The result is uniformly deft, sumptuous and moving. [Apr 2018, p.110]

While album two adds flavours from the Mediterranean and Iran, the fundamental intent is the same with less-is-more funk beats and bass providing an opiated shagpile foundation for Mark Speer's light-touch guitar lines. [Apr 2018, p.111]

Rock Island will leave intrepid listeners feeling like they've glimpsed many shades of paradise. [Apr 2018, p.112]

His abiding fascination with conceptual work is mirrored in the mischievous spirit at play on Pure Beauty. [Apr 2018, p.113]

Much of Brighter Wounds is beautifully textured and sonically impressive but songs feel constructed from carefully plotted blueprints, which doesn't leave much room for nuance. [Apr 2018, p.115]

Throughout, Man Of The Woods seesaws brilliantly between pop and country. [Apr 2018, p.116]

Last Night makes for a perfect farewell, with tracks from across the band's career. [Apr 2018, p.116]

Make Way For Love is a brooding and soulful offering from an artist keen to burst expectations. [Apr 2018, p.116]

A grand vision is hard to discern, but when it comes to bringing the party, Culture II delivers with a scale and swagger that's hard to resist. [Apr 2018, p.117]

In A Poem Unlimited never preaches its messages--it purrs them, the melodies letting them percolate slowly. Remy has taken on today's biggest topic and made it sparkle. [Mar 2018, p.105]

Their latest is in constant motion. [Mar 2018, p.108]

The sound of a seasoned crafstman at work, One For The Ghost is a record that radiates his customary warmth and intelligence. [Mar 2018, p.104]

A record that embodies a whole world of vulnerability, confusion and unsteadiness without losing shape. [Mar 2018, p.102]

With their harmonies having never sounded more like perpetual benchmark The Everly brothers, the cantina guitars and dusty, hazy lyrics conjure a world of adobe bars and lazy roof-top jams as the sun dips behind the cactus. [Mar 2017, p.111]

The title track sounds like it was written for a TV movie and Lower The Tone is a sexless sex-jam, but it's an energetic return regardless. [Mar 2018, p.113]

Hardcore aficionados might doggedly stick to the original but for new fans, it's a treat. [Mar 2018, p.107]

The sound of a band renewed, Always Ascending fizzes with the energy of a first album and lets Franz Ferdinand start all over again. [Mar 2018, p.106]

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

This is a beautiful, soul-searching record and the one that Joan Wasser has spent her whole life building up to. [Mar 2018, p.110]

The scale and bombast of this record are inescapable, it has a swagger one might associate with acts far bigger than those in the cult hero waters Furman swims in. [Mar 2018, p.112]

They churn and drone their way through five epic tracks culminating in the 16-minute And I Will, a pop-psycho-trip of wailing voices and flutes. At this late stage in the game, it's excellent behaviour. [Mar 2018, p.104]

Delights in filtering classical motifs through electronic effects. [Mar 2018, p.104]

At times, it teeters between nostalgia and self-parody. .... But you can forgive the odd-slip-up, because the whole thing sounds so joyous. [Mar 2018, p.115]

Gusts of electronic noise, ominous drones and Menuck's semi-spoken vocals fight for supremacy throughout, occasionally coalescing into something special. [Mar 2018, p.111]

An ideal Fall primer for the uninitiated. [Mar 2018, p.117]

This is a record of stormy intensity, hauling its emotions up to the mountainside to expose them to the elements. [Mar 2018, p.115]

While it lacks the polish of a major pop album, it's not dulled by the overthought conservatism that might bring with it. [Mar 2018, p.115]

Weaving Song and Poor Old Horse's exhilarating communal bellow show the band homespun and raw. [Mar 2018, p.115]