Magic Whip finds enough majesty and intrigue in the band’s more meditative days to remain worthy company to any of the band’s classic LPs.

This sort of alternate-universe intimacy with songs we've already come to love makes Versions a wild success, proving that something wemusic once coveted for its desolate nature can be just as warm and familiar when flipped into something else entirely.

Plunge feel vibrant and more alive. There are crucial moments on the album where Dreijer slows things down a bit to let everything sink in. Even on the quieter moments, however, the mood of the album is deeply human.

While eloquently arranged, Flowers’ uniform anguish makes for an uncomfortable listen, even more so than its sonically daring predecessor, 2020’s Petals For Armor. ... Hopefully, the creation of this album — easily her purest songwriter project so far – also provided some peace.

Whatever it is, this music is full of adult pleasures.

On Destroyer's eight album, Bejar lives up to his stratospheric self-regard. [Apr 2008, p.94]

Tegan and Sara's music may no longer be the stuff of teens, but its strength remains in how much it feels like two people talking.

She reinvents herself as a salacious digital temptress, crooning through soulful slow rollers. [Mar 2002, p.129]

It's immersive and transgressive, if you care about this stuff.

This time around, the band square their artier tendencies with their sweet tooth for classic psych-rock. [Aug 2002, p.110]

Wave(s) is louder, catchier, and about half the length of The Water(s).

While he played the easygoing, likeable mope that rattled through life on Never Hungover Again, Cody is more daring and complex document, bled through with cynicism and exhaustion.

The pop ingenue’s impassioned, sassy and highly satisfying debut album.

The results are even more immersive than the stuttering microhouse rhythms on which he built his reputation originally.

Rain Machine doesn’t have TVOTR’s Berlin Wall of Sound might, but it’s still an accomplished work.

Her ability to transcend her influences has always been song-to-song, and that’s true here, too. But it also feels like she is inching closer to a breakthrough: an album that fully lives up to her reputation and ambition.

Upbeat sentiment is scarce, yet there's barely a downcast moment -- no insignificant trick -- and somewhere Alex Chilton nods his approval.

Startling turns of phrase are just another of this stunning album's grim charms. [Nov 2006, p.103]

Oberst's countryish genre studies have deepened with a very adult loneliness. [Apr 2007, p.89]

H.N.I.C. Pt. 2 is a real downer, but it's also completely gripping. [Apr 2008, p.102]

Synthetica manufactures dependable, big-hearted joy straight through, whether it's slightly gloomy or coquettish or just flat-out pop fun.

The trio's new album, Never, is a fleet, fizzy experience with a mixtape-like flow (Levi has created or co-created five of those, as well) and makes earlier Shapes music seem undercooked by comparison.

Sparhawk tentatively hits highs in Wayne Coyne territory, imbuing the canyon-filling swirls of background synths and simple, sad, jangly riff with echoes of The Soft Bulletin. “Spanish Translation,” on the other hand, is Low-core and lovely.

Mixing stately story ballads with Cee-Lo-esque uptempo jams, Back to Love presents songwriting substance as style, and although that might not be flashy, it's mighty refreshing.

Animal Collective’s latest sees them painting with confidence, acrylics, dinosaurs, Bob Ross, a twist, and a wipe out.

Beneath the bleakness is a perky mix of deep house, dub, dance-oriented rock, and acid jazz pieced together from bits of live percussion, electric bass, flute, sax, and an overflowing grab bag of indie guitar. [March 2002, p.132]

A set of punchy roots pop whose backbeat thumps as hard as her still-wounded heart. [Jul 2006, p.86]

In making a record about growing up, Lopatin’s come out on the other side in one mutated piece.