A record rich in sentiments of togetherness and compassion, it’s one that will make you want to throw your arms around those you love and tell them everything will be alright.

Unwilling to finish on “14”’s vulnerability, Water From Your Eyes keep us at arm’s length, but eager to burrow deep and discover everything this album has to offer.

Littered with a variety of appearances from A-listers like Cardi B, SZA and Ciara over the course of its twenty tracks, it still finds Walker front and centre, with her characteristically introspective lyrics feeling more gripping than ever.

Mixing witty lines with insightful meditations on life as a black man, Radical proves himself to be a master of his craft, effortlessly providing both incredible lyrical content and flawless instrumentation from start to finish.

Whether the music on Jack in the Box suits your taste or not, it’s hard to dismiss this album as an artistic statement rather than just chapter 1/7 of BTS proving they can also make money in ways beyond official group releases.

Witch Fever end on their angriest, highest energy moment and it’s a triumphant, resounding closer to a knockout debut record, and the final echoes ring out like a promise.

Cronin is often at his best when laid bare, and one of MCIII's greatest moments is the relatively sparse closing track "vi) Circle."

Duffy has sculpted an album that vibrates with courage, tenderness, and a sheer insistence to feel. Blue Reminder is not just another indie-folk sojourn; it’s a declaration of presence.

Shulamith provides exactly what you want from a second Poliça album; it’s incredibly fresh and exciting, but still a reminder of what you loved so much the first time round.

Complete with dreamy guitar bends, gorgeous harmonies, and a candid lyricism that Phoebe Bridgers would be proud of, If I Never Know You Like This Again has undoubtedly delivered a hat-trick for the Derry-born artist.

Through AMHAC, JPEGMAFIA has attempted to produce something so questionable, unique and conflicted in its elements, that on first glance, it’s uninviting and dissonant. This goes for the use of his close friends giving faux unfavourable comments about the record in the PR campaign too. Yet that friction he creates and the doubt at the front of your mind makes you concentrate more, breathe in every element and realise its undeniable quality.

Not unlike The Twilight Sad’s mastery of making an emotional impact with the combination of a few choice blunt images and a monolithic musical arrangement, Of the Sun derives a good portion of its power from persistence. Trupa Trupa continue to hit the mark as they experiment with simplification without excising the art from their rock.

They have always effortlessly switched registers, blurred genre boundaries and smattered their lyrics with eclectic cultural references. Citizen Zombie does all of these things, without loosing its political edge.

She might have talked about breaking the rules on Sucker, but here you can feel her doing it, and it turns out to be a thrilling ride.

On the whole, the album is excellent. It’s a return to what Squarepusher is known most prominently for but his style has developed since the '90s.

It sounds like they’ve given kautrock an intense, life-threatening electric shock, while simultaneously floating through 41 minutes (or your entire lifetime, dare you interrupt the endless loop) with the elegance and unpredictability of a kite in the sky.

While Shade certainly holds no surprise, it’s an album that brims with substance and Harris’ longtime base won’t skip a beat in welcoming these tracks.

Radiating self confidence and assuredness, Celeste bolsters her existing catalogue of soft, somber songs with moments of upbeat glitter-funk and rollicking neo soul.

Their fresh, invigorated sound arrives like cascading droplets of water from a waterfall whose source you’ve yet to locate through the mist. And with Lease Of Life, the effervescent Scottish crew has once again served up a vibrant collection of gems that will still sound polished long after the glimmer of this era begins to show signs of fading.

CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST has no central theme or concept. However, where Tyler, The Creator shines on this project is how beautifully he fuses together the youthful angst of his earlier output with the older, more introspective side we have seen from more recent releases.

Doggerel finds the American alternative mainstays reinstating bittersweet peaks and ironic edge, the interplay of Black Francis and Paz Lenchantin’s quasi-mystical vocal patter joining songwriting that captures the four-piece’s creeping, jack-o-lantern-leering spirit.

What Short Movie does do is remind us of the poise with which Marling carries her prodigious ability as a songwriter, and reaffirm that she’s genuinely ambitious, too; she sounds excited again, and so should we be.

Even when tracks are slowed down, momentum is kept up through classic, subtle funk elements and hints of gospel-music playing behind.

Even for those of us who’d never before considered the possibility of a James Blake and Lil Yachty collab, Bad Cameo somehow provides exactly what you’d expect. Ideas in abundance, terrific variety, a little indulgence, and an end product that actually makes perfect sense.

Hermits On Holiday is that rarest of treats, a side-project that could be its writers’ day job. Bristling with brio and invention, it sounds as much fun to listen to as its creators evidently had making it.

In My Name Is My Name, Pusha T has produced one of the most diverse and constantly rewarding hip-hop records of the year; twelve tracks tied together by a man at the top of his form and who, quite soon, may yet reach the highest summits.

Far from monotonous, the band’s seemingly relentless pummelling rewards a patient listener with plenty of hypnotic texture and enriching detail that is far easier to simply feel and become immersed in than do justice to with words.

Some of what emerges from this flood of archival activity is essential (unreleased 1974 album Homegrown, released June 2020), some of it is must-hear for even medium-level fans (Rust Bucket) and some is for die-hard fanatics only (Return to Greendale, a live rendition of 2003's tune-dodging rock opera that came out in November 2020). Young Shakespeare belongs firmly in the richly rewarding middle category.