She sings [everything] so prettily that you wonder just how authentic her misery really is. [Aug 2006, p.113]

For Polica, chilling out means going way below zero, resulting in an icy glitter that is seductive but ultimately freezes you out. [Dec 2013, p.112]

It's an album that's trying very hard--and succeeding. [May 2017, p.108]

Though bereft of the drama and surprise with which a top production can transform a song into cap-R Record, her ninth album is a ton of fun. [Feb 2013, p.104]

There's enough here certainly, though, to suggest he's one to keep an eye on. [Oct 2013, p.97]

The results are mixed. [Jul 2020, p.104]

Producer Joe Henry has softened the originals' raw edges without compromising their acidic content. [Oct 2008, p.152]

Forward-thinking dance music for head and feet alike. [Mar 2014, p.121]

Night In the Dark is retrograde, but it's a refinement too. [Apr 2015, p.97]

Halos & Horns has Dolly reaching fever pitch with Hello God and, with Not For Me, singing as beautifully as she has ever done. [Aug 2002, p.131]

An intriguing collision of the musical outer reaches and American indie rock. [Jun 2013, p.107]

There's a gnawing gutlessness at work here, which ultimately sells him short. [Feb 2004, p.101]

Sun-kissed first single Love Lasts Forever aside, the songs are often suffocated by vaguely outre production flourishes. [Sep 2018, p.110]

Owens is still lyrically overblown and adolescent with his themes, but his band have found a way to make their progressive intentions fit their punk rock. [Jul 2014, p.104]

Clearly her reinvention was a step worth taking, though it might have been more radical if she'd truly struck out on her own. [Aug 2014, p.108]

Synthetica's relentless efficiency feels a tad mechanical. [Jul 2012, p.107]

The shift between styles can jar, but it's a move that give Broods' inoffensive formula a welcome burst of energy. [Mar 2019, p.112]

Solid, but a little more derangement would have been welcome. [May 2017, p.107]

Clinic have performed a remarkable metamorphosis for the melodic, dreamlike Bubblegum. [Nov. 2010, p. 106]

The Brummie veterans' 16th studio album is every bit as gloriously over-the-top and ludicrous as you might imagine. [Aug 2008, p.135]

The result is an exciting, albeit one-paced, record, but one that arrives with a significant question mark over its purpose. [Oct 2013, p.98]

Style and contentment. [Jul 2020, p.104]

They too often tip into adolescent parent-scaring anguish. [Mar 2014, p.121]

Occasionally distant, the restrained urgency of Dracula and soulful vocals of Closer ripple with an enticing warmth. [May 2013, p.113]

Super absorbing. [May 2012, p.99]

A refreshingly upbeat counterpoint to 2006's opaque, Brian Eno assisted Surprise. [May 2011, p.124]

Intimate without being indulgent, the crackly production only enhances the home-baked mood. [Summer 2018, p.113]

Pitched somewhere between Lauryn Hill and Alanis Morissette, Furtado's songs - sung nasally in a style which occasionally recalls a less hysterical Gwen Stefani - are playful, unaffected and full of little surprises.