This is possibly her most satisfying album to date; it is, at times, quite spellbinding.

It succeeds by flirting with polished pop sheen while also remaining grounded in bedroom pop roots. It may be a cruel world, but Humberstone’s songs make living in it far more enjoyable.

Over the last few years, she’s become one of America’s finest songwriters, and this album shows her continuing that trajectory.

A leisurely 77 minutes of beautifully orchestrated ballads, electronic experimentation, spoken word interludes and callbacks to previous Del Rey songs. Like the vast majority of her previous albums, there’s almost too much to take in, but you have to admire the sheer bloody-mindedness to do things her own way.

Simply put, When The Cellar Children See The Light Of Day is one of the best albums of the year.

Lush is an album that the devoted will take to their hearts and luxuriate in its sadness. Some may decry the lack of variety on show (there’s a definite template to a Snail Mail song and it’s stuck to rigidly on Lush), but it cannot be denied that this is a debut that promises great things to come.

This is a strong record, and one made with a singular artistic focus. Senni clearly knows what he likes, and he does it incredibly well.

It is inevitably an unfinished work. Studio banter is left in and some songs are mercilessly brief or feel like sketches. Nevertheless, its spacious textures, starkness and the emphasis on Molina’s understated but haunting vocal delivery mean that this music provides a window into Molina’s working process and creates a moving intimacy. It is like listening to the voices of ghosts.

Those who care not to pay much attention to lyrics might just find themselves bawling on the dancefloor without quite knowing why, as these earworm tunes form a perfect delivery system for the heartbreak (and occasionally a little vengeance) contained at their very core.

You won't find a more compelling wall of sound in many other places this year.

Even at 16 tracks (including the little spoken word interludes that scatter the album), it never seems too long or self-indulgent.

If you're willing to put the effort in, then you will be rewarded with an achingly beautiful and immersive album.

It isn’t always the most substantial record, flexing and braggadocio abound, but it’s an enjoyable collection of tracks from the power couple.

Her songs are a beguiling mix of sizzling synth-pop, and for want of a better phrase, Nordic-folk.

Assume Form finds Blake sonically in a state of equilibrium, having found two niches over the course of his career that suit him equally well. They complement each other well, and as the record ends with the soothing but wry Lullaby For My Insomniac.

There was a lot of pressure on Matthew E White to deliver something as good the second time around. Yet the expectation appears to have hardly phased him, as Fresh Blood reaches similar heady heights.

This is an absolute delight for a fan, but hard to recommend for anyone else. Of the entire back catalogue, Side Effects seems like the slightest of their albums, but at least its hottest moments go some way to countering how underdone the whole thing seems.

Following some recent setbacks in his personal life, Luke Abbott has got round to making, for all intensive purposes, his impression of a breakup record, and damn, if it isn’t a total knockout.

There’s blissful harmonies, jangly guitars and choruses that bury inside your head – and yes, while it’s not the most original sound, it’s a gloriously well put together record.

Fresh, inventive and likely to be one of the more promising releases of 2012.

If you don’t pay attention, it’s harmless background fluff, yet if you concentrate there are mysteries and subtleties to discover that demand repeat listens.

Together with the slimmed down line-up, Nature Always Wins feels like the start of a new chapter for Maxïmo Park. They’ve always been better than a ‘landfill indie’ punchline, and they prove it in spades on their seventh album.

This might be blues, it might be doom, but the return of Goatsnake can be nothing other than a good thing.

With Below The Waste, Goat Girl proves they can keep their high standards while trying out new things, and actually manage to pull them off.

There's plenty of pop tunes here, but there's also enough self expression and leftfield rambling to make this an album of real interest.

It all adds up to a very enjoyable record, one that fits in well with the current pop landscape while also working beyond it.

Justin Vernon has succumbed to his most inane impulses – and released a selection of unseasoned, lightly scented pleasantries that neither hit or miss. They just are.

The punkier title track stands out, as does the ferocious No Surrender, both featuring in their breakdowns the standout riffs from the album. But too much of the rest is lost in a barrage of blast beats, bluster, and bludgeon.