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

An album of gorgeous, lush songs.

This entire album is in a constant state of movement, and could just be their finest moment yet.

And Then Life Was Beautiful shimmers in the heat of the summer just gone, and strikes a good balance between exhortation and introspection.

In all aspects has Swift built upon her work on Folklore, creating a vast soundscape of poetical stories, and it is only at the end of this album you realise that Folklore did leave you wanting. Evermore also does this, not because it doesn’t reach up to the pedestal of folklore – in contrast, it covers the more complex ground.

While much of Memento Mori is thoughtful, and some of it visits the dark side, there is a great deal of positivity underpinning Depeche Mode’s work as a duo.

To say Lookaftering takes up where Just Another Diamond Day left off is an understatement. It feels like no time has elapsed at all since 1970, neither in her own life nor the outside world.

It’s another fine addition to a canon of work that has, over the last 20 years, been consistently excellent.

No longer the challenging, lo-fi music of yore, what has arrived in its place doesn't have the individuality or character to sustain longer lasting interest.

This is an astonishing work, one that highlights Kanaan’s remarkable worldview, that you’ll unconsciously find yourself gravitating back to, time and time again.

They still have plenty to give, plenty to say – and Bauhaus Staircase stands up there with the cream of their electronically harvested crop.

These songs are stamped full of her personality and they mark a major evolution as a songwriter. As the final chords of the heartrending Comfort ring out, it’s impossible not to think that yet another major Antipodean talent has put a new marker down.

It is clear from her latest opus that Marissa Nadler is at the peak of her powers, giving us a work whose intensity burns brightly. Here is a set of songs that keep their head while all around are losing theirs. The more you listen, the more you fall under their spell, just as you would want from your next box set craze.

Dance Fever is a startling return, full of all the elements which made us sit up and take notice of Welch in the first place.

At times, it’s so honest that you may feel like you’re prying into someone’s diary, but it will be a major surprise if this funny, clever, heartbreaking record isn’t nestling at the top of the Album Of The Year polls come December.

Anyone interested in music of whatever form, the work of any of the contributors who are present here, film scores, or Tiersen’s early work specifically, will surely find Portrait to be quite the perfect picture.

Dim Probs feels more personal, confidential, and ultimately vulnerable. It reaffirms Rhys as a generous author, celebrating his first language but taking in rich influences and instrumentation from countries far and wide.

Like low hanging fruit plucked fresh from the vine, the bacchanalian temptations Daniel and collaborators such as Angel Deradoorian, husband MC Schmidt and John Wiese offer are a scrumptious treat in which to indulge.

trip9love…??? is what happens when brilliant artists navigate their way around self-imposed limitations: most music doesn’t sound like this, but perhaps it should.

Shunning a tried-and-tested formula to focus on evolution and experimentation is always a massive risk. But by choosing to embrace their calmer, and often much darker side, the Dubliners could well have given us their masterpiece.

While it’s a stretch to describe the record as ‘poppy’, it’s certainly their most accessible material to date, with songs like The Arbor, Videograms and Let’s Get Lost taking up residence in the head long after the record has stopped playing. ... It may be only January, but there’s already been a place filled on that Best Albums Of 2019 list.

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

Their previous albums were exercises in fuzzed up, energised sonic assault, and whilst Fantasy Empire is no different in terms of attack and intent, there’s a clarity to it that makes it more effective.

Recent years have seen outstanding releases by people like Claud, Chloe Moriondo and, on an even more successful level, Maggie Rogers. Jordana is firmly in this lineage, and Face The Wall is an outstanding realisation of a prime talent.

It may never be regarded as his best work, but for certain fans at certain points in their lives, it’s all they need to hear.

Voices also feels like a celebration and validation of music itself – its capacity for profundity and to be a conduit for ideas. The world may be going through an unprecedented period of difficulty, but Voices is an album that will no doubt prove a worthy, supportive companion throughout.

Looking back on traditions of the distant past and moulding them within a modern sound and context, it marks a striking release from an artist that is still surprising and innovating deep into their career.

Former Pulp bassist Steve Mackey eventually ended up producing the record, and he gives Pierce’s various sonic wanderings space to roam, but sadly it’s an amble of a circular nature.