Red Kite is bound to be a hushed, understated, and at times rather lovely soundtrack for the (hopefully) balmy summer days ahead.

Embracing the participatory rather than lurking in personal mistrust, and supplementing their formerly disconsolate narratives with unusually contented flourishes, these diverse new manifestations substantially demonstrate that Xiu Xiu still exist in a universe of their own design, but that maybe they’re ready to temporarily negotiate ours once more.

In this age of bonus tracks and seemingly endless ‘deluxe’ versions, at just 40 minutes and 10 songs long, it never overstays its welcome. If this new, compact, less overblown Machine shows what Florence Welch is capable of, may it run for another 10 years.

The result is warm, dreamy, evocative and beautiful, a worthy successor to 2005's self-titled debut and an album to savour under the late evening sun, once the summer arrives.

If you are approaching Souleyman’s music from the Modeselektor direction then this is a great place to start. If you’ve followed his career for years you may feel the electronic dressing smooths off a few of the appealingly rougher edges of his and Sa’id’s sound--but if anything they show just how far ahead he remains stylistically.

It's a joyful sound when she cuts loose, and wedded to an attitude you wouldn't mess with, works a treat.

Fundamental is the thinking person's electropop album of 2006 so far.

It's a blistering, at times thoughtful, scattergun grab-bag of magpie musical styles and broken beat rhymes that somehow hangs together with irrepressible energy and invention.

It is no doubt a big risk leaving behind many aspects of the sound that made her name but on Interstellar, she advances her sound so expertly and compellingly that it is a risk that was well worth taking.

Wall Of Arms is an expansive, confident second album that takes The Maccabees from indie also-rans to genuine contenders.

'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.

Many of the songs here will certainly rank among Vanderslice's best work, and the album as a whole deserves repeated listens, if only to parse out the seemingly infinite layers of nuance.

That is a mere side note, however, for Interplay is a consistently strong piece of work, as good as anything Foxx ever wrote when striking out on his own in the early 1980s.

awE naturalE gives us a beguiling glimpse of an unfettered talent that most certainly is promptly, and most satisfactorily, on track.

Half-baked lyrics detract from intelligent and well-executed backing, and as such the album fails to resonate with any of the force that it attempts to muster, despite the odd successful moment.

As the ever revolving wheel of influence spins to bring each individual ingredient to the fore, The Computers are not afraid to wear these influences unashamedly on their sleeves and in doing so have managed to produce a highly infectious piece of rock ‘n’ roll.

As two stuck-together EPs, then, perhaps the set might be taken better as a promising if flawed articulation of a vision yet to fully flower.

Gallon Drunk are now eight albums in to their storied career, and their strain of narcotic rock is getting more and more potent with age.

Museum Of Love lacks a big, standout track that’s likely to attract the attention of anyone not already smitten by the band’s affiliated acts. But it’s still a very good record that succeeds at being alternately funky and affecting.

In The Seams sees her settle down into a recognisable sound--a more minimal, stripped down approach than previously for sure, but one that accentuates her voice perfectly.

The album sounds like what it is, then: a spur-of-the-moment, vinyl-only release, written and recorded for simplicity and speed. On these terms, it succeeds.

A collection of songs that successfully articulates Khouri’s musical identity.

It’s thoughtful, intelligent and considered music that’s not afraid of having a sense of humour.

Ultimately, the whole album is a triumph of collaboration and should be seen as a celebration of the artistic vision of Rob Marshall. There’s not a misstep on a single track, and there’s a depth here that rewards repeated listens.

Simple Minds, then, are in extremely rude health. Where once their lyrics spoke of international politics and far-off destinations, now they deal with matters closer to home in a refreshingly direct manner. More power to their maturing elbows.

This is the best Warmduscher album, and arguably the best album produced by anyone from the Fat Whites stable since 2017’s The Moonlandingz debut.

Towards the end, it does seem to run out of steam a little bit (although only really Sunshine Song seems to be filler) but overall this is a remarkably accomplished debut that, excitingly, hints at even better to come.

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.