Fine Line is a solid, playful pop album, but that matters less than its status as a source of uncomplicated comfort and affirmation. When everything feels hopeless, pop music feels frivolous, but there’s joy in frivolity, and deep meaning in joy.

Once again, they’ve treated genre boundaries with genuine disdain on Paperback Ghosts, and the result is a reassuringly eclectic collection of songs - Feck is one of Britain’s true originals.

Crooked Calypso never sounds outdated or like a couple of crooners growing old, but it certainly sounds graceful.

Apocalipstick is fast, furious and, most importantly, fun, making it the first truly badass album of 2017.

Some will see it as cathartic and welcome, whereas others may just be disconnected by the process. This seemingly brutal separation of the wheat from the chaff won't necessarily sit comfortably with all listeners, but I guess that’s exactly the point.

The album captures the band at their most independent, revelling in high-energy performances while embracing a broad eclecticism.

There are moments that remind us that Watson can still work a great melody, but Love Songs For Robots is by no means contains his best work.

On Wonderful, Glorious, Mark Everett not only has the songs but also a band capable of delivering the sort of breadth and depth of response he needs to keep the Eels vehicle moving onwards and upwards.

In Darling Artihmetic Conor O'Brien has put together his best album under the Villagers moniker.

This quaint duo has created a bold and unapologetic record that stands out as the best of its kind for quite some time.

It’s an album that scores highly on philosophy and intellectual curiosity, providing a welcome moment of relief from the frenzy of modern life.

By its end, Thrice Woven not only serves as one of this year’s most promising metal releases, but it also stands as something purely monolithic and even transcendental--a collection of songs, showcasing a band’s evolution that leaves you in full levitation, locked in paralysis, and at a moment’s notice, you dissipate completely wondering how you made it home.

Whether The Early Years will turn out to be a document of Girl Band’s development at a particular time like France 98 appears to have been (the title certainly hints at it), or whether we can expect the album to expand on this particular minimalist palette remains to be seen. Either way, it’s an astonishing starting point.

The addition of older tracks onto Home can constrain Spektor’s artistic growth more generally, like on “SugarMan” – which stretches food metaphors to their absolute limit and lacks the staying power of Spektor’s best tracks. However, at their best, the songs of Home feel akin to a warm hug on a cold day.

Amok might not be easy--why should it be?--but it’s never anything less than interesting, an accolade that can rarely be applied to artists this far into their career.

As an elegy to Hayes, Era is a beautifully crafted tribute to their friend, but it’s also a statement of intent, which is to keep moving and create music that mixes the ups with the downs, euphoria with despondency, in a voice that is their own.

Though it may have lost some of the urgency of their debut, Before a Million Universes has allowed the band to develop a level of genuine introspection rarely seen in the hardcore of today.

There is a lot to appreciate here: Gnod have proven themselves adept in new areas, at carefully crafting tension and unease that hovers on the precipice of climax, in what's the heaviest record of the year so far.

While Hang doesn’t explore much new ground, that’s never really been on Foxygen's agenda. It's a great return all the same.

Hej! marks an evolution for felicita and, by extension, PC Music. It is a big twist away from tongue in cheek nature for which they are at times dismissed.

Fans will be pleased to hear nothing has changed. Stepping inside The Hope List feels like setting foot on a wide open field, where clouds mar the sunlight, but a warmth still radiates all around. A gentle wind flurries, blowing all around while the horizon feels endless.

Megabear is something truly special—not only an album of moving songwriting and carefully considered craftsmanship, but an album that each listener can make their own in whatever way they see fit.

Alongside a natural tendency to sustain tensions and avoid convenient certainties – what the poet Keats called negative capability – is a sophisticated pop flair. With I Get Into Trouble, Zietsch emerges as one of the more eloquent singer-songwriters of her generation.

On Found Heaven, the wreckage of love overstays its welcome; sadly, profundity gives in to frustrating familiarity.

This is an assured step forward in every sense--Honeyblood are back from the brink and there’s a new sting in their tail.

Is it worth the time, passion and investment of the listener? To those unfamiliar with XCX, or who only know her in passing, the answer is irrevocably yes; for others, it depends upon the value they place on a well-crafted retrospective.

Jumping the Shark, with its clear central premise and limited musical palate, is inherently niche, but if you find yourself intrigued by his storytelling Cameron won’t need any gimmicks to keep you invested.

The Australian duo's first full-length feels whole and complete, and with a distinctive sound.