The sense here is of two artists drawing creative sustenance from new light. [Jul 2018, p.112]

It's good, but then again no better than a genuine, crackly, long-forgotten B-side or buried album track that a specialist reissue label might have unearthed. And there, ultimately is the rub. [Jun 2010, p.127]

It's clear where this record's from, but where it's at remains an alluring mystery. [Mar 2017, p.112]

Explores the furthest reaches of what its creators have christened "junk-shop glam." [May 2019, p.119]

Such willful awkwardness means they're never likely to rise above cult status, but this is still a very welcome form. [Jan 2013, p.105]

It's angry, piss-yourself funny, bursting with ideas and endlessly quotable. [Aug 2015, p.107]

It's all quite ridiculous and lots of fun. [Jul 2018, p.111]

Years & Years currently seem unconcerned with idiosyncrasy and edge, but it's hard to mind when they've hit a pop spot this sweet. [Summer 2018, p.112]

Teeming with new developments and heralding a welcome lightening of touch, this is a major step forward. [Mar 2018, p.114]

Most riveting are the ballads, where he conveys a devastating truth with conversational ease.

Their trad arrangements of others' songs are bewitching, but it's a pity they don't pen more original songs. [Nov 2009, p.112]

Maraqopa sounds like the place he's been searching for all along. [Mar 2012, p.105]

Haunting debut from post-dubstep pioneer. [March 2011, p. 113]

Grandaddy sound like a lo-fi ELO and, in frontman Jason Lytle, possess an admirably unusual songwriter. Sophtware Slump is more coherent than their 1997 debut Under The Western Freeway, Lytle having settled on a theme: knackered electronics.... Cheap, cheerful and utterly charming.

There's only 22 minutes of material here, including skits--but his edge has never been sharper. [Jan 2019, p.113]

It's complex music but with enough of a melodic charm to hook you in, easy to appreciate but hard to fully grasp. [May 2016, p.104]

While it might not feature too many songs the faithful will be hollering for at gigs, it's crammed full of ear candy. [Jun 2015, p.98]

If World Eater has an ear for the end-times rave-up, it's also not going anywhere gently. [Apr 2017, p.111]

Shadows, their eighth album, piles the instrumental layers back on without sacrificing any of the Scots' traditional strengths. [July 2010, p. 140]

Draws you in and then pulls you under. [Apr 2020, p.108]

A meditation on modern urban life that lets the city shine with mystery, menace and grace. [Jan 2004, p.118]

These are skewed, disturbing, beautiful songs...

Hypnotic stuff. [Summer 2020, p.100]

Over a strident indie-rock soundtrack, singer Kate Jackson comes across like a female Morrissey. [Dec 2006, p.138]

They're back to their trouser-soiling best here, genre-hopping like mad and avidly playing the "long game." [Jan 2016, p.113]

A pleasure, of course. [Dec 2018, p.104]

Rarely has a band justified the attention put upon them so beautifully. [Jun 2019, p.112]

In time, Devils & Dust will be regarded as an inspired stopgap. [Jun 2005, p.105]