Optimisme is more Garageland than Graceland in its approach.

This is fully lived-in music with natural soul that is totally free of pretence, and a shot in the arm for anyone who hears it. It may only be six tracks long but Can’t Lose My (Soul) is one of those records the listener is simply grateful to have encountered. We are all the richer for it.

It all means that Sometimes I Sit… is a likeable, enjoyable album rather than a great one. Barnett has written half a masterpiece: let’s hope that, next time round, she can complete the job.

For body and mind, then, this is a powerfully affecting release, one that cements Rival Consoles as one of the brightest jewels in the heavily studded Erased Tapes crown.

Is it a rewarding listen? Most definitely. It will take time to fully get to grips with everything that the album has to offer, such is the breadth and depth of Iconoclasts. Its importance lies in its central message, which is (possibly) that healing is possible, even when it doesn’t seem to be. It’s a stunning achievement and quite possibly the album of the year.

Heartbreak is rarely as raw or bittersweet as it is on Michelangelo Dying. It is a brave piece of work, Cate Le Bon surrendering to her feelings in a costly emotional investment but delivering a piece of work whose release must be immensely cathartic. Such inner strength proves ultimately uplifting.

It is just one of the many avenues Bowie could have gone down, but the effect of what he has done is fascinating and wholly satisfying.

It’s a record that’s testament to going through hell and coming out the other side. It’s also an album that confirms Angel Olsen as one of the foremost singer-songwriters of her generation.

With The World Only Ends When You Die, Skyway Man has come up with a boldly visionary record that is bursting with ideas and provides unexpected twists and turns at every corner.

Magdalene is an album that, like FKA twigs herself, defies both genre and classification. Yet it’s a late contender for album of the year, with songs that will live you for months to come.

Letter To You provides both a moving thematic adjunct to Springsteen On Broadway and a timely and welcome burst of the sheer euphoria that only the E Street Band can inject. It also, importantly, demonstrates the band’s unacknowledged flexibility.

This album certainly is a rush, and it’s also the best Japanese Breakfast album to date.

The music is consistently either thrilling, evocative or moving.

Manning Fireworks is an album that you’ll keep coming back to time and time again, a record that firmly secures MJ Lenderman in the pantheon of great singer-songwriters.

By turns danceable, blissed out romantic, familiar and new, it's technologically and musically fascinating. Its juxtaposition of orga and mecha is one of its many well executed contradictions. Packed but sparse, thrilling, complex, innovative, simple. Without even a dud bar never mind a filler track, In Rainbows is more than any fan could hope for.

After just a few listens, it cements itself as the best Vampire Weekend album to date and, much like the New York City to which much of this album is an ode to, there are layers and layers to this record which are a delight to unpack and discover.

What Now is sometimes not an easy listen, but it’s certainly a thrilling and restless journey. Looking at how Howard has evolved from her early days with Alabama Shakes, a more appropriate title for this collection could have been What Next – as whatever does come next is likely to be intriguing.

An album of the year contender.

Nas is not a perfect rapper in 2022 but the chemistry on King’s Disease III works well enough to paper over the shortcomings, leaving a focused, well-executed release.

Culled from various single B sides, radio edits and with two unreleased tracks bolted onto the rear, the band’s musical cauldron appears to be simmering over with malevolent goodness.

No Selfish Heart is something to cherish all year round, no matter what’s in or out of fashion musically; something to keep coming back to when you’re unimpressed by everything else.

Foundations showcases the development in the band’s songwriting skills.

Songdreaming is a big musical event. It is a great place to start if you are less familiar with folk music, opening its arms to ambient and electronic influences while simultaneously celebrating traditional instruments and old melodic forms. It is also a great place to visit if you’ve lived with these forms of music for decades.

Idles offer so much more than mere spit and bile. The nuance of what’s on offer on this record contributes to the rich contemporary loosely threaded punk scene that has produced bands like Protomartyr, Priests and Algiers.

Boucher’s pleasingly scattergun approach means that it doesn’t hold together as a fully coherent album. Yet after a couple of plays, the weird and wonderful world of Grimes soon starts to seep into you, and soon you won’t be able to imagine an ‘albums of the year’ article without this being on it--no matter what the sleeve looks like.

With Dawn FM The Weeknd has demonstrated a vision that the vast majority of his peers would be incapable of, and has executed it with finesse and a slippery, enigmatic charm.

Black Tambourine have finally gotten the treatment they deserve. This is essential listening for anyone who wonders where indie-rock's been, or where it's going. The influence is obvious, and the music has never sounded better.

It’s a beautiful record to immerse yourself in and just lose track of time for a while – once its myriad charms have become apparent, you won’t want to listen to anything else.