With Struggler Genesis Owusu has followed through on his potential, and hopefully won’t be getting the boot from listeners anytime soon.

Still heavy, still personal, but with the support in place. There’s something generous about it. That matters, especially in a genre so easily pulled into nostalgia as shoegaze.

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.

If John Grant never feels the need to write his memoirs, it’ll be because they’ve been played out for us over the course of these three brutally frank, flawed but ultimately human albums. Never less than enjoyable, the next chapter is bound to be worth the wait.

Perhaps if each song were half the length, the fun, easy-listening element to PBJ's music would be more clear-cut. As it is, Writer's Block proves a real struggle.

It is this contrast between the mundanity of the everyday life, personal vanities and dissatisfactions of a bunch of self-styled "young adults" and the terrific roar and hyperbole of their dirty, dark riff-laden music that provides the neat twist in Pissed Jeans' tail and gives this album its extra frisson.

This collection of songs have no problems with originality (redundancy isn't an issue) but it never escapes its aged disposition.

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

The Solution Is Restless, by its title alone, does not have all the answers – but its musical debates are gripping. The spectacle of three creative identities finding common ground in a divisive world is both priceless and inspiring.

The songs often look upwards, preoccupied with celestial bodies as they speak of the moon, the sun and ultimately the stars, for which the music often pines.

Slave Ambient is an amazing record, but it is far from immediate as these songs take time to develop into something tangible.

There may not be too many of the pop hooks that Lush were so good at delivering, but this is a more textured, layered sound. Anybody yearning for the glory days of shoegaze will find a lot to enjoy here, and Tripla is the start of an exciting new chapter for one of indie music’s great survivors.

Laura Mvula has proved emphatically that her debut was no one-off and this highly accomplished return establishes her further as a unique, captivating talent.

Alex G’s skill is in tackling difficult subjects and squeezing them into the most wonderful kernels of pop, and once again, he’s succeeded here.

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.

Occasionally you get the impression that she’s trying a bit too hard – Bed Chem attempts to make a filthy pun on the word ‘camaraderie’ that trips up over its own unwieldiness. However, there’s a lot to enjoy, even love, on Short N’ Sweet.

Many Blue Nile classics whispered their way to five minutes without outstaying their welcome, and there's plenty here that could have done the same. It's a minor quibble, however, when an album sounds as lovingly crafted, honest and subtly passionate as this.

It has an astonishing level of clarity about it.

It's neither an easy nor a joyful listen, but tolerate the unrelenting gloom and it is never less than absorbing.

This music is at the core of what he does and has informed his musical language throughout his career. The fact that he manages to breathe new life into melodies as overplayed and hoary as What A Wonderful World or as complex and beautiful as Lush Life is triumph enough in itself.

Importantly for a concept album like this, the pacing is effective throughout with a good balance of light and shade, and because of this the narrative is consistently immersive and engaging.

Quaranta is not nearly as explosive as XXX – released around the time Danny Brown turned 30 – but we have engaging lyrics, head-nodding beats, and another quality record from one of Detroit’s best musical exports.

There is a fine line between catchiness and tedium on Grassed Inn, and the formula doesn’t always work.

There certainly seems a lot to unpack in Father Of The Bride, and at times there almost seems too much crammed into the album.

One Day I'm Going To Soar still feels like a triumph, in spite of its transparent flaws.

There are some tracks that don’t impress as much as others, but overall there isn’t a weak link in the engrossing narrative Harcourt has created here; it’s an utterly absorbing record, burning brightly as his boldest statement to date.

This album could easily be written off as being derivative and stale, but when you spend more than 30 seconds thinking about it, you realise just how rare and unique this sound actually is in 2018.

Every track is dripping with smooth chords, funk-influenced rhythms and a retro quality to the production, and is all the better for it.