Cosmic Troubles lives up to the promise shown on Lack Of A Lake. It's mellow, super-chill dream pop.

He seems to be making an effort to be more positive, though sometimes that comes across as cumbersome or strained.

It requires some patience, but it's worth sitting through the less immediately gratifying moments for the final section's payoff.

Latham's plaintive voice sounds like it's emanating from some romantically ruinous daydream. The effect suits the mood but makes his lyrics difficult to decipher, which is frustrating given his pointed message.

It's easily his most personal work yet, and even though the story of his mother's difficult life is hardly universal, the results are deeply moving and richly evocative.

The band's maturing on Kintsugi, which, if you remember the haircut and attitude of your 16-year-old self, is always a good thing.

It's a trip, a varied one with heavy/light and ugly/beautiful balances in perfect moderation.

The results are intimate yet expansive--a pleasing balance between post-rock sonic experimentation and traditional songcraft.

The odd bit of distortion on I'm Ready and Watch Me Go disrupts the otherwise pristine party, while a heavy flirtation with piano house on Old Love/New Love returns us to life-affirming territory.

Goon is an indisputable triumph and a staggering opening statement from pop music's newest Piano Man.

Too much of the record lacks that song's percussive drive; all the pretty singing and unhurried tempos start to blend into a tepid listen, and the experimental near-spoken-word turn on Strange is just, well, strange.

A stellar, necessary batch of smart rock songs.

Lamar sounds simultaneously like a man firing on all cylinders and struggling to keep it together.

An album for piano and string quartet, this follow-up to the superb Solo Piano II is another soothing listen, and fine orchestration by Hamburg's Kaiser Quartett adds greater harmonic complexity to Gonzales's songbook.

Songs you'd expect to swell and boil over--which is what Modest Mouse are good at--often end up trudging humourlessly (Ansel, Be Brave), and things get far worse in the moments where humour is actually the goal.

An intriguing tension exists between the lo-fi production touches and pristine hi-fi sounds, and similarly between Cook's joking/not-joking attitude.

Suri's clearly committed to losing his joke rapper image, and while this attempt is not consistently successful, the high points balance out the stumbles.

The album is surprisingly full of acoustic sounds and wistful balladry reminiscent of her 90s material, but it also plugs into a load of dark, restless and weird club rhythms with help from a coterie of in-demand producers.

The grand aesthetic that makes Arcade Fire such a force is on full display. But compared to last year's plodding AF album, Reflektor, Butler gets to the point so much quicker.

Take You High, Dance With Me and Nostalgic find her ceding the floor to a few grating drops, builds and chopped-up vocal samples as well as some trendy 80s synth rhythms. Those diversions aside, this is another Kelly Clarkson album that's all about maximizing her big steamroller of a voice.

Anyone who's spent time digging through crates of dusty vinyl would be thrilled to find 12 previously unheard boogie songs that stand up this well.

It's so soft-focus as to rarely assert itself or command attention, but fuzz-pop Free The Skull brings to mind Pink Mountaintops, boogie rocker Slow Down Low has a blissful pulse, and Thieves gets terrific mileage out of a hypnotically repetitive riff.

Too bad clunky lyrics hold things back at times.

Three years later, Purity Ring's sophomore effort lives up to the anticipation.

It has a range of emotions, all showcasing Smith as one of the most unheralded songwriters out there today.

The band's straightforward punk leanings give way to more angular, spacious, softer songwriting--and some welcome metal nods in the title track--partway through the 10-track album, but Paternoster's vocals never back off. That's where the power, hooks and originality come from, but they're a little relentless.

While it doesn't mine new territory, Restarter is the sound of Torche getting comfortable and digging in their heels.

Chasing Yesterday breaks no new ground but does show more range than we normally expect from Noel Gallagher, possibly a result of his taking on production duties this time.