The sound of an artistic slump coming to an end. [Dec 2017, p.107]

Alicia Bognanno's diary-like vocals still slide from ingenue-like to raging screams and back again but now her delivery is a little more taut. It makes the bits where she loses control feel very real. [Dec 2017, p.102]

Across these songs, Bridgers manages an unusual marriage of delicacy and lo-fi wit, and it's a union that has led her to quietly make one of the albums of the year. [Dec 2017, p.102]

The Ooz can be dark and difficult. But it is also ambitious and delightful, reaffirming the delightful, reaffirming the delicate boundary between beauty and ruin. [Dec 2017, p.103]

An album rich in swirling emotions, backed by inspired productions from electronica virtuosos Arca and London-based Jam City. [Dec 2017, p.106]

Sun Gong is a two-part aural resonance-bath suitable for ultimate relaxation. [Dec 2017, p.106]

While Introspection and Ocean Flow Zither pluck strings in infinite caverns of echo and temple bells, elsewhere things are more earthbound, though still transcendent. [Dec 2017, p.106]

While generational ennui smoulders in the lyrics, their main concern remains heartbreak and its vicissitudes. [Dec 2017, p.106]

Such bitter pills are sugared by some stellar Cure/Smiths-style indie arrangements, making this an uneasy treat. [Dec 2017, p.109]

A rip-roaringly varied listen. [Dec 2017, p.109]

An album with dirgeful ballads, though they do at least let her show off her excellent voice. [Dec 2017, p.109]

The result is as Russell surely intended. [Dec 2017, p.110]

Her second album's pithy songs of turmoil, imperfect love and drinking bring the weight of personal life experience. [Dec 2017, p.110]

Where The May Queen plugs into a strain of joyous psychedelic folk that owes much to the 1660s as the 1960s, the stark desert blues of the title track showcases Plant's love of North African music, not to mention a voice that's been beautifully weathered by the elements. Who needs a Zeppelin reunion anyway? [Dec 2017, p.112]

This is an almanac for the chronically inert, best when bottling the sparks that fly as misery meets fine company. [Dec 2017, p.111]

Hedben crafts the best album of his career. [Dec 2017, p.112]

A soul-baring album it may be, but The Weather Statio's forecast is still bright and breezy. [Dec 2017, p.113]

If there's a weakness it's the lack of an obvious pop banger. [Dec 2017, p.113]

Pacific Daydream can be read as a bitter reaction to the Trump era and geo-political chaos, or maybe it's just a set of (mostly) great tunes that provide light relief from it all. [Nov 2017, p.114]

A spirited version of Wild Mountain Thyme salutes his influences but it's Head's own songwriting that draws attention. [Nov 2017, p.113]

Everything you love about the band is here, along with anything you don't. ... The demos drive home just how beautifully The Smiths played together. [Nov 2017, p.116]

Rarely has he sounded so consistently vulnerable. It suits him. [Nov 2017, p.107]

Old fans will be delighted: new recruits may be seduced. [Nov 2017, p.112]

Nine jewels of noir glamour. [Nov 2017, p.108]

If their principal audience is a nostalgic one, The Selecter deserve credit for refusing to bask in its obvious comforts. [Nov 2017, p.112]

This polished set plays to his strengths--Oil And Water is an emotive half-ballad with Rag'n'Bone ambitions while the surging Fuel To The Fire channels Emeli Sande. It's a relief, though, when he lightens up a bit. [Nov 2017, p.112]

Modern folk songs shot through with great melancholy and humour, and embroidered with bursts of electronica and instrumentation. [Nov 2017, p.108]

Their most richly-coloured record to date. [Nov 2017, p.104]