They're following their "first thought" instincts while allowing space for the full expression of Garbus's mighty soul voice. [Jun 2025, p.41]

Trevor Sensor's very good debut hits its mark. [Aug 2017, p.37]

Restrained, but deeply satisfying. [Apr 2005, p.100]

Crowell conjures a collection both wryly whimsical and devastating sincere. [Jan 2019, p.19]

Little on Painkillers would sound misplaced on any given Gaslight Anthem album. Which, if one is predisposed to the band's hearty but thoughtful brand of rock'n'roll, is no bad thing. [Apr 2016, p.73]

The listlessness of the structures is initially offputting, but the tracks begin to reveal luxurious depths. [Dec 2013, p.69]

The words are often stark and painful, the singing is almost religious, and the tunes tend towards exultant. When they remember to be lovely, as on "Yes I Would," the chemistry is intoxicating. [Mar 2010, p.84]

The title is Williams’ name for the world in which her music is set and it’s one where disaster looms large – dark, evocative and minor-key rich; menacing live drums and corkscrew bass hanging heavy in the atmosphere. [Aug 2021, p.33]

There's a naivety at play here, recalling Daniel Johnston, Vashti Bunyan and Syd Barrett. [Jul 2006, p.86]

Cassadaga is fulsome, epic, and swirling, by far Oberst's most sophisticated, seamless effort. [May 2007, p.89]

The minimalist grooves grow ever tighter. [Feb 2004, p.71]

As with Daft Punk's Discovery and Playgrou's eponymous 2001 debut LP, Handcream For A Generation puts fun back on the agenda, offering a blurry picture of marathon socialising and the frazzled warmth of the morning after the night before. [Album of the Month, May 2002, p.88]

Exceptional in its melodic prosperity and calculated grandeur. [Mar 2002, p.96]

Wasner and bandmate Andy Stack wield sharp production touches, like the breaths that pan "On Luxury," although Tween can suffer from a slight surfeit of scale over melody. [Sep 2016, p.81]

A record that is intensely visceral, loud and charged yet not needlessly overblown. [May 2022, p.26]

Sleater-Kinney strike a finer balance between their established punk sound and the New Wave references that gummed up recent records. [Jan 2024, p.36]

It's unmistakable, unsettling, classic Linkous. [Oct 2006, p.120]

However unappetizing it may first appear, this is grimly funny food for thought.

On the fifth album this East Coast trio make it patently clear this is not the same band whose 2005 debut placed them in the rustic shadow of former Young God Records labelmate Devendra Banhart. [Jun 2009, p.83]

This version has been remixed and remastered to beef up the sound and integrate Chris Cornell's glorious vocals more fully into the songs. ... Six demos, recorded on eight-track the previous year, give a good idea if where the band were coming from. [May 2017, p.52]

Mostly, though, youthful folk-rock tendencies are sacrificed for Wilco's mature Americana, as on "Only Dream Would Breathe," while additional late-Beatles flavours enhance "Barely Living Room," and "The Bottom Of It" adds hints of Jeff Lynne. [Jul 2019, p.27]

These are impenetrable walls of off-kilter guitars, skronking saxophones and icy synths, topped off with Richard Butler's mournful rasp. ... For the most part, Made Of Rain cleaves closest to the sense thrum of Talk Talk Talk. [Jun 2020, p.37]

The lullaby-like psych of “Side By Side” and the more insistent rhythms of Amama’s title track are both enriched by the avidly experimental bent. Even better are the summery “(Alone In) Brussels” and “Dust Bunny”, which sound like they could be long-forgotten yé-yé hits gone warped and frayed after too long in the sun. [Jul 2024, p.32]

It's certainly more assured and less wilfully angsty than Cast Of Thousands. However, it still lacks the special unified mood or thread of Asleep. [Oct 2005, p.110]

Musgraves' willingness to address a life built on knotty contradictions give her songs resonance far beyond Golden's borders. [Jul 2015, p.82]

Each of the 12 tracks on The Life Of The World To Come is named after the [Bible] verse that informs it. The settings are gloriously apposite. [Nov 2009, p.96]

The follow-up [to Absent Fathers] is an even more impressive progression. Marriage and impending fatherhood bring both focus and exuberance to Earle's seventh album. [Jul 2017, p.28]

Ice cool and white hot by turns, Emika is a singular and significant new voice at the interface between pop and dubstep. [Nov 2011, p.83]