You can’t help but feel that See Through You is also an evolution – for all the right reasons. “Crazy-noise-rock” is at its core, but with some interesting curveballs peeking through the onslaught, perhaps the band are approaching their greatest adventure yet.

Where Barking was all about the kinetic energy of the feet and arms, Barbara… joins the soul and the head, its rhythms enhancing rather than driving the experience.

Fake It Flowers is a very well-accomplished debut, featuring a consistent, enjoyable style, a fully-formed persona and catchy tunes which speak to the head and heart.

There isn’t any doubt that The New Sound will divide people – for every listener who has their mind well and truly blown, they’ll be another who derides it as self-indulgent tosh. However, you certainly won’t find another album this year that sounds so intensely creative, ambitious and packed full of ideas.

On first listen it feels like the musical equivalent of doodling a massive cock-and-balls on a Rembrandt, but eventually this reveals itself as the first moment of compositional brilliance on an album packed full of them.

Mixing hardcore punk with pop rock is a tricky proposition, and it’s definitely a dog who’s had his day, but Militarie Gun play with such sincerity and passion that it becomes infectious.

Returning as a duo obviously suits them, as this may be the band’s best album to date. Viva Hinds, indeed.

It seems to be a study of gender, sexuality, innocence and sin, and ultimately identity; and it feels literary, in the way it deliberately and self-consciously turns over its themes.

The Family Afloat reveals itself as a record that is promising, enchanting, and imbued with a wry optimism that at times is tangible.

Chvrches are in a comfy place at the minute: their sound isn’t all that new or exciting anymore, but it’s still as enjoyable as ever, with more anthemic lyrics and shiny synths than you can shake a memory stick at.

His dance credentials already assured, this feels like Cutler reasserting his artistry; an exercise in expressive revivalism, where myriad influences are sketched from memory; an album whose headline proposition is new, despite the ageing origins of its component parts.

Faithfull’s warm gravelly tone imparts a real fullness to each one. Sonorous and calmly delivered, it’s indeed a surprising joy to let the words wrap around you. A large part of that gratification comes from Ellis’s charismatic score. Unobtrusive to the point of almost being fictional, piano keys are soothingly caressed with the slightest of touch, violins tremble thriftlessly and the watercoloured melodies all but turn to vapour.

These outstanding songs, imaginatively and intuitively balanced by clever production, cohere to form a serious work reflecting on landscape, memory, regret and the pull of our roots. It more than earns its somewhat portentous title.

On that first listen, then, Fits is unlikely to come off well....By the third, you're clamouring for tickets to see them live.

It is a work that will continue to surprise and delight over time. It is all about the small details.

Gold and Green finds its mark far more consistently than Kila, despite being a far more expansive and rambling album.

Origin: Orphan is even more extraordinary; a howling, mechanistic piece of post-rock in the vein of Godspeed You Black Emperor!

None of this could be called pushing boundaries, but each production is a striking piece of craftsmanship.

Unmistakeably the best of Ryder-Jones’ albums to date, West Kirby County Primary is cathartic, sometimes desolate, but always raggedly enjoyable.

Palomino isn’t a perfect album by any means. A few tracks feel a little rock by numbers, and for all the excellence on show Treetop Flyers do lack that streak of originality and cosmic weirdness that elevate American contemporaries such as Father John Misty or My Morning Jacket. Yet these are small criticisms of a band who have built upon the promise of their début very impressively indeed.

GLA is by no means perfect and there are a few tracks that don’t quite reach the heights of the album’s brightest moments, with Missing Link and closer Mothertongue both struggling to hold their own. Yet it is hard not to be impressed by Twin Atlantic’s conviction throughout as they show what they can do with the shackles off.

All things considered, Unseen feels like a missed opportunity for The Handsome Family. It’s by no means a bad album and one established fans will undoubtedly enjoy, but essentially the band are on auto-pilot when it would have been great to hear them go up a gear.

A winning combination of intricate, impeccable craftmanship and human warmth, Re:member is a record that further enhances Arnalds’ reputation as a truly modern composer, capable of scaling heights few of his contemporaries can match.

The record feels as if a lot of time has been spent on it – getting the sound just right, making sure the collaborations work – and the result is a triumph from a producer whose sound has lost none of its flair.

Stoddart has obviously brought out a new, more experimental side to Harvieu, as Revel In The Drama is a much richer listen than Through The Night.

Half Japanese have once again smashed it out the park, this time with a bewitching assortment of rubbery love songs and caustic noise, all centred on the subjects we truly wanna hear about: celebrities, Hollywood monsters and unrequited love (often between celebrities and Hollywood monsters!).

Djourou sees him continue this trend of musical mergings, although this time it is the inclusion of vocalists that provide the main points of difference.

Weller could easily be forgiven for just living off that immense back catalogue. Instead, he’s relishing that elder statesman role and striving forward. He may not be the angry young man of the past, but his fire is still burning bright.