A moving collision of past and present. [Jun 2016, p.78]

Featuring gently swooning arrangements by Nico Mhly, four duets with Beth Orton, three nimble reworkings of children's singing games and an affectionate R Kelly cover, I See The Sign inhabits an enchanted universe, not a million miles from Sufjan Stevens' "Michigan." [May 2010, p.83]

Nashville is clearly a home away from home, though, as this set from September 2008 proves. [Jul 2011, p.92]

Coltrane, Eno and Metheny are touchstones, but Shabason's abstraction is sensual, his language emotional. [Sep 2017, p.37]

Rarely before have the pair achieved [moments of transcendence and preserving them in amber] with this much grace and finesse. [Sep 2015, p.68]

These 10 supple, radiant songs blur the boundaries between African pop an funky American new wave with the same glorious ease as Talking Heads' Speaking in Tongues. [Sep 2011, p.84]

Four albums in, feels like Marr is finally settled into the business of a solo career. [Mar 2022, p.31]

Charmer plies the familiar recipe on a bed of pealing guitars and burbling synths. [Oct 2012, p.84]

Blends bluegrass, backwoods folk and hammered blues with a motorik groove. [Apr 2006, p.106]

Kempner's lyrics are visceral and specific. [Aug 2023, p.36]

The sound is urgent and instinctive. [Dec 2006, p.124]

Live Forever crackles with outrage and compassion. [Jun 2026, p.32]

Caroline's 2CD sampler of her moonlighting efforts features charming interludes from past lives. [Nov 2015, p.96]

The author's humanistic, heart-first approach, coupled with his songs' compellingly opaque expression and egoless playing makes reliability more rewarding. [Feb 2019, p.22]

The M Ward-produced Livin' On A High Note is a wonderfully chiselled Stax forgery. [Mar 2016, p.80]

Pearson’s clear knack for melodic songcraft is plentiful, across the breezy “Talk Over Town” or the sugary indie-pop of “Alligator”, resulting in an album that nails introspective songwriting just as seamlessly as it does infectious pop. [Aug 2022, p.31]

The result is a collection that sounds like nothing so much as a modern-day Dock Boggs signed to the Lost Highway label.

[A] set of lean, characteristically nuanced, folk-edged songs. [Aug 2022, p.30]

It's a bittersweet study of fate and circumstance that resonates long after it's over. [Apr 2016, p.70]

Despite a few rote movements, becomes an early contender for 2009 Top 10 lists. [Mar 2009, p.92]

These are quietly quixotic pieces, rich and poignant, possessing a stilled, slowly unfolding melancholia. [Jul 2019, p.27]

The ex-pat Brit displays an affecting, fluid picking style that at times sounds comfortingly English. [Aug 2017, p.28]

Reaffirms their status as masters of white heat smoulder, turning down the amps but heightening the ravaged intensity.... A career high. [Oct 2002, p.119]

It works well, the results low-key but luminous. [May 2013, p.69]

The music is purposeful and powerful. [Jul 2003, p.114]

If I'm New Here was a triumph for Russell and Scott-Heron, We're New Here reveals a maverick production talent in Jamie Smith that his band's records have only hinted at. [Mar 2011, p.95]

On Dissolve, his best LP to date, he's gone full colour. [Jun 2011, p.79]

Revitalising indie-pop. [Feb 2004, p.78]