It’s just about impossible to live up to the hype that an album like this has been subjected to, but Ocean comes pretty close. Blonde is often a bit of a sprawling mess, but with some patience it becomes one of the most rewarding albums you’ll hear all year.

A wonderful album, undoubtedly a career best and an exemplary case study in how to respond artistically to a life-changing event.

By the time Heavens Sent’s mellow guitar line fades out it feels as if Glacier has reached a spiritual breakthrough – the journey to this point, while fragmented and non-linear, is one of the most accomplished debuts of recent times.

In an interview once, she admitted, “I see things in my head. I dream in colour”. This posthumous addition to her near perfect catalogue confirms that statement, expertly revealing how attuned to the universe she was and how vibrantly her imagination shone in the dark.

Thin Black Duke should be regarded as a genuinely innovative and exciting piece of art.

This album, though not what anybody on the face of the Earth would call ‘fun’, is an absolute classic of modernist architecture. It’s certainly the best thing she’s ever done.

Daughters have provided a soundtrack to satisfy our ghoulish intrigue with a rare beast that is both thrilling and wholly singular. Yet, however darkly disturbing You Won’t Get What You Want is at times, its matchless quality elicits awe and wonder, and strangely, that brilliance provides a surprising and curious warmth.

The jittery electronics of closing track New Year’s UnResolution close the album, confirming L’Rain’s special ability to expertly splice sounds and styles to create something distinctive and original.

Part catharsis, confession, panacea, exhumation and confrontation, these are mantras for healing, hurting and helping. Their elliptical nature leaves room for interpretation, and offers a way in for those who may be suffering unawares, without losing any of the passion behind their delivery.

Bright Future consolidates the view that Lenker is now one of the most distinctive and powerful voices of her generation and these new songs will only deepen the intensity with which her music is received.

Songs like Joy and Cruise Ship Designer and Hit My Head All Day offer enough immediate pleasures to ensure the replays keep happening. It adds up to an incredible record from one of the very best bands in the world.

It’s not the easiest of pop albums to listen to but its raw power makes it a dazzling triumph.

It’s a remarkable, joyous and life-affirming record, a testament to remaining musically open-minded and progressive, and very much confirms O’Hagan’s under-appreciated genius.

Big | Brave’s music doesn’t feel in the slightest contrived. This is rock music, for want of a less reductive term, at its exhilarating and imaginative best. In Vital they have created something you can’t quite grasp or capture, yet the invitation to attempt it is all too persuasive.

In many ways, it’s the perfect soundtrack to a world struggling to emerge from a pandemic. ... If there’s a criticism to be had, it’s that it all sometimes seems a bit cold.

No Thank You could be forgiven for resembling a victory lap, but it is a triumph in its own right, cementing Little Simz’s position as one of rap’s essential voices.

All involved have created one of the most unusual and surprisingly moving records I have heard in some time.

It is also one of the most jaw-droppingly beautiful albums that I have heard since its predecessor.

Vulnicura feels, overall, as if it is one of Björk’s most successful albums, one where she mostly finds sonic strategies that are well matched with her concepts and themes.

It might not be as immediate in places as some of his previous albums but given time these songs grow and blossom in similar fashion to the flower that adorns the album cover.

Birthing feels, in a romantic way, like both an ending and a beginning. An exceptional album from an exceptional collective, led by one of the most powerful songwriters of the past 40 years.

It’s the sort of album that even repeated listenings can throw up a myriad of surprises: you never really get to know who the character of Father John Misty is (is he a self-hating misogynist, is he a sage or is he just a simple romantic?), but it’s clear that Josh Tillman has slowly turned into one of the most talented songwriters of our age.

While the album is unmistakably Hecker’s vision, it’s the listener’s experience.

Puberty 2’s only four-minute plus song was far and away its weakest, but here the songs are short, richly melodic, with layers of detail packed in--like super-compressed sad-pop bombs--and topped by Miyawaki’s vocals, at once commanding and plaintive.

For a debut album it's brilliantly realised and contains not an inch of flab across its 11 songs. Debut album of the year? It's beyond doubt.

Dig deeper and you'll find that Goat has managed to create not just a world of their own, but an album that draws on influences from all over the world.

While some fans will always have their favourite Deftones album (White Pony being the most popular), it’s becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish what their best album is, especially when they’re in form as hot as this.

The album could have been a niche critical favourite that marked them out as just curious oddities. Instead every preconception has been firmly smashed. Firmly on track to become the biggest band in the country, Wet Leg are here to shake the post pandemic culture out of its slumber.