It's frustratingly patchy. [Aug 2016, p.114]

Silvery two-part harmonies, cello and snare rolls combine to excellent effect on Light Out, while Drummachines lopes along, a fuzzy bass loop and booming drum kicks offset with mildly Auto-Tuned vocals. [May 2013, p.103]

Varshons succeeds thanks to an inspired breadth of material. [Jul 2009, p.125]

Quarter-hearted anthems such as Winner fail to recapture the desperate glamour and delicate optimism of their best work, making Elysium the definition of a mixed bag. [Oct 2012, p.104]

They may not quite manage sustained quality, but they're getting closer. [Apr 2017, p.118]

It mixes experimental sketches and DIY electronica with Animal Collective-like Peel Free's meditation on a life quixotic. At times Aokohio plays like a TV randomly switching channels. [Sep 2019, p.116]

Lyrically trying to hard, and musically under-achieving, it amounts to no more than a shonky indie take on something that, when the pairing is right, can be truly magical. [Feb 2013, p.105]

A rhythmic assurance helps Muggs navigate the flabby portentousness that has hampered Massive Attack of late. [Apr 2003, p.113]

An eyebrow-raising mish-mash of cheap keyboard and guitar sounds and DIY grooves..... an awkward, yet occasionally beautiful listening experience.

A high-risk strategy, then, but one that largely succeeds thanks to Fink's languid delivery. [Apr 2011, p.103]

A Hundred Million Suns is just what their hordes demanded, similar enough to uits predecessors to be identifiably Snow Patrol but sufficently different to suggest progression. [Nov 2008, p.106]

Perfectamundo explodes into glorious Technicolor. [Dec 2015, p.107]

He retreats too often into dull AOR choogling. [Mar 2007, p.114]

A sumptuous record that leans heavily on familiar Floyd themes. [Apr 2006, p.111]

The suspicion is that, in parts at least, No World was more satisfying to make than it is to listen to. [Mar 2013, p.104]

Licensed to offend, he's as pumped-up and provocative as ever. [Nov 2008, p.121]

A touch more light amid the shade, though, and this would be a more redemptive listen. [Aug 2013, p.95]

Imagine a less florid Rufus Wainwright , or Paddy McAloon without the lyrical smarts and you'd be getting close: he even claims Prefab Sprout - along with A-ha - as a key influence. [Dec 2009, p. 116]

Margo Timmins gives haunting, basilisk voice to the songs ... even familiar listeners will be intrigued. [Dec 2011, p. 125]

His best since 2001's Here Be Monsters. [Jul 2006, p.114]

Fizzes with poppy yet streetwise energy. [April 2012, p.94]

It's the sinuous, propulsive bass of Malka Spigel (Newman's wife and co-founder of the Swim~label) that takes centre stage, never more so than on instrumental opener Faster, the first of several tracks to invoke the ghost of New order. [Jan 2010, p. 119]

It just about lives up to the hype. [May 2008, p.136]

Beautysleep veers from the exquisite (Keeping You) to the frustratingly bland (Moonbeam Monkey), with single The Storm the main highlight.

The production is pitched halfway twixt Adele and Bastille, and All I need feels like the album that will kick Foxes up from the second tier to the A-lists and playlists. [Mar 2016, p.110]

The sonic invention---fast-cuts between moods and styles, washy layers of aural colours--never gets in the way of the songs and the result is a triumph. [Nov 2019, p.116]

The Archer Trilogy were exercises in electronic indie that were sparsely fragile (pt. 1, mostly) or verging on Europop (much of Pt. 2). The final installment manages to combine both and is all the better for it. [Jul 2013, p.101]

A record that unfolds like a collection of short stories, occasionally hokey but more often affectingly vivid. [Feb 2014, p.108]