A haunting cover of the Pixies' 'Where Is My Mind' rounds off a quite remarkable debut. [May 2008]

Their first album without guitarist Bruce Gilbert draws on their strength as writers of nuanced pop, producing, in the mellow rumble of 'One Of Us,' 'Mekon Headman' and Perspex Icon,' a few more for the next Best Of.

Forth certainly makes it seem like they’ve never been away, the stench of those woeful Ashcroft solo albums extinguished.

Roberts continues to mine the traditional songbook, the sound is dominated by McGuinness' keyboards. Composer Amble Skuse adds squirts of electronica, bringing understated ambience to these brutal old songs. [Apr 2018, p.32]

Like all the best heavy rock albums, it suspends your disbelief, demands your attention and connects directly with your inner adolescent.

For all the received wisdoms that encircle the desert blues of these groups, what's most seductive about songs like Imarhan's "Alwak" and "Addounia Azdjazzaqat" is the intimacy of the performance, a hushed wonder that breathes its poetry on the neck of the listener. [May 2016, p.74]

A dozen vivid and deeply personal songs.... Gray has made a record that anybody who cares about great songwriting should hear. [Dec 2002, p.130]

A glorious ruckus. [Aug 2012, p.69]

[A] charming debut. [Oct 2015, p.71]

A few moments recall the Venusian blues of Loren Connors, but that comparison only gets you part of the way - these cryptic explorations are Dorji's alone. [Feb 2026, p.33]

Bleed is more about wayward drift than some of The Necks’s most-loved albums, like 1999’s Hanging Gardens, but there’s tenderness in its seeming austerity, and beauty in its chill. [Nov 2024, p.40]

Two decades on, the luxuriantly layered soft-rock production still sounds roomy and glossy, albeit a little ponderous in places. ... Expanded and enhanced. [Feb 2019, p.46]

Songs In A&E swells with tender, cautious optimism.

Kidal sounds like a high tide. [May 2017, p.40]

Brewis constructs songs with architectural scale and precision--in its own prim, nostalgic, English way, it’s pretty dazzling stuff.

It's quite beautiful, even if it feels a little pacific and lav-lamp-like in the long haul. [Feb 2012, p.84]

The journey takes a variety of fascinating detours along the way, not least the digressive folk-prog of "Pretty Little Lazies" and "Boogie Lover's" spacey approximation of classic Hawkwind. [Jun 2019, p.24]

An epic hour of music. [May 2012, p.69]

This Montreal master proves himself, yet again, a consummate songwriter and master of atmospherics. [Jun 2015, p.84]

A Joyful Noise strikes a healthy balance between tears-on-the-dancefloor hi-NRG and Gossip's bluesy swagger. [Jun 2012, p.73]

Frequently thrilling, and its pilfering from America's classic rock catalogue - including The Allman Brothers, The Doobie Brothers, Creedence clearwater Revival, The Band and Crazy Horse - is affectionate and celebratory. [Nov 2021, p.33]

Ritual Union makes it three alums without a remotely duff--or dull--moment. [Aug 2011, p.93]

Supremely confident as it is poetically singular, it's evidence that BC's vision will see him through the long haul. [Nov 2017, p.24]

That Jarak Qaribak manages to combine that respect - for the songs, the singers and their various cultures - with a free-flowing, light sense of exploration that feels joyfully current, is its triumph. [Jul 2023, p.31]

Every track hits its target. [Jan 2019, p.27]

Snapping snare, pump-organ and wiry guitar frame Jenkins' mood of stoned baroque beautifully. [Jun 2006, p.122]

The mournful pedal steel, keening harmonies and thumping analogue rhythms that ornament the deeply introspective songs of Marigold transform what would be a slog of emo self-absorption in less nimble hands into a vibrantly empathetic experience. [Feb 2020, p.30]

There's a sublimely soulful central vocal melody underpinning songs such as "Papa," "VanP" and "Differently," as patchworks of vocal loops create bewitching organic grooves. The showtune jazz and circus-y, Tom Waits-ish vibes elsewhere are also highly intriguing. [Feb 2020, p.23]