What lingers longest on this remarkable record is an uplifting sense of resilience. [Jun 2018, p.26]

Diawara's voice is a supple and enchanting instruments, and her accomplices (in particular kora player Sidiki Diabate) sublime. [Jul 2018, p.27]

A stunning journey through self-discovery and rebirth, which showcases lyrical storytelling that's vivid in its precision and touching in its emotional resonance. [Jun 2019, p.37]

Along with her interest in free jazz and expressive, improvisatory styles of music, it’s possible to see these seven songs as a type of painting with sound, a messy, wild process of distillation and curation, until only sparse daubs of bright colour remain on the canvas. Limited elements, but a giant impact. It’s been worth the wait.

"Things You Learn The Hard Way" is a droll litany of wry advice evocative of Jason Isbell's "Outfit", and "Hometown Here" and "Let 'Em Burn" display a commendable facility for the deftly sketched potted soap opera. [Feb 2022, p.34]

Coombes' fourth is cultivated and considered, its detailed arrangements illuminated by Ian Davenport's muscular productiom. [Feb 2023, p.23]

The Hypnogogue is like every other Church album, and nothing quite like any of them; both statements are intended as compliments. [Apr 2023, p.26]

O’Rourke mastered, and in some cases remastered, all the music and it sounds appropriately fantastic. .... There’s a real narrative sense that their story has come full circle, but naturally it’s presented in this abstracted way, intentionally sequenced to feel like a film presenting flashbacks, in Grubbs’ view. [Jun 2024, p.40]

While the album is rooted in Ennio Morricone’s dusty spaghetti western soundtracks and Daniel Lanois’ high-lonesome ambient, songs like the spacy “El Fantasma” and the kaleidoscopic title track ground their psychedelic drift in the intense chemistry between the two brothers and the way they play off each other supernaturally. [Jun 2024, p.33]

Yet really immerse yourself in the thing, and these seven extended pieces become lighter, transcendent, strangely accessible. [Oct 2024, p.33]

Vivid and unsettling [Dec 2025, p.33]

Aided by sympathetic vocalists, Wasylyk consolidates a multi-instrumentalist's multiple interests - from New Classical to lounge jazz to lo-fi-pop - into a coherent style. [Apr 2026, p.37]

On Transmitter, Cut Worms' fourth album, Max Clarke reaches a rarefied level of expressiveness and self-assurance alongside Jeff Tweedy. [Apr 2026, p.29]

Some of their most startling material has always been found down the back of the sofa, among such relatively unconsidered trifles as "In The Back Of My Mind" and "Angel Come Home." [Oct 2013, p.82]

Harris makes the most of the means available to her and allows her songs to land the way they need to land. [Nov 2021, p.34]

This is inventive harkening, not witless revivalism. [Apr 2008, p.90]

The seamlessly authentic sound fit his raw and lusty vocalising, and the impressively tailored swagger 'n swing og his band, to a tee. [Mar 2013, p.73]

While there's nothing as pop as "Windowlicker" here, it's still thrilling to hear him romp deliriously through all manner of styles in the key of Apex for the bulk of these dozen tracks. [Nov 2014, p.71]

The breadth, scope and sheer suppleness of black SUMMERS'night makes one wish Maxwell worked a whole lot faster. [Sep 2016, p.76]

The death of beloved bandmate Carey Lander in 2015 seems to have inspired the freshest, blithest song's [Tracyanne Campbell's] written. [Jul 2018, p.34]

A remarkable, genre-defying album. [Mar 2012, p.86]

Eerily beautiful record. [Jan 2021, p.30]

Ultimately, it's that compassionate vision of song that resonates through Life Is People, as Fay observes the passing of the days with redemption in mind.

There's an addictive, hypnagogic quality to this ghostly combination of ambient noise, treated vocals and bursts if static. [Aug 2016, p.73]

His latest fizzes with energy and smarts, and sees him letting his imagination off the leash to irresistible effect. [Jul 2016, p.70]

Some stunning inventive improvisation, with pianist Danilo Perez sounding like 10 excited monkeys jumping up and down on the keys. In a good way. [Mar 2013, p.76]

Both Crutchfield sisters sound more comfortable in their own skin, more confident in their lyrics and vocals, as though bringing all those years apart to bear on the sessions. [Review of the Year 2025, p.20]

If the relationship to the original often seems tenuous, there's nothing abstract here: each note wrings something potent and direct from its origin. [Nov 2013, p.76]