The Absence isn't just an experiment in various styles. The songs are terrific. too. [Jul 2012, p.73]

A dynamically nuanced, nine-song set that conjures real-world wonders as convincingly as a doomed voyage to some imagined, far-flung galaxy. [Feb 2015, p.82]

Silver Liner utilises a much more effective palette [than The Reckoning]. It's certainly brighter and looser. [Jan 2016, p.72]

A series of folds, jump cuts and swarms, it's disorienting yet utterly gorgeous. [Jun 2016, p.79]

Producer Stephen Street deftly updates the brio of their early hits and the songs are impressive, too. [May 2019, p.27]

A Son tilts slightly more towards conventional song structure, minimising electronics in favour of (mostly) acoustic guitars. [Dec 2019, p.30]

Their fourth LP together sees them ditch the punky uptempo tracks and instead wallow in mournful, funereal meditations that don't leave White with much to do. [Dec 2019, p.35]

The songs are often guilty of bloated bombast, but Numan retains an impressive command of cinematic melodrama and richly layered sonic detail. [Jul 2021, p.33]

Young Blood is far darker than 2020’s soulful El Dorado. “Blood On The Tracks”, which chugs along behind a swampy, cowbell-accented groove, provides relief from the monolithic heaviness, which becomes enervating on the generic “Hard Working Man”. [Sep 2022, p.26]

An album replete with a rich, warm vibe that is more country-soul than punk rock, with swirling organ prominent in the mix. [Feb 2025, p.43]

The songs themselves range from ringing country-rockers to soulful ballads and vary shades between, thematically weighted between reflection and renewal. [Apr 2026, p.31]

Often, she comes across as heir to songwriters such as Todd Rundgren and Randy Newman--raising a jaded, critical eye to the world. [Sep 2017, p.38]

We Have You Surrounded has more variety than 2003's excellent "Dangerous Magical Noise." [May 2008, p.94]

It's essentially Clark in all his acoustic finery. [Nov 2011, p.96]

An intriguing new artist has found his voice. [Nov 2012, p.76]

Glass Riffer dials back the bold orchestrations of 2012's America in favour of a rapturous electronic pop with Deacon's voice pushed upfront. [Mar 2015, p.75]

Eventually, the unrelenting aggressiveness of Typhoons becomes exhausting; better to ignite a playlist by tossing in one of these potent cherry bombs. [Jun 2021, p.31]

William and Jim Reid remain as defiantly out of time as ever. [Mar 2024, p.29]

Arrangements range from scraped guitars to epic brass fanfares and, unusually for an album about loners, there's no misanthropy. [Mar 2007, p.86]

There's respect but nothing approaching the sort of suffocating reverence that kills so many covers. [Dec 2018, p.22]

Subtract [a couple of stinkers] and you have something of a minor masterpiece--and easily Weller’s finest solo album to date.

By using layers of shoegazey guitars and powerfully mic'd-up drums, they create soundscapes that combine Americana with English pastoralism. [Sep 2016, p.67]

A worthy, if more subdued, companion to Kacey Johansing's The Hiding last year. [Mar 2018, p.37]

Even better [than Time Skiffs]: consistently inventive rather than merely quirky, it makes sincere effort to get to the emotional core of what they do. [Nov 2023, p.25]

Unsettling to the last, it’s Blanche all over.

It may just be the most satisfying record he's made since the group's stellar 1995 debut. [Mar 2017, p.24]

The spoken-word pieces court tweeness, but Yorkston's delivery keeps things the right side of mawkish. [Mar 2019, p.37]

Affairs of the heart dominate Batmanglij's lyrics which, when combined with his unfeasibly Christmassy production across all 15 tracks, tends to leave the listener gasping for air. [Oct 2017, p.39]