If much of this is catchy, however, you can’t help but miss the Noah And The Whale who could be emotionally devastating.

Whilst Ash's signature energetic punk-pop pastiches are very much in evidence in the shape of "I Started A Fire," "You Can't Have It All" and "Princess Six," it's fair to say that they have managed to explore acres of new territory.

For an enjoyable 'kickaround' of an album this is a cheeky little blighter that will continue to tickle ears, raise a smile and brighten any listen for a while yet.

There's just enough promise here to show that there is indeed talent beyond all the hype.

The Pines ably achieves what it sets out to do, but somehow you're left pining for that little bit more.

Their calmest album to date.

Like its predecessor, the Kaisers' second album is patchy, but does have moments of brilliance.

He hasn't quite developed the dexterity to match his grand designs yet, but there is enough on show here to suggest he soon will.

It's not a bad record, but by The Zutons' own extremely high standards, it's a disappointment.

Concise and defined, the 10 tracks here distill Marina’s thoughts on modern day society and all its horrors into a short, sharp shock. ... If there’s anything the album lacks though it’s some of the knowing playfulness of her previous work.

In this day and age, though, people would be better off cherry picking the best tracks for download.

While he’s sounding as bold and varied as ever, White’s songwriting feels a little less focused, with tracks like the seven minute opener and single Genuine Hesitation and Take Your Time (And That Orange To Squeeze) tipping over into self-indulgent dirges.

The album may not carry the sort of dance-fused electro-pop magnificence they’ve made before, but moving away from the more ‘expected’ type of pop song you think of when Erasure crops up in conversation seems to have worked wonders.

It’s certainly a confident step-up from Garageband Superstar and if more of Hibberd’s musical personality is allowed to shine through next time around, she could produce an even better album.

Ultimately, although the softer, folkier moments merit attention, the album does linger in parts and really could do with a shot in the arm to lift its energy levels.

Social Distortion still hit as hard as they ever did - barring the obvious newfound musical influences. Anyone not yet convinced by Social Distortion probably won't find new evidence for greatness here, but for longtime fans, the six-year wait is more than worth it.

There is nothing particularly ground breaking or original about Solar Bears, and their music can feel a little samey at times. Despite these shortcomings, Advancement is still a thoroughly enjoyable, lushly textured record that rarely fails to absorb.

The formula is executed well, while the production and songwriting keep the Australian four-piece ahead of any imitators. ... Yes, new music is good to have and good to experience, but when the tunes become interchangeable that notion starts to feel hollow.

The only trouble is that the good tracks are matched by the nondescript filler.

All things considered, Unseen feels like a missed opportunity for The Handsome Family. It’s by no means a bad album and one established fans will undoubtedly enjoy, but essentially the band are on auto-pilot when it would have been great to hear them go up a gear.

Although the songs on – never really rise above a mild trot, there’s still some musical variety.

Whilst Obscurities has its moments, it mostly only offers tiny hints of Merritt's real genius.

Cowley has crafted a coherent, carefully planned suite of music here with a strong conceptual framework and a remarkably consistent sound.

Kids In LA lays its cards on the table and, whilst at times too polished for its own good, it boasts enough songs to justify a few spins at least.

This is a pleasant diversion for Whitney fans waiting for a follow-up to Forever Turned Around, and if it has the side-effect of directing people to the hitherto undiscovered treats of the likes of The Roches, Jurado and Moondog, then so much the better.

Although there are plenty of adrenaline-infusing moments on Jungle Revolution, Congo Natty fails to keep up the momentum throughout

There is nothing especially wrong with it, but it hits the middle ground all too easily, sounding like Home minus the guns-out anthems and the hands reaching for the sky.

It’s maybe not something to play every day, but an ideal companion piece for when you’re feeling more contemplative than usual.

While there is plenty of soul in the sound, there is a lack of body in both delivery and melody.

Perhaps National Ransom is less a randomly selected almanac, and more a series of vignettes that could potentially have relevance to any particular time and space. Costello is, inventively, trying to make musical antiquarianism a radical pursuit.

Branch’s lyrical savvy and clear communication keep it well clear of the mundane, though you get the recurring impression that she is capable of taking a few more risks.

As opening statements go, Better Living is comprehensive and, as a hardcore punk album, it is extremely successful.

It may not be an album you’ll come back to again and again, but it shows off a refreshingly different side to Alexis Taylor.

RUFF will win no prizes for compositional elegance, but it’s never boring.

While it contains a few filler songs, this is a fun album to listen to, bursting with irrepressible energy.

It's not an album that will change your life, but its airy grooves make for perfectly pleasant listening for under an hour. And sometimes, that's all you need.

There are admittedly a few throwaway one minute efforts dotted around the tracklist such as the piano and melodica-tinkle-tinged Thank You Very Much and The Oasis, but luckily the highlights far outweigh them.

As a stand-alone piece, it is unremarkable, and even A Violent Sky--the beautiful and wistful closing track--can’t redeem it entirely.

Higher Truth may not quite reach the heights of his best work, but it ensures that Scream was no more than a blip in his solid back catalogue.

Invisible Forces is a deliberately minimal affair, as even formal notation is eschewed in favour of an intuitive musical journey, and if this makes the album repetitive it will surely still be put on repeat by fans of this sort of thing.

DJ Rashad indulges in his own tastes and viewpoints, ultimately creating an album’s worth of songs that are exciting on their own but exhausting and at times dull when listened to from start to finish.

It hangs together well and the songs are decently written. But most listeners need something more, an undeniable quality that is completely unique to a band. A Unique Selling Point, if you will. Hospitality have not found theirs yet.

Overall, I Love You, It's Cool is a solid, but unspectacular, return from Bear In Heaven.

It’s pleasant enough, but there are not enough killer tunes to make this a standout.

There is still much to admire and enjoy, not least Al Qadiri’s pursuit of an individual, politicised, socially-conscious path that never lacks ambition or self-confidence.

It could never be accused of lacking honesty, commitment or power--some achievement given the songs were not all for her--but at times you long for Sia just to take a step back, to bring a little bit of that Zero 7 calm back into the equation.

It's not a bad first album; it's just not a great one, either.

Angst-rock is promised, but power-pop is ultimately delivered.

In the passing of time they’ve aged a bit, and though they can still intermittently move us with their thoughts, it is difficult to see anywhere they could go from here musically. It is the right time to go.

There is definitely some promise in Laetitia Sadier's solo work, but the material here feels more like rough sketches than finished product. That said, if you were a Stereolab fan and have withdrawal symptons, this will definitely satisfy your curiosities.

Undoubtedly it's a very effective dance record, and in a club everything here would sound great. As an album, though, HEALTH//DISCO is encumbered by the very tracks that have birthed it.

Flawed as it may be at times, Froot emerges as Diamandis’ strongest album to date, mainly because it’s the first one that strongly stamps her own personality on proceedings.

Moby has already said he doesn’t expect anybody to buy this album. Yet it’s likely it will shift a few units due to its high energy and low filler count, though the shouting does get wearing near the end. Once again he has confounded expectations, and the result is an album fiercely relevant to its time.

The music is uniformly simple but beautifully effective. It sounds like what it is, one man telling you stories and weaving beguiling tales of distinct and not too distant lands through a carefully intricate and delicate soft rock tapestry.

Coping Mechanism is full of feisty attitude, blaring guitars and rhythmically intense drumming, and sees Willow positioning herself as the edgier Olivia Rodrigo with mixed results.

If shiny, overstated hooks and operatic melodies are your thing, stick on the Twigs’ latest LP right away and you’ll have a ruddy glorious time. But for many, Songs For The General Public will be an overwhelming, even frustrating listen. The brothers wear their huge list of influences so prominently on their sleeves that it’s hard to put your finger on who they really are – and what they’re trying to say.

A mostly harmless exercise in selling records.

How We Operate remains a very episodic album, containing a handful of great moments but no truly great songs.

A guilty pleasure for some perhaps, yet one well worth indulging.

Most of the songs are well constructed and do not outstay their welcome, though a few do not make the grade.

Disjointed, imperfect, tender and raw, at the final reckoning it sits as a fitting epitaph.

It never really breaks free, but The Absence is, in its best bits, an album of real beauty and elegance, and should cause hearts to grow fond of her.

His dedication certainly pays off, Friends & Family grabs ears almost immediately--but as his tropes wear down, it can't help but feel a little hollow.

Still, for all its buzz and energy, Women's Studies does feel frantic and maybe even a little cluttered, as if Murderbot has felt compelled to insert a passing reference to every genre of music he has ever appreciated.

[A] rich (at times too rich) ambitious record that hints at gimlet-eyed determination rather than wispy pushover.

Cabic and Monaghan deliver an album of relaxed, low-definition loveliness, and it's hard to begrudge them that.

These aren’t bad song ideas per se, but the record as a whole becomes cloying through an overload of syrupy chords and Common stuck on motivational speaker mode.

This album works best at moments like this, sweet and soothing – not exactly ambient, but soft and comforting like a nest of scatter cushions.

The music here definitely works best when this spirit of interaction is at the forefront, with potentially disparate musical ideas serving to complement and enhance each other.

Ultimately, Blue Film is a decent, enjoyable album that hints at Hemerlein’s undoubted talent whilst never pulling up too many trees.

It may be enigmatic, uneven and flawed in places but at the same time it proves that he is still a single-minded sonic adventurer worth persevering with.

She has not made Smile to impress critics, but rather as an emotional catharsis, and in some tracks this catharsis does sparkle. But it would be great if, in her next creative venture, she focused less on just her smile, as wonderful as it is, and more on the complex emotions that make up the main draw of Smile.

For all the development in their sound, this new Peggy Sue is less lovable than before, the whimsy and the wit, the colour and the life a little buried, and whatever their final lyrics say, a touch too troubled now.

There is also a notably darker, murkier imperative at the heart of Original Colours and the results are sometimes a little introverted.

A perfectly paced album, but despite the elegant sequencing, there are definitely tracks you’ll come back to far more than others.

The songs and melodies may be brighter, but there is a nagging sense throughout that something special has been lost somewhere in the process.

As a whole, Dreams is a bleak affair, Diamond sounding often forlorn and beaten, most notably on a morose, slowed down reimagining of his own 1966 tune, I'm A Believer, which became The Monkees' biggest success.

It’s a solid, if slightly understated, album from one of the many underrated names in underground music. But a lack of variety and a lack of texture that lets this release down.

Where RMX works, it is outstanding, but it is let down by too much flabby excess that for all its artfulness, weighs the album down like a millstone round the neck.

A largely entertaining but occasionally baffling listen, Enter The Slasher House sadly falls just short of Animal Collective’s best work and Panda Bear’s stunning solo projects.

Whilst there are occasional high points, it’s best to cherry-pick the highlights from Didn’t It Rain and leave the rest.

What it fundamentally lacks is the underlying rhythmic sensibility that adds an extra dimension to Fuck Buttons and gives them the scope to develop a track from simple beginnings to a euphoric, cacophonous conclusion. By stripping this ingredient away, Power is left with something that's often beautiful but also strangely static.

This is then a collision of musical styles that is totally appropriate and which reflects well on both parties.

If not all of this debut lands too firmly at times, there’s still enough evidence on Sorry I’m Late that people will soon remember Mae Muller for more than that Eurovision disappointment.

Compelling to some, maddening to others, it should be said that at least Gray's voice is tuneful.

The Pains are unquestionably good at what they do. It's just that the dreamy Scandopop thing is rife, and this band don't really bring anything new to the table.

Frozen By Sight is a good record--one that’s exquisitely played and recorded. It’s also a little stiff: occasionally its arts festival origins become a little too obvious and one wishes it would cut loose a little more.

[They] have returned sounding pretty much exactly the same as they did three and a half years ago.

Ultimately, Creation does not add anything drastically different to The Pierces’ back catalogue. At its best, the pair’s fifth LP familiarises us once again with their pitch-perfect harmonies and tightly constructed, polished melodies.

Tracker may not quite reach the same heights as its predecessor--it features one too many misses for that to be the case--but it is another solid solo entry into his already impressive back catalogue and a record that Knopfler’s faithful following will undoubtedly delight in it.

Kassidy have proved they're as serious about recording as they are performing and if their debut album is any indication, they're in it for the long haul.

There are some interesting topics explored, such as Darkest Place's prayer to a God that he now longer believes in, but compared to Plan B's gritty early raps about teenage life, it pales somewhat in comparison.

Aided by conductor and arranger John Wilson, who coaxes a first-rate performance from the London Classical Orchestra, Ocean's Kingdom is an accomplished if unremarkable foray into an unfamiliar medium by the ex-Fab Four polymath.

It's a mature progression for a talented band who, having started out at the tender age of just 15, now seem much clearer on which direction they want to take.

While it seems silly to complain about the lack of a singer on an instrumental album, she did lend many of the songs an emotional weight which, while not lacking here, doesn’t quite have the same impact.

It's a roots record alright, with a few crumbs of hope amidst the looming sense of armageddon.

Delicacies lacks the pop craftsmanship and euphoric electro of Attack and the singular outstanding tracks of Temporary Pleasures, never attempting to introduce vocals to supplement their evident ability to create an intriguing techno dance track.

Mercy may have a few forgettable tracks, but an artist with John Cale’s long and varied history will always find a way to intrigue the listener.