Songs such as Ripe For Love and merry Nightmare are lengthier and more fully realised than anything he's attempted before but they remain enveloped in a fog of gauzy effects and disconcerting time changes. [May 2015, p.111]

It's a record which ultimately leaves you cleansed. [May 2015, p.108]

This second LP, though, sees the four-piece flit between the two camps with varying degrees of success. [May 2015, p.103]

Surf's up, and deservedly so. [May 2015, p.112]

Hemming's voice has an authentic catch, but for all the lyrical loneliness, his lavish arrangements are packed with ideas. [May 2015, p.107]

Not a huge departure from the day job, but who cares if the result is as consistently enjoyable as this. [May 2015, p.100]

There is nothing much new here for longtime fans, but Royal Albert Hall is a fine live record of one of popular music's minor-key geniuses. [May 2015, p.104]

Portico are definitely onto something here, but just haven't fully realised it yet.[May 2015, p.109]

A moody, sensual record that unwraps its pleasures slowly. [May 2015, p.111]

Damogen Furies is one of his more consistent efforts. [May 2015, p.111]

Georgiadis and his crew have all the chops and charisma to pull this lunacy off. [May 2015, p.114]

They still sound confident and all-conquering. [May 2015, p.103]

All in all, it makes for a promising re-start. [May 2015, p.106]

When Mendel cranks things up, he's on shakier ground. [May 2015, p.107]

This enthralling, enigmatic statement conjures a mood that's all its own. [May 2015, p.108]

It's a harder-edged, slightly less cartoony thing than their youthful debut, but it's still exuberant and frantic like a puppy with an important message. [May 2015, p.110]

An assured second outing, Fast Food is a full realisation of Shah's noirish visions. [May 2015, p.111]

It might be a little too smooth for plant-seducing ubiquity, but Tuxedo still deserves to get lucky. [May 2015, p.114]

If some of Stornoway's folkier past has been lost in transition, then so be it. Fortunately, the conceptual nods to birdlife on every song from chief songwriter and rained ornithologist Brian Biggs compensate by finding a mainstream-friendly alternative. [May 2014, p.112]

If there is an immediate impression here it is one of polish and precision. [May 2015, p.104]

A collection that feels like a fresh bookend to their first three classic albums. [May 2015, p.115]

They're onto something here. [May 2015, p.115]

Clever as it is, there's all too little that actually engages the heart as well as the mind. [May 2015, p.111]

Calexico rarely disappoint. But this is a definite leap forward. [May 2015, p.102]

It's purging stuff, for sure, but clearly empowering and, as a listener, you're with him every step by highly emotional step. [May 2015, p.101]

They've seemingly ditched their Wicker Man aesthetic for something altogether more contemporary, bringing in programmed with all the glitzy sheen of, in fact, an '80s revival. [May 2015, p.112]

A little extra salt in his songwriting and he could yet conjure up a classic. [May 2015, p.100]

The familiarity of Ivy Tripp breeds disquiet, rather than contempt, its surface cracking like thin ice, revealing its depths. [May 2015, p.115]