An underplayed, subtle triumph, but a victory nonetheless.

This enchanting and deeply felt piece of work marks Gwenno out once again as a unique artist with much to say.

The Blue Hour has finesse, sensitivity and lightness of touch: all the hallmarks of a great modern classical album. In Federico Albanese, we’ve got a new name to watch out for.

The voice of Shirley Collins is blossoming again, delivering its compelling stories with the urgency of a singer who simply had to make this record. Collins is a musical key worker, her songs compelling at every turn.

The Tarnished Gold sees them return sounding fresh and revitalised, delivering an album that more than matches their earlier output.

It is a celebratory record, a special piece of work with deeply thought sentiments that leave a mark on its audience from the first listen to the most recent. The rich orchestrations celebrate the world around us, discovering it to be far more colourful and expressive than we could have dared expect.

It’s a smart, attentive-demanding progression--within the song and throughout the album as a whole--that deftly captures various stages of love’s cycle. With added synths.

Palms then is so much more than the sum of its constituent parts. It won’t please everyone, particularly those with preconceived notions. But with any luck, this collaboration will continue beyond a single album, because on this evidence they’re really onto something.

It politely demands your attention; it wants to transport you elsewhere, to a place in which to daydream and reflect. Hindman and Versprille were absolutely right to go it alone; they’ve made a beautiful album.

To use an oft-heard cliché, Fir Wave is a life-affirming album – in the broadest possible sense. It celebrates natural phenomena that exist beyond our own life spans, to be present (we hope) long after we have departed.

In spite of all that’s going on, the ground that Shame manage to cover, it all hangs together brilliantly. Drunk Tank Pink is a great album, from whatever angle you look at it.

Suddenly finds Snaith in his element, writing beautifully endearing tunes and setting them to multi-layered production in a way only he can, and the results are spectacular.

It is the best album start-to-finish from Hot Chip, one that continues to show their deft range--from infectious disco hits to soulful ballads.

We may not know the full detail behind each song but simply being drawn into her world and sharing in the healing process ensures Big Picture provides a cathartic experience that few other albums will match this year.

Building on the innovations of previous album Immunity, it invests more emotionally and retains the primal physical stimulus behind Hopkins’ best music. He remains a wholly individual voice in a congested field, a single phrase played from his piano speaking volumes. And Singularity is his best album yet.

Blu Wave sounds absolutely steeped in sadness – it’s full of pedal steel guitar, luscious string arrangements and Lyttle’s fragile vocals. It is, in a word, beautiful.

A vacuum that sucks you in and dumps you among the dust you tried to sweep away. And from the dunes of that dust emerge a band well in their stride.

Another album imbued with wisdom and sharpness of mind, undoubtedly music for the slow lane. As a writer of quasi-autobiographical songs that offer uniquely considered observations on human relationships and general life detail, Gold Record proves he’s moving into a realm of his own.

He’s not resting on his laurels lyrically, but we have entered a new phase where his output is reflecting him in a more raw sense. He’s just as inclined to bellow his producer’s name with blood-curdling intensity as he is to ruminate on his place in the rap game, and with results like these his position as “big me” is surely secured.

Black To The Future is both musically and thematically bold and important. It is a major statement contextualising the present, aiming to better understand the past and, hopefully, providing a provocation for a better future.

This is as close to the spirit of punk as you’re likely to hear this year (or any year).

If there's a more surprising album this year, we'll be, er, um, surprised; Primary Colours is one of the best albums of 2009 so far.

Corinne Bailey Rae has completed a remarkable comeback, against titanic odds, and for that she should be applauded. But to do it with a record as powerful as this is extraordinary.

With this debut it is clear that O'Halloran and Wiltzie have prosperously joined neutralist ambient and 20th century classical music together. In so doing they've formed aesthetically pleasing sounds which can allure every night-time audience.

Dead Magic is a brilliant artistic statement, Anna von Hausswolff’s best self-definition to date.

While Ghostpoet will never be considered an easily accessible artist, this is the enigmatic follow up we’d hardly dared hope for.

That an album that sounds this vibrant and thrilling came out of such dark circumstance is a testament to the songwriting skills of Showalter. Pain never sounded so good.

It’s just as special as you’d expect.