Sometimes doing what comes naturally is as big a risk as attempting to do something outside of your comfort zone, and that gamble paid off this time for Tokyo Police Club.

Moon Tides is a daydream, not a rollercoaster ride, and if you’re not enchanted with the album from its earliest moments you’re unlikely to find anything that will catch your attention down the line.

Caveman could benefit from a further refining of their sound, paring down the influences just that bit more until we get a brilliant space-rock act delivering on every song. As it is Caveman is one great leap forward and a glimpse into a tantalising future.

More than any record in their discography, People Who Aren’t There Anymore is as newly accessible as it is relishing in prior experience.

Neither bad, nor excellent, this is an album which sounds like a promise.

Perpetual Surrender is an ambitious album that delivers on numerous levels, though it can sometimes sound a bit like a TV stuck on constant re-run. But just as that’s enjoyable in its own way, so are DIANA in theirs.

Be Your Own Pet burned out from having too much fuuuuuun, but by playing around with old influences, Mommy shows they're still nothing but a good time.

Despite her enormous talent, Know-It-All can feel a little rushed. Fair play to want to capitalise on momentum, but artistically it would have been interesting to hear what could have been achieved with a little more time spent finding Cara's own sound, rather than mixing so many in to ten tracks.

Although ten days shows a more subdued form of this euphoria, the personality and intricate storytelling has not faded.

The flow of the album makes it feel effortless, and not as if it was crafted periodically and with every detail mapped out. And as Sultana welcomes us into their very own Garden of Eden and we absorb further into the grooves, their honed craft is revealed.

There’s a huge amount of solace to be found in this album--one that, amidst the chaos, taps you gently on the shoulder, and takes you away somewhere nicer.

Experimental works like this aren’t typically held up for their broad appeal, but the waves of static peace and disorienting swells that wash back and forth over Cruel Optimism communicate on an open plane where specific meaning is obscured but state of mind is apparent to anyone.

It’s big, brash, and crystal clear, but open-hearted and often evocative, too. At its best, the blown-up production and direct performances produce real stardust.

On A La Sala, Khruangbin prove their talent for making intricate instrumental music that is capable of casting an evocative spell, whilst also hinting at the potential downfalls of becoming locked inside the band’s mid-tempo comfort zone: more of the steadily intensifying drama of gently soaring first single “A Love International” would be welcome.

What they couldn’t manage in the past is having enough discipline to put their disparate influences together and make a consistent album. However, on Movements, those days are over.

It's a thrilling, if occasionally nauseating, sojourn into the spontaneous world of freeform performance.

If the band are looking for a platform to build on, this could well be it.

Although it’s not as vital as his early work, it’s a fun and confident return from one of the kings of grime. Long may he reign.

It’s an album that will satisfy fans of Maine’s introspection, evocative storytelling and atmospheric production, but it may not reach the same heights as his most celebrated releases. Still, for those willing to dive into its depths, Shirt offers a homespun experience that further cements Aaron Maine’s place as one of the more singular voices in contemporary indie music.

Shamir settles into the familiarity of gleaming indie-pop arrangements and sweet starbursts of melody, all while hints of darkness bleed through the margins. While not a startling stylistic reinvention, the album does feel like a rewarding artistic waypoint from an exceedingly consistent singer and songwriter.

Without losing the sense of comfortable familiarity, and the nostalgia that comes along with it, Alexisonfire have signposted a new era for themselves as a band – and in doing so have let us know that they’re ready to roll with the times and the fast-evolving post-hardcore scene as it is right now.

Weird Faith toys with the emotional cohesion of Diaz’s best work, resulting in an album whose sum is only the value of its parts.

This certainly won’t be the most original album you’ll hear this year, but it will be one of the most charming, and the rate at which Jones is managing to churn out quality pop songs bodes well for the future, and means you can forgive him Sob Story‘s occasional misstep.

Minor refinements are enough for a group so fully formed from the start, and Dusk is Ultimate Painting’s fullest record yet.

FlyLo is the trickiest of acquired tastes, and some listeners just really won't have the patience to wait for this LP to unfurl. For those who do, a reward awaits. Flamagra, like the man who made it, is an island of its own: often beautiful, sometimes baffling, totally inimitable.

Mutual Benefit occasionally build to moments of wonderful melancholy, before coming back down and resetting their expectations. It’s a charming sense of reality, but ultimately the music drifts in the middle lane too much to be truly mesmerising.

Waverly is just that: a study of tension, mysticism and some natural elements thrown in for good measure.

Their self-titled debut is one that bubbles with retro rock fuelled passion.