Make no mistake, this is a chilling album, but one with just enough of Haines’ own addictive madness to charm. Best take cover.

Yet, while neo does hark back to the logger-heavy, plaid-clad revolution from the Pacific North-West, it rarely sounds wearily derivative.

Numero have sifted through its cremains and found many precious relics.

Murry reaches their greatest heights on Wrong Man, which treats a relationship’s death as a foregone conclusion to gorgeously unfiltered effect. It’s little wonder the evocatively scraped strings and precarious piano of When God Walks In barely hold themselves together, though Murry’s capacity for clarity is equally pronounced.

Dessner's patronage will hopefully propel her to the Radio 2 attention such consistently insistent, early evening festival potential singalongs deserve. [Jul 2024, p.104]

It feels almost improvised half the time, but there's a quiet, escalating intrigue to their murmurings. [Mar 2026, p.105]

Another highly enjoyable country set that sees Ringo wear many (cowboy) hats. [Jun 2026, p.103]

And Your Song Is Like A Circle may not be overly diverse in its palette, but as every track flows gracefully into the next, listeners might just appreciate that fact. [Dec 2025, p.103]

[Phoenixes is] given layers of treated guitar and robotic backing vocals, creating a stillness that ramps up the emotional effect of the song. It’s indicative of the qualities of the album as a whole; potent stuff.

Anger suits Garbage’s most recognisable mode, often on forceful display here: dense, layered noise, all buzzsaw guitars, harsh electronics and industrial clatter. Yet there’s sonic variety.

While his delivery remains pleasingly rough roud the edges, Lewis has come a long way since initially finding recognition as part of the “antifolk” scene. Pleasing aspects of Manhattan are the lengthy likes of Back To Manhattan.

McCombs’ work can be a stylistic patchwork, charming and sparkling in its variety. But across what it’s fair to call just 10 tracks, and with an over-arching theme, it feels constrained, perhaps waiting in the station.

Smash The System is another complex smorgasbord that fans of Haines’ music and sense of humour will lap up. And that non-concept thing might just be another arch attack.

Lighthouse sees Crosby at his most stripped-back; rather than attempting to update his sound to suit the times it feels as if he has distilled it, leaving something akin to Essence Of Crosby, despite being crafted in cahoots with Michael League of Snarky Puppy.

While the concept may be suitably unhinged and the music boundary pushing, little of it ultimately sticks in the mind.

It makes for an uneven, unbalanced experience that, sadly, is better on paper than in practice.

Invite The Light is music to soundtrack late-night drives on LA freeways and, when it works, it’s sublime stuff.

A sparse recreation of her hymnal Second Sight from a previous album, This Coming Gladness, sums up the sound: unorthodox, riveting. Fantástico.

The result sometimes trips messily over its eagerness, but it’s also a sharp and bright, clever and fresh debut, with good ideas usually on-hand for whenever the intended effect isn’t fully banked.

Humanz’s flaw is what gives it its energy: like the scattered flashes of (mis) information flying out from every handheld and household device, the album throws it all at you in one gloriously delirious barrage that has no real anchor. Richly energised and energising, it’s not only infectious for the listener.

It’s a grower--and a cunningly deceptive one at that.

The Coincidentalist, recorded by M Ward and Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley, often sounds inauthentic and contrived.

Pylon is propulsive, girder-heavy and demands to be played loud. But like the best of their oeuvre, from early single Requiem to last album MMXII, it features chord progressions of intense melodic beauty like glimmers of the divine shining through the depths of hell.

While the album’s rear end succumbs to repetition, redemption arrives in the wistful Day Glow Fire and a bright-eyed duet with Debbie Harry on Shadows, where romantic doubts are treated as a spur to dream bigger.

Anderson says the album’s 10 songs form a loose narrative of journeys and experiences coming to an end, yet at the same time Pearlies points to a bright and fulfilling solo future.

2t2 is divided between rhythmic and meditative material, and it is never less than enthralling. [Aug 2025, p.105]

There's a lot going on here on what is a balanced and well-crafted album. [Dec 2025, p.98]

The overarching sentiment of the album - that development isn't linear, and healing is often cyclical. [Oct 2025, p.130]