This integration of sounds and styles confirms Irreparable Parables to be a quietly powerful statement from an artist who has proved he can broaden his sound with confidence and conviction.

We Are Together Again is the latest instalment of his slow musical evolution, a balancing of longstanding tropes of hardship and sorrow with the new human connection.

Highway To Heavenly is a triumphant return for a band whose values of tolerance, empathy and quiet determination, in the uncertain political landscape of 2026, seem more important and vital than ever.

The Mountain is by some distance the most ambitious Gorillaz album yet, a multilayered musical tour de force that brings meaningful strands of hope to the deaths, chaos and delirium.

Ultimately, Join Hands gives a decent impression of Congratulations’ sound, even if it becomes a bit too much over the course of an album. However, there’s enough songwriting prowess demonstrated here to hint that there may be even better things in the future from Congratulations.

Another Iron & Wine album that consolidates Beam’s reputation as a songwriter of distinction.

An album that really only Mitski could make: strange, otherworldly and yet immediately accessible and addictive.

Callahan emerges from the album with his reputation further enhanced, his artistic trajectory unbroken.

One of the finest French songsmiths around has done it again.

Underneath all the references to rampant sex and general debauchery, there’s very often a beating heart at the centre of Merrill Nisker’s work. No Lube So Rude is yet another exhilarating, essential entry into her canon of work.

Just occasionally the music gets over-produced, with the beefed-up strings on Retreat smothering the Bach-like arpeggios of its piano, but mostly we breathe the outdoor air in a meditative state. For this is Moby at his most effective, with no need to play to his audience, simply offering private musical ambience to soothe and console.

The only issue with Somebody Tried To Sell Me A Bridge is that it’s so long that anyone other than the most devoted Morrison devotee will find it a bit of a slog. At 1 hour 20 minutes and 20 tracks, it could certainly do with some judicious editing.

It’s a strange and often beautiful record, proving that Charli XCX is indeed the perfect artist to soundtrack this new twist on Brontë.

Their debut album, Wasted On Youth is, at best, an exercise in earnest revivalism. At worst, it’s just as credible and entertaining as albums by The Ordinary Boys, Towers Of London or The Enemy.

The Howling Bells sound packs a punch as before, though there is a maturity to their interaction, a familiarity in each other’s presence that has been easily resurrected while stopping short of being the musical equivalent of comfy slippers.

A fine reintroduction to Jill Scott. It may not be as instantly genre-defining as that debut album proved to be, but it’s a record by an artist who sounds totally refreshed by her hiatus.

Move On With The Year is an album that manages to be both intensely personal and also universally relatable.

It’s an album that needs to be immersed in fully, and played loud, preferably on headphones to appreciate its many depths. Some may also find the relentless discordance a bit too intense to fully concentrate on. But for those unafraid to dive in, Mandy, Indiana’s second album is an exhilarating, almighty jab to the senses.

His invention for beats and riffs is remarkably fertile throughout, and he applies careful and often striking shading.

It’s not depressing in the slightest – in fact, these beautifully austere, tender songs are life-affirming if anything – but like the final albums by Glenn Campbell and Warren Zevon, the knowledge that mortality is drawing close gives the album an extra weight.

Whitelands has created an immersive work that explores complex human experiences and proves that it is possible to come through challenges and grow from them. That they can do so whilst sounding so positive is testament to the band’s approach to even the harshest of life’s pitfalls.

With My Ghosts Go Ghost they show real creative verve and re-affirm their position within the scene.

It’s true, the constant drone can prove a bit wearying over the course of an album. But Can I Get A Pack Of Camel Lights is an album that will reveal its charms to anyone willing to make the effort.

The best moments are the shorter, punchier songs, but too often they can’t resist becoming a bit too proggy, such as on Shaunie and The Winged Boy.

An album for repeated plays, this is an exhilarating, bittersweet addition to the Joyce Manor canon that easily stands alongside their best work.

For anyone who still thinks Cast are nothing more than a band specialising in meat-and-potatoes jangly indie pop, Yeah Yeah Yeah demonstrates why they’ve endured so long over the years.

It’s full of perfectly fine sunny pop songs, but few tracks really stand out.

World’s Gone Wrong is a protest album, almost seething with rage about what’s happening in America. She may be 72 years old and a survivor of a stroke which has left her with mobility issues, but that unmistakable voice remains as powerful as ever.