Community and self-realisation win out on Our Girl's sublime second album. [Dec 2024, p.108]

There's a tight band of bluegrass/country players and the music takes off accordingly. erudite picking alongside intelligent lyrics with subtle rock sensibility. [Dec 2024, p.107]

It's Efterklang's lushest, most straightforward and earwormy album to date. [Dec 2024, p.106]

Gillespie's words can sound like platitudes when they're written down, but his sincerity and the music's sonic freshness and influence-exposing urgency elevate the material, evoking the Primal Scream of 30 years ago. [Dec 2024, p.104]

The quality doesn't let up. [Dec 2024, p.109]

Treated and more elaborately arranged vocals are the fore on Strawberry Hotel. [Dec 2024, p.109]

With the help of collaborators, showcases the full spectrum of a unique talent. [Dec 2024, p.109]

The buoyant Abigail and the jangly dream-pop of Some Sunny Day lend the album some welcome lightness in the face of the melancholy that we all have to endure at times. [Dec 2024, p.108]

Tracks like the clipped, infectious Zombie Love and strutting, preening Cool People show that their ability to write catchy hooks with a sharp edge remains undimmed. [Dec 2024, p.108]

While some songs are slow-builds - though alt-ballad I get Lost is delicately untouched - the likes of God Of Everything Else and You Will Come Home take on an overwhelming intensity at a stroke. [Dec 2024, p.108]

Witty, wise and wonderful. [Dec 2024, p.108]

Bright, nimble and eager, Someday, Now is a shape-shifting treat. [Dec 2024, p.108]

Ruari Meehan's nuanced production provides for a far more immersive listen. [Dec 2024, p.108]

Although Key possesses some lovely moments - an intrigue-filled Fire, the gothic synth-pop of My Right A.R.M., a tender World Without End - many of these re-dos possess a curious lack of energy. [Dec 2024, p.108]

Vocalist Maria McKee's pure, twangy holler takes centre-stage on the early Lone Justice setlist staple Rattlesnake Mama and a Benmont Trench-led swing through MC5's Sister Anne. [Dec 2024, p.107]

Make It Fit is a worthy reunion record that extends Karate's legacy in all the right ways. [Dec 2024, p.107]

A perfect, if bittersweet, swansong. [Dec 2024, p.107]

The results exceed expectations. A feeling of spontaneity, bonhomie and effortless musicality informs every groove. [Dec 2024, p.107]

An album of fevered imagination and boundless musical daring. [Dec 2024, p.107]

Lyrics apart, the opening title track features lush orchestration and twinkling piano used to nice effect throughout. [Dec 2024, p.106]

The Canadian musician's addiction to discovering the new and unusual remains nothing less than compelling, although sometimes this results in truly great music (here that means Volume's dreamy house reinterpretation of MARRS' 1987 rave classic Pump Up The Volume, the albums standout) and other times the expansive sense of ambition doesn't achieve lift-off (such as Campfire's nebulous and hard to grasp electro-folk). [Dec 2024, p.106]

It's a beautiful album, finely written and exquisitely executed. [Dec 2024, p.106]

Oberst's lyrical palette bulges with literary references, Elon Musk critiques and confessional plaints, while spectral Chan Marshall duet All Threes hits a note of welcome restraint. [Dec 2024, p.106]

Although recorded with different producers in Mexico and Nashville, you can't hear the joins on Bridges' warm embraces. [Dec 2024, p.106]

An intimate, expansive take on Brit-folk influences, mapping unexpected detours before achieving a communal flush. [Dec 2024, p.106]

Amyl's best album yet is also their most varied, finding the messy dumb fun in a mad dangerous word. [Dec 2024, p.106]

It is sad and striking in beautiful waves. [Dec 2024, p.106]

Sun-dappled and introspective, O Avalanche is a delight. [Dec 2024, p.108]