With the lightweight numbers up front and the centrepiece dominating the lacklustre cast around it, the album is surely one of the most uneven and unsatisfying in recent memory from Callahan.

Like all of Hval’s work, this isn’t an album to listen to as background music, or pick and choose what tracks to listen to. It’s an album to immerse yourself in (a real ‘headphones listen’) and just surrender to for 42 minutes.

Best listened to in silence on a home stereo with cinematic projection; this is a remarkable achievement from Johannsson, and a welcome change from the string-drenched sound that has become ubiquitous in modern film scores.

It’s very far from cosy easy listening, and it’s certainly a record you have to be in the right mood to fully appreciate. Yet as an entry point into the bewitching, disquieting world of Keeley Forsyth, The Hollow is pretty special.

It’s imbued with a spirit and attitude that only the very best pop records have. Much like Dua Lipa’s incendiary second album Future Nostalgia it’s the sound of not just a step up but a whole leap to a new exalted level of pop excellence.

There are moments on Good Souls Better Angels that recall mid-’90s Neil Young in its focused fury and righteous anger – some may be put off by the rather grim tone, but if you’re seeking a soundtrack for the end of the world, you’ll find none better than this.

Having produced one of the albums of the year with just her second effort, it’s incredibly exciting to ponder where she’ll go from here.

The overwhelming impression is of a band looking forward, seizing opportunities and further boosting their reputation. The second half of the album feels like it has even more to dig into, even greater depth to explore.

Lewis has made a striking debut that delights in the most surprising of ways.

Daniel Avery has a specific set of tools in his arsenal and these are sometimes spread a bit thin, but Song For Alpha is still a worthy follow-up to 2013’s Drone Logic and an enjoyable listen.

This is an astonishing album.

Overall Wake Up The Nation is an impressive achievement which sees Weller's brand of psychedelic soul-rock revitalized. Retro has rarely sounded this fresh.

[An] understated but epic album.

Richly melodic and beautifully performed, A Piece Of What You Need deserves to be a big commercial hit.

What is most impressive about Route One Or Die is the utter sense of conviction and commitment brought to every aspect of this complex, intricate music.

Lost In The Glare is a wonderfully cohesive album of instrumental-avant-Americana.

Pop Tune is in the top handful of records that Shonen Knife have released; a slight update on the rougher sound they pedalled in the first half of their career, but it still sounds DIY-enough to please the faithfuls.

It might not be new any more, but it’s still formidably potent.

In spite of its impassioned politics and firebrand title, Statement Of Intent for the most part pursued a more mature writing style with greater depth and subtlety. Everything We Hold continues this trend, whilst also offering strong, affecting songs that might increase this band’s commercial potential.

At the grand age of 72, he’s grown into his voice and can sing with conviction and honesty, but not at the expense of youthful venom.

The music and the narrative are excellently executed by four top-rate professionals who’ve got your respect (and attention) by earning it.

This is an occasionally beautiful, often strange album that deserves a wider audience than Christinzio’s previous releases.

Fatima’s Hand is another evolution for McPhee’s singular playing style, and a characteristically immersive, absorbing experience.

This is a quietly powerful, and intensely beautiful, record whose contemplations will bed themselves in your mind and hopefully move you towards caring about the issues raised as deeply as she clearly does.

Transforming states and changing perspectives are once again the order of the day. Modern Kosmology marks another triumphant evolution.

On second LP, Résistance, Songhoy Blues feel not only like the ultimate festival draw but also the party band par excellence.

Musically, Tundra’s invention is everywhere. Paint Can employs ultra high-speed chord changes and sudden tempo lurches, Golden Doldrum is an inside-out and back to front bit of burbling robot pop, and recent single Alarms is O Superman turned banger, with rhythms crossing rhythms.

On paper the sound palette on Scramblers is bracingly limited, drum machines pushed to their limits and bare-bones accompaniment, and in the hands of a lesser producer the record could well become irritating and tedious. But the sound design, sparse and abrasive though it is, is playful enough to keep energy and verve pulsating through the album’s brief run-time.