Sisyphus is a tragic waste of a vivid storyteller.

Ultimately, one of No No No’s greatest strengths is its lack of clarity.

The album is so much more than a set of rough drafts of more considered compositions. These 1998 offerings succeed in their own right.

The results can be more chilly than chilled this time, not always making for an easy listen, but there’s certainly a process at play here.

Singles "Human" and "Skin" are due their high praise, but there seems little soul to the rest of proceedings.

Barragán‘s casual atmosphere sees Blonde Redhead at their most laid back.

Whilst Love Goes could have been an album containing only Smith’s newer dance sound, the album does offer something for all Sam Smith fans, to mixed results.

It’s a little difficult to get a handle on his subject matter, although there’s an engaging quality to his delivery that makes him worth sticking with. The rest of the band work more cohesively, applying mob shouts and sunny pop ‘oohs’ to the ADD-riddled backing.

Our Nature is a seriously accomplished pop record, and a perfect progression.

Returning to the attic in which they wrote and recorded Broom, the three-piece have suitably streamlined their sound to accommodate the lesser manpower and what’s more, it works.

Neil Davidge takes full advantage of his big opportunity to finally show off his textured sonic mastery on a full-length that is entirely his own, and Slo Light only enhances his reputation as one of the greatest sound alchemists of his time.

The record does get a little samey in parts, and at times feels like a soundtrack for another Juno or Away We Go. But the album fits a very particular aesthetic.

Contradictions is certainly a step in the right direction and sees Paul on the rise once again. This album is a dark horse, a grower, and one that current fans and newcomers to his music will appreciate alike.

While not remotely original--the unabashed attempt to salvage the last remains of anthemic indie-rock music is admirable in itself.

While they’ve certainly sharpened some of the edges since Little Moments and brought their newfound gloom-and-synth-addled style to a more formidable shape, Only Run still suffers a significant lack of the sheer vibrancy and enthusiasm that made their off-kilter beginnings so invigorating.

Phantogram have always been able to craft sleek, cerebral tunes, but it hasn't always been clear that they were having a blast doing it--until now.

Whitney have updated their sound, but they do it with such subtlety and finesse that it feels incredibly natural and organic.

Myself in the Way opens with “Stone Station,” which teases a sound and feel similar to that of past records, but with an added flair of '80s inspired ethereal synths, to the point of almost sounding like a piece of the Stranger Things soundtrack.

Too often there’s simply a lack of focus to the songs on this album, which would have benefitted from keeping things a lot more simple and in line with The Strokes’ indie rulebook.

For a debut The Amazons have crafted an exceptional initial offering.

Despite it being a visionary work from an artist seldom seen nowadays, The Big Dream is more cohesive, more coherent but all the less fearless because of it.

There’s no denying that Head Carrier generally veers between sounding like an exhausted tribute to their former configuration to feeling something akin to a disposable Frank Black solo effort via a few conciliatory tracks.

Self-mastering some of the tracks was a practical as well as a creative choice for the Brooklyn front man.... By doing this his output is becoming increasingly self-reflexive of his sound, his motivation and his vision--it unifies his music, making it stronger and Deezier.

It’s nuanced, subtle and magnetically beautiful.

The line between progression and self-indulgence in music is largely a flimsy one. However, The Phoenix Foundation walk it beautifully.

This is a conventional theme LP rather than a document providing a great deal of insight into Bright Eyes’ musical development.

If you can let Pacific Daydream completely envelope you; throw you to the beach that instigated the album, then you’ll find sheer happiness here. If, however, you go in with any expectations of than that, you might find things a bit more difficult.

Yes, they are working with a previously-explored aesthetic, but they are molding it into a beautifully-original product, per a vision that refuses to forget music’s former greatness.