Fall[s] somewhere between Talk Talk and the Bunnymen. [Sep 2004, p.98]

A curate's egg of tested pop styles.... Though hardly the album-length E-rush of career peak Tellin' Stories, this approach still offers small gems. [Jul 2004, p.101]

The tone is less whimsical, occasionally ecstatic, and at times reminiscent of big beat. [Mar 2005, p.91]

It all suggests a sea change in attitude. [Sep 2005, p.114]

What elevates Rogue Wave above the pale massed ranks of the wispy and fey, though, are melodies with real muscle, and a muscial ambition that flirts with the experimental, but remains joyously within reach of the FM dial. [Dec 2005, p.112]

It proves a diverting tour round Seeger's perennial concerns. [Jan 2008, p.111]

This long-awaited follow-ups sees them improvising live as a quintet, with a few overdubs. [Sep 2008, p.100]

This is a hugely infectious debut. [Oct 2008, p.81]

Treasury Library Canada feels less whimsical and more polished, although Hamilton still sticks closely to his signature mix of rich acoustic chamber-pop arrangemnts and quietly barbed lyrics. [Mar 2009, p.107]

Ian Brown follows an idiosyncratic path in keeping with My Way’s title--mixing up the kind of heavily synthesised rhythms learned from Jamaican dancehall with a curious cover of Zager And Evans’ dystopian folk oddity 'In The Year 2525,' some insidious grooves and, on closer 'So High,' a somewhat wayward stab at soul.

Disarmingly playful, deceptively gripping, its songs at first seem wayward, erratic, but soon enough reveal their own internal title song. [Nov 2009, p. 83]

New Clouds is at once both denser and groovier. [Nov 2009, p.113]

Yorkston may have set aside his “personal muse” for a moment, but Folk Songs is still part of his rich re-imagining of our heritage.

It's pleasantly winsome, sweetly aranged, but Anna Persson lacks the lugubrious voal presence of Traceyanne Campbell, and you long for sme of the sauce r spirit that inspires a group to name themselves in honour of a Serge Gainsbourg song. [Apr 2010, p.97]

Guitarist Glenn Page appears to be channelling namesake Jimmy in his Yardbirds days, while the spot-on harmonies of "After You're Gone" suggest a live anthem in waiting. [Mar 2010, p.93]

All round, the party vibe oozes self-confidence. [Dec 2010, p.90]

It's Cervenka's superb vocals that make this a carer highlight. [Apr 2011, p.77]

It would be silly to expect surprises from the Fairports at this late point, and their first album in four years proves as well tended and predictable as a Cotswold village. [May 2011, p.85]

Her seventh solo album is effectively her third LP of self-penned pop songs, and it suits her bawdy contralto voice rather better. [Jun 2011, p.79]

Rare Bird Alert, recorded with the Steep Canyon Rangers, is a more rounded than 2009's mostly instrumental The Crow. [Jul 2011, p.92]

Laura J. Martin's debut album is an extraordinary and eclectic mix of flute, loops, mandolin and xylophone. [Feb 2012, p.92]

Cooing fragmentary, dreamlike lyrics in a fuzzy-warm purr, this young singer's kittenish vocal affectations will grate on some... [but] Dillon redeems her whimsy with promising nods towards Bjork, Joanna Newsom and Lykke Li. [Jan 2012, p.84]

The trio's blend of live performance, samples and electronica is hardly groundbreaking. [Feb 2012, p.98]

It's the more spartan, folksier tracks, like "Greeny Blue," that hint at better things to come. [Apr 2012, p.81]

The follow-up, recorded in a fully equipped studio with backing band, retains an acoustic ethic, but is more richly textured. [Jul 2012, p.84]

There's a heightened atmosphere and sense of scale throughout. [Jun 2012, p.84]

There's ample sustenance for the heart as well as the head. [Jul 2012, p.68]

Gelb's masterstroke is the inclusion of Brian Lopez, Gabriel Sullivan and Jon Villa, whose flourishes of Tex-Mex and cumbia accentuate Tuscon's feel of pan-cultural enchantment. [Jul 2012, p.70]

Hot Panda have produced a terrific album, one which combines intellectual and lyrical heft with a sure ear for a catchy riff. [Sep 2012, p.79]

The album's only real flaw is a penchant for sketchy, banal lyrics that can jar with the imaginative and highly polished musical backdrop. [Oct 2012, p.71]

Like Golightly's solid output since burying Thee Headcoatees in the late '90s, Sunday revolves around amped-up reinventions of mid-century hillbilly, honky-tonk, blues and country. [Nov 2012, p.75]

Mystic Pinball is another assemblage of breezy balladry and snarling storytelling, delivered in the familiar Cookie Monster drawl. [Nov 2012, p.75]

A thrillingly inventive blend of alt.rock, fingerpicking folk, Latin flavours and--new this--electronic pop. [Apr 2013, p.67]

There's an unwelcome hint of Florence Welch's swollen emotionalism on "Tomorrow," but the surging pop of "Touch" is more successful. [Apr 2013, p.69]

A bold 10-track classic boasting a deftly modernised '70s-retro feel led by Hobba's clean young voice and dirty, Neil Young-meets-shoegaze guitar. [Apr 2013, p.77]

The tone of observational distance build to an understated climax with "Shadow Boy." [Jun 2013, p.74]

Wings Over America is, like any triple live album, too bloody long. But its also a snapshot of a Paul McCartney who, despite some of the Wings album-track dross, felt compelled to make surreal symphonic pop that continued the pop ideals of Sgt Pepper and The White Album.

West and his Congo crew hook up with On-U Sound's Adrian Sherwood for a familiar set that marries reggae spirituals to the fortified jungle of the soundsystem. [Aug 2013, p.69]

Fabricius presides over a judicious mix of Urban Outfitters indie, finger-picked folk and offbeat electro that demonstrate her range and leaves the listener drowning in honey. [Nov 2013, p.76]

Barker's fourth album has a clean, rootsy feel. [Aug 2013, p.67]

Bold, visionary and, in places, spine-tingling. [Mar 2014, p.78]

Understated acoustic shuffles give the record a sense of the passing of time, as does the tender regret of "Snowflakes In The Sun." [Feb 2014, p.81]

There are many fine moments here. [Apr 2014, p.76]

Meshell's search for love and meaning rarely asserts itself over the sense of muso friends at play. [Aug 2014, p.76]

Ultimately, the changes are subtle rather than profound and Gray still sounds like he's been nailed to a cross--which will no doubt come as a relief to loyal fans. [Jul 2014, p.74]

Surprises are few on the pair's excellent fourth album Par Avion. [Sep 2014, p.81]

The dozen sly and witty songs are all Setzer originals, but it takes a liitle suspension of disbelief to imagine "Calamity Jane" and "Cock-a-Doodle Don't" could've been authentically written 60 years ago. [Oct 2014, p.79]

It doesn't always comes off, but there are plenty of inspiring moments. [Dec 2014, p.81]

This electronica-centred return focuses on the power of love. [Oct 2014, p.74]

They channel their power into free form excursions of an often surprising delicacy. [Jan 2015, p.75]

Rousing epics "Dull Care" and "Genuflection" are soaked in hearty man tears. [Apr 2015, p.75]

Too often, frontman Euan Hinshelwood's strivings for tragedy come off as merely morose. [Dec 2015, p.81]

At times, it's redolent in scope of Paul Weller's 21 Dreams. [Dec 2015, p.78]

The Belfast trio revel in producing the sort of catchy, fuzzy pop exemplified by the hooky "Ordinary Daze" and "Down Dog," although they can also work in more expansive territory, like "I Won't Let Go." There's wit too. [Feb 2016, p.79]

Often, however, it's the catchy, heads-down belters that win you over. [Mar 2016, p.81]

The musical richness and genre-blending confidence adds up to a quietly great album. [Mar 2016, p.82]

Vocalist Nicholas Wood's doomy proclamations are frequently buried amid murky guitar and electronic textures, which can obscure the songs somewhat. [May 2016, p.75]

What sounds showy on paper is, in reality, a respectful, atmospheric tribute to the Bard. [Jun 2016, p.82]

While there's a hefty serving of funk on "The Clone," Sherwood keeps his distance, bringing space to psycho-ballads such as "Abracadabra" and "Monocle Man" as the pair reassembled their skeletal, wheezing pop in intriguing new forms. [Jun 2016, p.74]

A delicate album of soft '60s-inflected pop that mostly plays like a great Evie Sands or Bobbie Gentry record. [Sep 2016, p.78]

[Producer Blake Mills] deftly applied his gift for song-serving ornamentation and transformed sluggish Dawes into an aggressively inventive band. [Nov 2016, p.26]

The three proper songs are the highlights, though, with the Bacharach-esque title track among the finest Rhys has ever produced. [Nov 2016, p.37]

Future Standards is both an intimate, low-key experience and a highly welcome new detour. [Jan 2017, p.25]

Bell's music is refreshingly uncomplicated. [Dec 2016, p.28]

Electa is at its best when the folk rears its head. [Jan 2017, p.32]

It's all insanely catchy. [Feb 2017, p.33]

The more melodic and less maniacal "Melting" and "Sleep Drifter" point toward newer ambitions and influences. Especially welcome is the turn toward Middle Eastern and North African sounds on "Anoxia" and the title track.[Mar 2017, p.32]

Splic[es] savage wit and cynicism with hopefulness. [Apr 2017, p.28]

You Had Me At Goodbye finds her experimenting with musical form, be it on chamber-folk eulogy "When The Roses Bloom Again," "Windmill Crusader's" skittish electro-pop or the droll "Antiseptic Greeting." There are moments of minimal charm here, too. [Apr 2017, p.26]

Touching new folk-rock compositions sit alongside spirited arrangements of trad songs and sturdy instrumentals. [May 2017, p.26]

The buttery groove of "Serotonin Rushes" and "Swoon" suggests F&Y are at the top of their idiosyncratic game. [May 2017, p.30]

This is nightmarish stuff--oscillating waves and synth drones hum menacingly,while snatches of piano appear, like daylight at the end of some ancient, subterranean tunnel. [Aug 2017, p.35]

Everything is buried under a blanket of surface noise, as if these are decaying tapes that have been salvaged form an old building and the highlights math this narrative. [Jun 2017, p.26]

These nine tracks find the foursome reworking a suite of folk and roots songs with their trademark chilly decorum, joined by a brace of Nonesuch labelmates. [Jul 2017, p.32]

The tasty guitar work is undercut by Wilson's heavy-handed lead vocals and the partners' cliche-ridden lyrics. [Nov 2017, p.26]

Krgovich reflects wryly on his own situation, the perennial underdog whose day might be just around the corner. [Jan 2018, p.23]

They're feeling the chill of middle age, when a night on the sofa with an M&S ready-meal holds more appeal than feeling like an auntie at the church-hall disco ("I Only Smoke When I Drink," "No Longer Young Enough"), and the wisecracks are harder to pull off. [Jan 2018, p.23]

Predictably overwhelming. [May 2018, p.27]

Their dogged adherence to the Southern rock template remains at once a strength and an intermittently frustrating weakness. On the upside, the Atlanta group do what they do with devoted attention to detail, and the correct balance of sincerity and swagger. [May 2018, p.24]

The African-influenced essence of the record carries it along with grace but ultimately this is about celebrating the potential of the riff as rhythm. [Aug 2018, p.28]

Included here are three variants on tracks Lynch used in Twin Peaks Series 3, plus another 18 instrumentals whose translucent synths and pent-up melodrama slot very much into the show's aesthetic. [Sep 2018, p.29]

There's no central narrative to this anthology of psych-tinged, countrified canyon-rock. [Dec 2018, p.25]

The Black Album, dubs and all, could use some more of Perry's surrealist medicine. But it's hard to deny that ut's good to hear him in such healthy form. [Jan 2019, p.23]

Classical-inflected electronica, with nary a chrome-plated breakbeat in sight. [Feb 2019, p.34]

Placid moments abound. ... But "Spoot Ebb's" syncopated, Penguin Cafe rhythms indicate choppier waters, and "Flattie," introduce by poet Will Burns, hints at dark, incoming clouds. [Jun 2019, p.27]

Brodsky shows himself to be a sensitive oil, shadowing Nadler's mournful keening with desolate country licks on "Dead West," or wreathing a straight-faced cover of Guns N Roses' "Estranged" in banks of dreamy fuzz. [Jun 2019, p.32]

Her catchy new songs find comfort and self-reliance in solitude. [Aug 2019, p.31]

Something of a grind--repeat helpings of grimly strummed acoustic guitar and keening vocals becoming the folk equivalent of consecutive courses of muesli. [Nov 2019, p.29]

Each mode works in service of the vibe Cohen intends, but Spring's organic easiness belies the evident care in its creation. [Dec 2019, p.24]

These are quite logical, tuneful explorations. [Dec 2019, p.32]

Fearless seldom surprises--he's been doing this kind of thing long enough to know what works--but is quality is consistent. [Dec 2019, p.26]

It's hugely impressive and would certainly suit a fully dramatised staging. [Mar 2020, p.30]

It's a testament to Gonzalez that after a dozen numbers we know far too much about him but still crave more. [Aug 2020, p.29]

Disco is too much of a safe, shiny, frictionless crowd-pleaser to deliver much more than mildly entertaining retro pastiche. [Jan 2021, p.31]

Wreckless Abandon is great fun, infused with the characteristic boogie and swagger of Campbell's guitar, and heavily in hock to his obvious formative influences. [Apr 2020, p.27]

Lyrical references to stargazing, sprawling jasmine and the passage of time paint a picture of the infinite, and our small place in it, that is heightened by the band's soaring melodies. [Mar 2021, p.39]

If Shirushi’s relentless momentum can leave you breathless, it batters its way into real, mutant rock’n’roll thrills. [Aug 2021, p.35]

When it’s good, she nails squiggly G-funk (“Boom Bap Is My Homegirl”, “Action Groove”) and late-night power-cruising (“Ghostride 21716”). But with no real focus, the whole thing tends to drag. [Jul 2021,p.31]