions are pointless. They are simply and sublimely Lambchop, and we are lucky to have them.

Even when they're singing about a relatively maudlin subject, the group sound positive and energetic, their brand of pop given a healthy, summery twist.

On the whole this is a significant artistic leap, a progressive album of dazzling stylistic pluralities that demands attention.

Noveller is music not only for the open-minded, but for the inquisitive. It’s a joyous, enthralling sound that she makes, and it seems to be getting more enticing with each release.

Eagulls have not just expanded their sonic palette, they also explore far weightier questions about life through their lyrics. As a result, the record instantly comes across as a more advanced and mature proposition compared to its predecessor, which was more interested in instant thrills.

The Jezabels take you through a range, giving you a story rather than simply one snapshot.

The production of this album in so short a time is nothing short of miraculous, and listening to it is an experience to savour.

Rick Rubin has shaped their songs, smoothing down some of their rougher edges, but the end result is as rich and diverse as ever, helping them fulfill their musical mission with more focus, yet without compromising their eccentricity or their trusted formula.

It’s become a rather saturated market and, with the ability to craft stunningly effective vocal harmonies and melodies still intact from their early guise, Hegarty’s music is so much more.

Quite a varied collection.

If the point of a debut album is to capture a moment, to provide a snapshot of a new, hungry band bursting at the seams with hope and abandon, then this must already be one of the debut albums of the year.

Island isn’t an album that provides any easy hits – it’s more of a record to luxuriate in and discover its charms gradually. Lockdown conditions mean that it’s easier than ever to immerse yourself in this grandiose music, and those that do will find much to lose themselves in.

It is a hugely exciting album that forges new ground for its maker to stride forth over.

Enjoy The View will undoubtably please the army of existing Jetpacks fans, yet tracks like Fat Chance could well bring in some new fans. Few bands can still sound on top of their game after 18 years or so, but We Were Promised Jetpacks do, and sound like they’re more than ready for the next 18 years too.

Come Down With Me marries synth-prog stuff with guitar-driven indie rock in a way that comes across as equally smart and approachable. The achieved effect is something to behold.

Deeper in the tracklist more variety emerges, featuring emotions and sounds that most listeners will have never heard from Dua.

There’s still a distinct Penguin Cafe magic to Handfuls Of Night. The music here won’t come as a surprise to people familiar with their increasingly tightly managed aesthetic but it still provides a wonderfully calming sanctuary to temporarily get lost in.

It’s funny, thoughtful and catchy as hell.

This is a fun record. Sometimes that really is enough.

There may not be anything hugely original to be found on Raving Ghost, but Olivia Jean has charisma by the bucketload, which makes this album such an enjoyable listen.

It may not have the immediacy of old Walkmen songs such as The Rat or Angela Surf City, but these stories of New York characters have a charm and subtlety all of their own, which is rewarded by repeated listening.

Deep Science should enhance TVOTR's reputation as one of the finest, forward-thinking bands around, along with fellow Brooklyn acts Animal Collective and Liars.

Skepta and UK grime’s resurrection has been one of the most exciting musical sounds of the past few years, and rather than being the climax, you get the feeling that Konnichiwa is just the start of something special.

Both qualities [her immense talent and charisma] are on ample display on Hairless Toys.

As much as Unicorn would benefit from having Solo or Salt Air included, it's a testament to the quality of the majority of the other tracks that they've still managed to make a solid debut.

More beautiful, uplifting, sweet music than you could ever require.

Banane Bleue is a contrast of blissful pop music and highly contemplative soundscapes, juxtaposing our ideal version of living and a difficult outer reality. This record captures the essence of ‘the blue banana’, a place too vast to navigate and too complex to fully understand.

Such is Tunng's appeal, the ability to do the unexpected but also to make you smile with their lyrical vignettes and musical slights of hand.

While long-term fans will lap up the album, there’s still not really that killer commercial breakthrough which will see them following the likes of Foals into bigger arenas. However, as another reassuringly consistent entry in the Dutch Uncles canon, this will do nicely.

The vocals here are telling; it’s effortlessly stunning, grabbing attention with how easily she achieves something countless others spend years chasing.

While it’s a consistently strong collection, with no real missteps, certain tracks on Beginners really stand out. The quality peaks with the mid-album triumvirate of Unforgivable, Northsiders and Twin Souls.

Sogolo is the sound of a band still developing and exploring, and that they’re still making such vital and interesting music at this point can only be saluted.

As a tribute to Molly Drake and an effective realisation of her music’s full potential for the listener, it’s a resounding success.

'Autumn Hill' is one of several tracks that will doubtless find their way onto soundtracks (Hopkins's main source of revenue), but Insides deserves to be heard as a unique and complete work of art in its own right.

Hate For Sale is surely one of the best albums this legendary band has produced, vivacious in a way that could even rival fan favourite Learning To Crawl.

There could be an argument that a couple of edits to make the track listing shorter would have resulted in an even more effective album. However, this is easily one of the best pop albums of the year as it is: one that’s unlikely to be bettered unless a certain Ms Swift really pulls it out of the bag.

It’s an album that reveals its charms slowly.

With Radical Romantics we see a distinct shift away from the idea of linear songs, and rapidly towards a 360 soundscape – all encompassing, visceral and beautifully overwhelming.

While there are no surprises to be found on A Bit Of Previous – it’s pretty much a textbook example of how a Belle and Sebastian album should sound after 20 years – it’s a warm, comforting return for a band who do what they do extremely well.

It may not be a barrel of laughs, but My Favourite Faded Fantasy proves that nobody does hushed introspection as well as Damien Rice.

This is easily Beyoncé’s best album yet, a clear progression from her previous work and a musical triumph.

World On The Ground has an accessibility and lucidity that should see Jarosz win new fans. This is a highly accomplished outing by an artist very much in the ascendancy.

They’ve certainly aimed for the mountaintops with Himalayan and quite often they reach the summit.

While there are no big surprises on Rockmaker, most of the tracks on the album are as instantly addictive as in their heyday.

Lidell has been through a lot in his personal life since the last album, and it seems that has prompted a rethink on his music - a turn in direction back to the less predictable, more incendiary writing of Multiply and his days with Supercollider. It suits him to be back in that place.

From the opening crunch of Two For His Heels to the closing majestic sway of ‘Tis Night, it adds up to his best album since Standing At The Sky’s Edge. Those who have just discovered Hawley through the musical will be delighted, as will his legion of long-standing fans – this familiar mix of Sheffield steel and sentimentality still runs deep.

It has an unnerving, visceral impact--it is fragmentary, destabilising and confounding but all in the best possible way.

Broadcast have produced arguably their finest moment.

With this fun and obnoxiously reverent album, they should get the inmates rioting.

Because Of The Times is Kings Of Leon's best album yet, their most fully realised and mature work to date.

An at times minimal sounding album with steps and layers that build towards something. The music and the art stand apart, but they’re inevitably intertwined.

As it stands, this is a glorious return from one of our most distinctive artists.

Pavement fans expecting similar lo-fi experimentation may be disappointed with The Real Feel, but anyone who appreciates organically structured rock songs should love this album.

Constant Future represents Parts & Labor's most consistent and exciting work to date.

Pop Tune is in the top handful of records that Shonen Knife have released; a slight update on the rougher sound they pedalled in the first half of their career, but it still sounds DIY-enough to please the faithfuls.

Franz Ferdinand have done what they didn’t quite manage on Tonight, combining their more experimental leanings with their irresistible dance-punk sound to create right thoughts, right words, right action, right album.

Lilys have made a quite marvellous record.

These expertedly crafted songs do deserve a wider hearing, and if this album is to remain a hidden treasure, then it's the general public's loss in all honesty.

Nevertheless, for fans of searing white noise A Place To Bury Strangers will pretty much seem messianic: anyone of a slightly gentler disposition might want to run the other way.

Bad Contestant is full of strange little pop songs that can delight and subvert in equal measure and makes for a pretty startling debut, all in all.

Drokk should not be dismissed as a niche project--it's dark, rich and compelling in its own right.

Wildheart is a beautiful album from one of the most exciting and talented artists in music right now.

They’ll need to be a little more adventurous next time around, but for now, they’re in fine fettle.

It’s warm, delicate; a real feast for the ears.

Joy’All is possibly Lewis’ best solo work to date – the sound of a woman fearlessly grappling with middle-age and dealing with all it has to throw at her.

World Eater thrives on the tension between anxiety and peace, nihilism and love. That’s tough stuff to reconcile, but Power attempts it in muscular yet heartfelt fashion. This is an album that will shake you senseless, eat you up and spit you out. And it’s worth every minute.

Beat Pyramid crosses genres, sticks pins in everything it sees and manages to reference hip-hop, punk, new-wave, dubstep and everything in between. For that alone, These New Puritans should be applauded.

While most folk acts are content to simply keep churning out album after album of tried and tested traditional standards or self-penned campfire sing-alongs, The Unthanks are stretching the parameters of their genre with an ambition that’s rarely been heard before.

They’re certainly a partnership and there’s lots of adventure here. Dizzy Heights is certainly as inspiring as anything Finn has produced for a long time.

With A Monument they have clearly shown that the have the scope and ambition to cross over far beyond that Portland milieu and establish themselves as a fine in their own right.

So the odd mis-step aside, the death of Arctic Monkeys appears to have been greatly exaggerated. Rather, this is another intriguing evolution for one of the country's great bands, and a shot in the arm for Britain's rather moribund 'indie guitar' scene.

It may put people off who were more attracted to Adams' more tortured side, but Ashes & Fire makes for a compelling reboot for a man who could, once more, become a contender.

Together with the slimmed down line-up, Nature Always Wins feels like the start of a new chapter for Maxïmo Park. They’ve always been better than a ‘landfill indie’ punchline, and they prove it in spades on their seventh album.

Like the film it accompanies though, the prevailing sense is that it will be remembered principally as a top-notch tribute to its timeless progenitor; first class entertainment but without those inimitable zeitgeist qualities that made the original Trainspotting so uniquely compelling.

There is a hidden depth to much of 2 which belies the outwardly bright nature of many of the songs and the cheesily trad imagery.

Melt Yourself Down have always had jazz antecedents and connections but they’ve never sounded more like a jazz band than they do here. While this album sometimes struggles to maintain focus in its thematic range, the music never misses a beat as it reaches far and wide.

Even at 54 minutes, Los Angeles never seems to run out of steam, and there more than enough excellent moments to hope that a second volume may be in the offering. Although hopefully with a less cumbersome band name next time around.

Highly engaging and tactfully succinct, Axxa / Abraxas is one to share with your friends and lovers, a soundtrack to your groovy summer.

Adamson mixes genres and sounds, blending and pitch-shifting, looping and deconstructing to create his most focused (though it may not sound that way on first listen) effort to date.

It’s not as immediate an album as Lost In The Dream, and a couple of quality control lapses prevent it from being a truly great record. Yet it’s still a dauntingly accomplished behemoth from a group who grow in stature with every release they put out.

Her debut with The Pond is a commendably excellent example of an established artist making a real step forward.

Delivering on all his potential with the sort of nonchalance and assurance we’ve come to expect from the young man, 6 Feet Beneath The Moon is a special album, from a special artist.

Heaven is even better than their debut: what a relief that Dilly Dally managed to put any remaining tensions to bed before making this exceptional album.

It’s an album that may not crack the Top 10, but to those who succumb to it’s beguiling atmosphere, this is a record that will live with you for some time to come.

This is sensitive, heartfelt and resolute rock music that shuffles its feet while looking at the stars.

There's a darker lyrical side to the album at once incongruous and ingenius when placed in such celebratory music.

They create a mood and atmosphere that's certainly unique, but one in which very few songs stand out, despite some fine moments.

If there is a flaw, it is that some jams are more eventful than others, as seen on the busy but ultimately inconsequential Daylight and Tear To My Eye featuring Eric D Clark and Beirut‘s Zach Condon, but this is something of an occupational hazard and the creative spirit is clearly heard throughout.

This looks to be the album that has really brought the nomads that make up Hamilton's band together, and it's another Canadian triumph to add to an ever-increasing list.

Side A listens more personal and vulnerable, whereas side B, named EG.0, allows the pop goddess within to let rip.