His languid delivery belies the very real anxieties that Dark Days + Canapés is scored through with, but the nervy sonic backing absolutely serves to accentuate them; what that leaves us with is an album that's more about personal politics than global ones, but that still feels scored through with the suffocating disquiet of life in 2017.

Miya Folick orbits and sometimes grasps something transcendent about living through unprecedented times on ROACH.

Suuns makes a point of honor to make the sounds as an absolute priority, the only small thorn lies in the melodies and vocals, sometimes too shy or idealistic to sublimate the whole.

This is a great entry point into the catalogue of one of Britain’s most inventive, iconic bands--but the shallowness of the record makes it largely unnecessary for anyone that owns the Original Sound compilations, or indeed the albums themselves. ​

All Around Us can’t seem to feel anything other than transitional. Having evolved some semblance of a skeleton from her previous work, given its flashes of excellence, one can’t help but hope it ultimately morphs into a fully moving, breathing being next time out.

Isbell’s ninth LP is a cautious refinement rather than a reinvention for the Americana icon – and as he explores a familiar set of themes, the lyrics can sometimes feel as though they could have been directly pulled from the cutting room floor of previous studio sessions.

If you’re a longtime fan of the band, you might be concerned about all this talk of simplification - you might even wonder if you’ll be able to detect the kind of madcap playfulness and mind-bending experimentation that brought you to the band in the first place. You’ll find out that actually, you can.

A solid enough collection of songs, each with a tight synthpop beat and strong vocal performance, but it isn’t necessarily a career-maker.

It’s intended to breathe life into everyday objects we take for granted. You made need a dash of imagination to bring those items into consciousness, but Silver helps the process along.

With all of their untameable if bizarre likeability, Shonen Knife are clearly a band that can just keep on giving.

To the Ghosts finds them in their most solid and mature form to date.

For those who already love the album, the remix works best when Litt’s touch is relatively light. An intriguing aspect of the remix is the renewed focus on Stipe’s vocals. ... The remix aside, this reissue should be a chance for those previously sceptical of Monster to give it another try.

SHYGA! The Sunlight Mound is great fun if you don’t think about it too much. It uses some brilliant inspiration taken from '60s psych and prog rock and even some hints of '90s grunge. However, it’s difficult to not take notice of the sameness featured throughout the record that makes it that little bit duller than it could have potentially been.

A few of the less memorable cuts drift by without making much of an impact: adventurous arrangements in search of a substantial centre that would allow for a real connection to be made. That said, the blissfully floating, richly melodic closing suite “Alma_The Voyage” makes up for the occasional idling.

It is a record that embraces recovery and revels in the joy of reclaiming what you love and wanting to go further with it. Gregory’s debut is an album that tells a painful story, with a renewed sense of optimism.

This album might not save the world or slow down the steady decline of our rainforests, but perhaps it will raise a little awareness, bring a bit of hope, and create a whole lot of smiles for all of those that hear it.

The London-based trio use corrosive riffs, candid lyrics and pop hooks to deliver their most direct statement of self-autonomy yet.

LP.8 is certainly roomier than Owens’ previous work. More directed at dedicated dance-heads, more suited to the durgy decrepitude of basement dancefloors, and more abstract in its approach. But LP.8 provides further evidence that Kelly Lee Owens operates in a field entirely of her own.

While it’s not their masterpiece, it’s still a great record.

Yes, the album could do with some variation in its sound and a few more wildcard tracks to switch things up a bit, but overall, MOSS is a gorgeous outing for Maya Hawke.

All in all, BITE ME is a lot of fun, like watching the drama unfold when you’re comfortably not involved. Reneé Rapp has solidified her place in today’s pop scene, and here’s hoping with a third record she’ll rock the boat.

Ultimately, Seek Warmer Climes subsists on mood and atmosphere, seemingly hoping that the listener will too. At its best, it’s an engagingly stylish record, an agreeably abstract work of oblique angles and wintery spaces.

Some listeners may miss the rawer sounds and leanings of her debut and the instrumental adventurousness of her second album, as Lahey wends her way through a less incendiary and more restrained sequence. Still, she employs volume dynamics skillfully, her melodies are consistently enrolling, and her lyrics, at once colourful patter, empathetic pep-talk, and a vehicle for catharsis, are aptly accessible.

Showing off the intricacy – the moodiness and magic – the band are so excellent at creating, and building to the heights promised on earlier tracks, it’s the perfect note to end on. It doesn’t feel quite final, but it feels like an appropriate moment to pause.

There’s a couple of minor stumbles, and it has a knack for dithering, but when it comes together, it really, really comes together.

The more you listen, the harder is gets to place this record in a rundown of the overall Warpaint output.

Forging strength in the wake of confusion, The Haze is the rapturous escape you've been craving.

A work of striking, defiant abstraction that cements Braxton’s position as one of the most interesting composers of modern times, and one that’s more than worth careering off the road to.