Not all of the 11 tracks here strike gold, but they glitter and glow with positivity.

After You may plough a relatively safe furrow in its construction and execution, but he is a very relatable singer, and the keenly felt blue-eyed soul on here should win him new converts.

Certainly short and in places sharp, Schlon is just the right level of sweet, too. With increased variety in his arrangements and a willingness to explore slower paced rhythms, Souleyman underlines his ability to fulfil a passionate mission for bringing joyous music and its message of love to ever wider audiences.

Athena announces a major talent in Sudan Archives. It’s original, exhilarating and unafraid to defy genre.

Sometimes Everyday Life’s restless quality can be its strength, at other times it makes the album sound unfinished. It does mean though that it’s resulted in Coldplay’s most interesting album for many a year.

It’s a beautiful, fitting send off to one of music’s finest lyricists and an excellent postscript to an incredible career.

There is a strong sense of enjoyment in the nooks and crannies of these tracks.

In a year where R&B and hip hop have proved the most innovative and original genres Solange has delivered a brilliantly crafted record that places her right at the top.

Not only is I Have Made A Place the most consistent work Oldham has put out in some time, it is up there with the finest in his now very extensive back catalogue.

Magdalene is an album that, like FKA twigs herself, defies both genre and classification. Yet it’s a late contender for album of the year, with songs that will live you for months to come.

As an album No Treasure But Hope feels both familiar yet also a development. Emotional density to the lyrics pairs admirably with passionate, compelling music, and it’s varied enough to encourage engagement from beginning to end.

The recorded experience of the band is entirely different to that of seeing them live of course, but these last two albums are perhaps about as close to the bone shaking, mind expanding, air shifting onslaught as has yet been committed to tape. Somehow, Pyroclasts is more stripped back than Life Metal, but that merely adds to its live and immediate feel.

All in, Courage marks an impressive return.

A record to cling onto in the darkest of times, until the inevitable light starts to breach through again. Those TV montage soundtrackers may well have just found a new source of music.

While this different feel to the album leaves some of the pacing feeling a little repetitive, there is no doubt that the talent shines through.

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.

[Love & Hate] was a magnificent album, and the formula is continued with the same collaborators to stunning effect on KIWANUKA.

FIBS is an album that shows Anna Meredith is excelling at what she does best – creating forward-thinking, engaging music that isn’t replicated elsewhere.

The simplicity of the music here makes it a perfect entry-point for ambient fans who got into the genre through Max Richter‘s Sleep playlist. But it also makes it a perfect moving-on moment in the band’s career.

Two Hands is a good album, albeit one labouring under a slight sense of anticlimax given what has gone before.

Gira’s ability to look at the world and show us how terrifying it is continues to reap rewards. It might not throughout be what we’ve come to expect from Swans, but it is decidedly relevant.

It is a celebratory record, a special piece of work with deeply thought sentiments that leave a mark on its audience from the first listen to the most recent. The rich orchestrations celebrate the world around us, discovering it to be far more colourful and expressive than we could have dared expect.

With this record Teebs continues his reputation for immersive, sophisticated instrumentals.

Olsen, her arrangers and producer (The Paper Chase‘s John Congleton) have created an album that simply bulges with perfection and timeless songs.

The concept pays some dividends, with production that frequently finds a pleasant hybrid between gospel and contemporary production and subject matter that surprisingly doesn’t outstay its welcome. The big problem is Kanye’s lyrics, which have lost a lot of the charm they had in the early years without improving in technique, and at various points the tracks have a big hole where a genuinely powerful verse should be. Nonetheless, Jesus Is King is certainly an improvement on Ye, and a purposeful if novel release.

Encores is a clear illustration of Nils Frahm’s ability to work both in small and large structures, with plaintive piano nuggets and broad electronic canvases enjoying their proximity.

It’s an exquisite, softly delivered wonder of an album which contains many of the things that he’s excelled at over the years while leading The High Llamas.

It’s an album that stands up on its own and remains, musically at least, a positive, upbeat and highly enjoyable album.