If these stories sound less compelling than those of her past work, rest assured that Mitchell’s talent as a songwriter has remained undimmed in the decade since Young Man in America.

With this album, Palace have offered a spiritual voyage through the fluctuations of life, and the uncertainty that holds its hand. If Shoals is anything to go by, Palace will be filling stadiums before too long.

With shades of their influences Neil Young, Weyes Blood, and Sonic Youth — as well as the attitude of contemporary New York art-punks Bodega - Silverbacks’ Archive Material is a record that makes the best of a truly bizarre, banal, and jarring time.

Here she is not just a musician, but a generational talent capable of creating transfixing otherworlds and, with The Gods We Can Touch, an ethereal masterpiece.

It can range from snarky and contemptuous to comforting and reassured, but every time you listen to The Overload you notice and feel something new.

As emotionally sharp as ever, and as easily vulnerable but with some fierce love in her corner, this is the sound of twigs really loving what she does and putting herself at its core.

Fragments feels like the culmination of everything that Simon Green has been building up to over the last 20 plus years. A rich and cathartic release from a musician at the very top of his game.

Hop Up lives up to its buoyant name, carefree, poignant and a tonic of testing times.

SICK! carries the ever-popular lo-fi vibe as well as a blend of stellar hip-hop. Artists utilising lockdown as a creative direction is not uncommon these days, however Sweatshirt’s attempt carries a distinct sense of realness.

The result here is a compelling record that is as confident in its shiny, polished singles as in its crepuscular oddities.

What better balm for the start of another troubled year than our biggest star making music as good as this?

So much is happening on Now Or Whenever, but it somehow adds up to even less than the sum of its parts.

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.

The Dreaming is, overall, a diverse album that showcases new sides of Monsta X whilst also meeting the ideas and feelings that fans look forward to.

This project DJ Kicks is the most successful as it is marked by a spirit of rebirth of its author.

The best songs here are absolutely, sonically at least, the safest. ‘Is It Insane’ is Ella Fitzgerald cosplay, plain and simple, but my god does Keys play the part well. With some jazz-lounge piano, lightly tapped drums and some actual vinyl crackle, the depth and versatility of her voice is on vivid display.

Marriage is an impressively balanced album with highs and lows, and songs to make your adrenaline rush while others make you feel perfectly submerged in pensive emotion. The evidence is clear, Deap Vally have really come into their own here, encompassing everything you could ask for from a rock album - ego and bravado diluted by cold hard self-reflection.

There’s a rough finesse to each track, one which is clearly purposeful – the production and instrumentation is strident yet incisive. It feels churlish to critique such a lively, soul-cleansing burst of energy, especially since the album is filled with hints of killer choruses trapped just beneath the surface and itching to break through.

I see it as less of a leftovers album, and more of a personally curated buffet.

From its songwriting to production, its emotive lyrical content to considered vocal performance, it’s a home run of a project. Holly Humberstone is destined for great things, and this EP is just the beginning.

It's All Smiles is an experience that can be appreciated all the more on an end-to-end listening.

The last installment of the KICK cycle is much more tame, less experimental, less intricate than the three others. It’s almost hollow in comparison to its counterparts, paradoxically harder to make sense of than the more frantic entries released at the same time. Arca adds a new dimension to the mix with kiCK iiiii’s insistence on centering silence within the music.

KicK iiii soundtracks the edges of her universe. So far out from the frenesis of KicK iii and ii, the fourth installment’s driving force is a “bloodlust for beauty” (“Whoresong”).

KicK iii is a more turbulent entry in the Arca universe: its relentless ability to generate movement out of stillness makes it one of her most accomplished works to date.

The glitchy deconstructed club of her past oeuvre permeates the entirety of KiCK ii, particularly in “Tiro” and “Araña”. The former goes full throttle as pop sensibilities crash into a nightmarish broken down metallic reggaeton surcharge. “Araña”, while much more tame in volume, draws from the same well, contorting left and right in a dynamic play of touch-and-go that defies all expectations set by the tracklist leading up to it.

The more deeply you dig in, the more compelling depths Fleuves De l’Ame reveals.

The female/male synth fused with rock duo is a saturated market but on Unity The KVB showcase why they’re worthy of attention.

Just as Dawson clearly relishes being able to record with Circle, so too does the album feel like a treat imparted to the listener in the lead up to Christmas. There’s so much to unpack here. It’s a sprawling work, the shortest song being six minutes, the longest being over twelve. Lyrically, Dawson is on fine form.