At just over half an hour, it’s a short, sharp shock to the system which contains some of Stern’s best songs to date.

There’s a new sense of optimism shining through the songs, especially on tracks like Hey I Won’t Break Your Heart and Tell Me, but it’s always tempered by a wistfulness that only experience can bring.

There's just enough pop influence to catch the audience's ear along the way - the refrains on Chocolate Makes You Happy, Dear God, I Hate Myself, and This Too Shall Pass Away (For Freddy) are as infectious as any mainstream pop song.

Overall, this is a fine debut album that does exactly what it says on the tin. While they won't win any points for innovation, Two Door Cinema Club are going to find their way into a lot of people's hearts during 2010.

What’s most impressive about Black Hours is how Leithauser can bounce from one style to another without disrupting the flow of the album.

This is, without cliché, a life affirming record. It is easy to share in the wonderment at such a young life when Weeks phrases his vocals as he does.

As a standalone album From Scotland With Love is good, but found wanting in areas of length and substance. As a soundtrack to a film, it’s wonderful. The context to choose is the listener’s.

Adam Pierce has concocted a cogitative brew, a fountain of trills 'n' thrills, that has the noisy echo of '80s New York noise bands, glimpses of the Fusion and Latin flair that transfixes the likes of Fila Brasilia and Jimpster, and the gossamery drift of Scandinavian techno-pop.

When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go? is a startlingly good introduction to Billie Eilish, an album full of attitude but with the talent to back it up. Where she goes from here will be fascinating to see.

Becoming Undone is a twisted, thrilling ride, at once stylish and unhinged, showing that more sophisticated production techniques haven’t taken away any of ADULT.’s edge over the years.

There are numerous highlights to be found across these songs but Herod 2014 and Fetish stand out in particular.

Me And Ennui… is pure articulation. Just when you think that Sarah Mary Chadwick has shone a light on every one of her warts, here comes the ‘and all’.

What we ultimately get with New Moon feels in part like a Best Of retrospective, but also in part a surreptitious and rather voyeuristic peek at Smith's innermost workings and thoughts.

This is a fantastic record, and yet another reminder of how good this band are. Nothing seems out of place, not a single riff or beat is wasted. New styles are performed with vigour, and the band sound energised and refreshed. An essential release.

Two decades on, Formentera sees the band still going from strength to strength, evolving their sound as time goes on, while retaining all the elements which make them such an enjoyable listen.

Sisyphus is a compositionally superb production that adeptly mixes the members’ unique styles.

Both Lights [is] both a complex and fascinating listen in equal measure.

Laura Veirs makes an excellent case for herself as one of the most under-recognised singer-songwriters working today and the album's summery soul lingers long after first listen.

This is a tremendous album that provides a new favourite each time you listen.

Girl Friday are quite clearly on their own path, and all the better for it.

Brothers is a woozy, murky album, fat as a tick, and riled up like a kicked hornets' nest. Whatever growing pains they've gone through as a pair has been worth it; Brothers hits harder than either of their solo albums.

That Golden Time is undeniably a slow-burner of an album, and like much of Villagers’ previous output, it’s more than likely that a few repeat plays will pay dividends.

Overall, The Border is an exquisite collection of tracks that not only emphasises Nelson’s artistic longevity (he’s 91) but also demonstrates his enduring ability to craft or convey profound and relatable narratives through song.

The resulting wash of sound makes for an escapist experience par excellence.

Demon Days as a whole is a thing of considerable depth and melancholia and offers rather more soul than the cartoon gimmick would suggest.

Memoria is a substantial listen, and could probably be broken down into two shorter LPs of different styles, but its creative verve provides quality as well as quantity.

It's a journey through the West Country trio's brand of infectious bluesy garage rock and evocative of a head on collision between The Kills and the Arcade Fire.

Perhaps not a headphone masterpiece, but a generous slice of frank and thought-provoking tracks regardless.