There’s the feeling that, behind her mask of the anthropomorphic goddess of climate change, maybe, just maybe, this is Grimes’ most honest and reflective album yet.

This a slow-burning, intimate and accomplished disc, best enjoyed if you clear some space to let it grow.

Mackenzie Scott seems to have reached that stage of her career where she’s just happy to please herself, and it’s resulted in her best album to date.

For deep and lasting inspiration, A Small Death is hard to beat.

Amid all this existential and transcendental pondering, there’s the sense that Vampire Weekend have re-imagined themselves as the sort of band who could be doing this well into their 30s.

Half remembered, half acknowledged, half understood, it is, in short, very subtly brilliant.

Highlights are hard to pick out when so much of Happysad pursues the same vibe, but overall the album is an easygoing yet expressive release, highly recommended for fans of jazz and Stones Throw’s output.

Strange Friend is a tight, concise and incredibly satisfying listen with the right mixture of familiarity and progression. Read more at http://www.musicomh.com/reviews/albums/phantom-band-strange-friend#XfgsSdbaV2H9zOTz.99

What makes this charged debut such a powerful statement is its impeccable flow. From the moment Devil In Me swaggers in like a Molotov cocktail, you know this is going to rock - hard.

Everyone involved seems to work well together.

It’s the perfect break-up album as there’s no wallowing--rather, there’s a steely defiance running through these songs that make Tall Tall Shadow a surprisingly uplifting experience.

Olympia is a rich, soulful immersive album; and a terrific return to songwriting form.

A welcoming listen, it begs for repeated plays, each time opening itself up further.

While it lacks the initial rush of Hunting My Dress, The House That Jack Built throws in surprises and twists and turns that are evidence of a satisfying progression.

Although the writing credits on all but one of the album’s tracks is given to Pressnall and Fackler, thereby excluding Bohling, it is her mesmerizing vocals that form the basis of the album, and leads to its artistically collaborative success.

If this is the sound of the Apocalypse, it's the sound of a fiendishly inventive musician and his talented producer trying to squeeze in all the great ideas before armageddon hits.

In both being muscular and sparkly, they have made a brilliant album that makes being in a band sound like the most fun thing in the world.

Punchy, playful and exhilarating, with Euphoric Georgia has regained her artistic verve.

The Mess We Seem To Make is a remarkably confident, assured debut album – every inch of care and time that’s been lavished on it has obviously been well spent. Crawlers sound very much like a band on the cusp of some very big things.

Hell-On is a good demonstration of just how great she’s become.

Exile In The Outer Ring explores complex subjects without reducing them to empty soundbites and neat conclusions.

It’s probably not the sort of album to cosy up with – there’s so much emotion pouring out of Cummings’ vocals that it may all become a bit much for some listeners. Yet it’s astonishing that this is just her second album – there’s more poise and talent on display on Storm Queen than in artists with twice her career.

It’s certainly a very different sort of album from Native Speaker, with far more emphasis on glitchy beats and ambient electronica than on their previous record, but after a few listens you can’t help but be impressed by the evolution on display.

The success of the album lies partly in the production, which allows the teenagers close to the limits of acceptable disorder, but reins them in and lays on the quality when needed.

This is clearly and audibly the work of a musician, composer and performer keen to embrace evolution and the possibilities which that opens up - not only within individual tracks or across a release, but also in terms of his overall body of work.

Clark takes creating this soundtrack to monumental forms, letting the components get weathered and scarred through his manipulation to create a landscape of history, emotion and musical depth.

One of the standout albums of 2012 so far. Tremendous stuff.

It’s their strongest album to date, and while Speedy Ortiz are probably never going to make that giant leap into the mainstream--they’ll always be a bit too abrasive and lo-fi for mass acceptance--Twerp Verse is the sound of a band standing on the verge of great things.