Slinky, spooky, superb.

Lovely album from a true one-off.

But where Learning drifted into the ether, this captivating follow-up thrives off harnessing his fragile sensibility to fulsome melodies.

While there is nothing here which startles, the spirit of the music is vivid.

For anyone who lived through grunge, this is mere nostalgia. Anyone who didn't is advised to go straight to the source.

With A Wonder Working Stone, Alasdair Roberts continues to blur the borders between ancient and modern, between heady myth and harsh reality, and between folk and whatever sounds right in context.

Those moments [where it's stirring, sentimental, and altogether too safe] aside, there's plenty more that is beautiful, forgettable and primed to aid a little light Sunday-afternoon catharsis.

A passionate, heartfelt, serious, dogged effort, pregnant with reflection and as wise as you could hope for.

The Village largely whispers rather than shouts, and it's all the more powerful for it.

If you like smart pop and are not familiar, hearing Bird for the first time will feel like discovering a new planet.

Bloodsports is effortlessly superior to its predecessor A New Morning, and averages out roughly on a level with Head Music (though more consistent in quality).

Stephen Malkmus is back making amiable but unchallenging off-kilter country rock songs.

There isn’t a shadow of doubt expressed here about where Mavis is going, but there is plenty of feeling that the journey, like all journeys, is bordered with darkness.

Believers is made of a darker, spookier Americana than its predecessor: full of small-g gothic, anti-Chris Isaak-ish songs that submerge you deeper and deeper in their dark charms.

Her first UK release is a polished, bluegrassy thing of no small wonder.

Boy manage to tease something close to pop perfection.

"What's Wrong with America" is the masterpiece, doo-wop and social protest mixed with God-bothering. Someone book them for a festival, quick.

Classy pianos, minor chords and brushed drums back her ever-elegant, half-spoken syllables.

A couple of tunes, including the title track (one of two West Side Story selections, along with "Tonight"), can even sound a little pedestrian, the swing faltering. But, given time, most of it works.

The warm human purr of her ethereal vocals is juxtaposed towith fluid electronic elements and the occasional welcome interjection of bluesy guitar and jagged off-beat percussion.

The Atlanta singer delivers soulful, socially conscious meditations.

It's as close to a perfect Americana album as there's been this year--fans of the California sound from CS&N to the Jayhawks will find much to love.

Big only because Arcade Fire think big, Reflektor stretches stadium rock’s reach in the acts of self-reinvention and revitalisation. Now that’s entertainment.

Taken on its own merits, however, there's plenty to enjoy, as Bush sings new vocals over remixed and re-edited backing tracks in a deeper, more weathered voice.

Fluent melodies, nature metaphors, and expressive settings are the robust ties that bind these reveries.

This album shimmers.

These are tipsy juke-joint stompers with feeling in their heart as well as dust in their grooves.

Daves is a guitarist, Thile a genius of the mandolin. Both sing. Together they hammer and tongs the songs like smiths.