Most of the album sees producers Charles Webster and Ewan Pearson buiilding on the bedsit rave of "Missing" and the beatific drum'n'bass of Walking Wounded. [Apr 2007, p.120]

Pallett's pallid voice fails to dramatise the narrative or really engage the listener. As a calling card for future soundtrack commissions, however, it should succeed splendidly. [Feb 2010, p.84]

Holy Fire doesn't quite unfurl its devil horns.... But the production heft from Flood and Alan Moulder, as well as the shameless but satisfying amount of delayed guitar, means it all has serious stadium credentials. [Mar 2013, p.72]

Low-key but engrossing, Tranquility Base is a slow-burner, self-doubting but pushing ever onwards. It's a brave new step, even if it can be a little one-paced, and a little withholding. [Jun 2018, p.25]

Genres glom together in unlikely combinations, split and mutate via myriad effects, yet this set is pop to its core, nodding to everyone from Bowie, Byrne and Carl Craig to Arthur Russel and Wire on its way to off-centre intrigue. [Nov 2018, p.27]

Vol. 2 is high-class punk trash, from the rambunctious but melodic "Jumpstarting" to the amphetamine rush of "Mr Nothing Gets Worse." [Oct 2017, p.26]

Everything is carefully weighted and considered, the minimal arrangements helping to foreground these inner lives with poetic candour and convincing detail. [Nov 2016, p.32]

The mix of baroque pop, prog rock and psychedelia is as bewildering as it is entertaining. [Nov 2016, p.32]

There's no straining to distance themselves from their former band [Stereolab]. [Apr 2018, p.24]

Their primitive dance beats and carefree, nostalgic melodies recall Saint Etienne, and their endearingly earnest efforts to summer upon tracks such as 'No Excuses' and 'June Evenings' are a joy to behold. [Jan 2009, p.85]

Their sound is an accident born of naivety, but their unabashed love for '80s indie is unmistakeable. [Feb 2009, p.89]

The group's ninth album feels low-down and dirty. [Feb 2020, p.25]

The clarity and effervescence of much of V can seem revelatory. [Apr 2023, p.34]

[Kozelek's] blend of technical excellence and emotional authority gives the album its strength. [Jul 2013, p.74]

An album of well-crafted discreet songs. [Oct 2015, p.76]

Close It Quietly is billed as a collaborative, full-band release--and while the singer's distinctive vocals prevent too radical a departure, even the minute-long cuts here sound sturdier, more confident. [Oct 2019, p.27]

There's a frayed but genuinely exploratory vibe here, that's not afraid to get tough. [Jul 2009, p.91]

Under the deft guidance of Alabama Shakes producer Andrija Tokic, even her tendency to outbreaks of over-shrill soprano trilling sounds strangely compelling. [Oct 2012, p.79]

Feck's gracious lyrical observations of the minutiae only sharpened by such a lovely contrast [to The Clientele's James Hornsey]. [Aug 2014, p.71]

It doesn't all work ... but a guest appearance on voice from singer-songwriter Barbara Manning kicks things into the next gear. [Jul 2017, p.30]

No-one writes with such wince-inducing accuracy about their target audience as their former Beautiful South pairing. [Sep 2017, p.30]

The vibe is smart, slightly soiled. [Apr 2018, p.28]

Tobin's virtuoso collaging of alien sounds is bracingly vivid in small doses, but a little chilly and disorienting over the long haul. [Jun 2011, p.96]

Deconstructing socio-cultural norms rarely sounds like so much fun. [Feb 2017, p.24]

You Heartbreaker, You lands like an accusation, with love (and other) songs which draw blood. [Oct 2025, p.23]

Although it's a shame to see eccentrics reining in idiosyncratic impulses,... they've honed their hubris. [May 2005, p.98]

Despite some interesting -co-writes with the likes of Walter Becker, it never achieves lift-off. [Apr 2009, p.82]

It's a soul-searchingly strong set. [May 2013, p.78]