Offsetting these slightly creepy lyrics, however, are seductive sonics. [Mar 2020, p.122]

It's an album that suggests You Me At Six are trapped between three, possibly four, different idea of who they want to be. [Mar 2017, p.115]

While taken individually each song has its merits, as a whole, Spook The Herd is disappointing musically, with nothing rising out of the politely artful haze to truly engage. [Apr 2020, p.111]

The weightless combination of flambe-d guitars, glacial vocals and mid-tempo time signatures feels a bit like being trapped in a well-constructed airlock, easier to admire than enjoy. [Jan 2014, p.126]

Though a certain battle weariness has set in, many songs lacking The Wedding Present's trademark guitar bluster of old, Gedge remains wry, dry and wholeheartedly likeable. [July 2008, p.111]

Their first full album polishes some rough edges down to a soft-focus burr as synths eddy away in a fog of sound that is often only given direct form by the haphazard beats beneath. [Dec 2010, p.113]

While she could let her hair down a little more, this record finds plenty of sweet spots between melancholy and euphoria. [Summer 2020, p.107]

But for all their obvious influences, they're as youthfully exuberant as MGMT and surely no band has used echo quite so deftly since interesting-period Jesus ANd Mary Chain. [Apr 2011, p.104]

Get Lost is a deliberate break with the woozy synths of his earlier work. The rest of the LP doesn't quite follow through n that adventurousness. [Aug 2017, p.112]

Essentially, Fatboy Slim is doing little more than repeating his past, but the quality here doesn't suffer for that. [Nov 2004, p.120]

Album 13 of experimental Californian acoustic folk. [March 2011, p. 115]

The good news is that Grotesque rocks like a bastard.... Not so good news is that Manson's shock shtick still lacks real substance. [Jun 2003, p.103]

There are moments of genuine heartbreak amid the musty gloom. [Oct 2005, p.115]

Maynard is clearly being primed to take on Bieber. Hence the ultra-pop, super-slick confections he layers his not altogether unpleasant (but not utterly spellbinding voice all over. [Sep 2012, p.105]

Another French fancy, then, though one likely to appeal only to those with more rarefied tastes. [Jan 2014, p.127]

This third album is more in the same gold-standard, singer-songwriterly vien. [Dec 2008, p.130]

No Way Down mischievously demands to be consumed whole at hazy after-hours sojourns. [May 2009, p.107]

Those seeking the key to The Script's success will remain puzzled. [October 2010, p. 113]

Not all of the dream-influenced Gold Past Life is sharp enough around the edges to propel Johnson away from cultdom, but the high-definition poignancy of Drawn Away and the title track's aggressive Bee Gees pastiche show him decisively pushing at the walls. [Aug 2019, p.111]

Like most grime, the words come thick and fast, as do the beats, a feeling of punch drunkenness settling in long before the end. Job done, then. [Mar 2011, p.116]

Inevitably there are moments that would benefit from smoothing out, but part of the appeal is getting to ample Giannascoli's talent when it's still raw. [Dec 2014, p.110]

A punchy, potent return from one of UK music's most distinctive voices. [Apr 2018, p.115]

If possibly too shiny for some tastes, the spooked '60s folk of Wounded Heart adds a touch of darkness. [Feb 2015, p.117]

The occasional vocals dilute the atmosphere, softening the bionic techno edge of the best tracks, but on Dilate, Vessels sound like a band widening their horizons to impressive effect. [Apr 2015, p.112]

So while this collection of singles, B-sides and cover versions might lack the tight focus of previous album Etiquette, there is still flashes of lo-fi pop brillance. [Apr 2009, p.102]

Nothing scary or difficult ever happens. [Feb 2003, p.96]

Throughout, Crutchfield maintains a seething, triumphant line in catharsis that she channels into gruff college rock ad dreamy introspection. [Aug 2017, p.112]

An assured first step. [Aug 2015, p.114]