Her real metier is the conjuring of moods via soft layers of twangy guitar, piano and understated strings, her voice bringing an impressionistic air to stand-outs like "Have You Seen" and the balletic "Wouldn't Go Back." [Sep 2013, p.92]

Lament is a startling, eclectic listen. [Jan 2014, p.72]

This is arguably The Coal Porter' finest yet--a deft, thoughtful and beautifully arranged set with an airy sense of melancholy. [Nov 2016, p.25]

Good-natured album. [Apr 2020, p.35]

This follow-up is mightily impressive too, the band ramping up their sound into something approaching classic rock. [Feb 2021, p.30]

They range from isolated fragments to several absorbing takes of a song - "Went To See The Gypsy" - on its way to near-greatness. [Apr 2021, p.42]

Like The Knife's opera about Charles Darwin, The Unfolding tackles the biggest themes in a way that's awed, never overwrought. [May 2022, p.32]

The familiar finger-picking textures and soft-sung romantic paeans of 2019’s Cala have been superseded by an almost ghostly atmosphere, as echo-swathed, lysergic-sounding reveries evoke spellbinding romantic visions. [Dec 2024, p.37]

There are rum choices (Ex-Easter Island Head, Craven Faults), generic pumpers (Sally C, Shanti Celeste, Daybreakers) and moody mates (Mogwai, The Twilight Sad, Deftones' Chino Moreno), while surprising highlights include Daniel Avery's "Drone:Nodrone" widescreen prowler. [Jul 2025, p.26]

These are songs ripe for revisiting. [Oct 2025, p.35]

"Turn Your Heart Back On" shows the pair can still cut it when the moment is right. [May 2026, p.33]

Funnily enough, it's the lyrics that let Ringleader down the most. [Apr 2006, p.94]

This is a soundscape bordered by The Flaming Lips and the Pixies, and mapped with verve. [Mar 2010, p.81]

An album that bounces airly between teen pop sublime and the aging rebel ridiculous. [Apr 2011, p.95]

Like all perfumes, its impact fades. [Aug 2015, p.71]

There's often a giddy, even ecstatic feel to Pierce's exercises in personal exorcism, one that connects the exuberant indie-pop that was The Drums' stock and trade during their breakout a decade ago with his more smiths-y and synth-laden music here. [Dec 2023, p.28]

One trick ponies, yes, but it's a good trick. [Jun 2009, p.83]

This album subtly expands her metrical, folksy songcraft to the point where songs like 'Heard It All Before' and 'Fireheads' are just one spoonfed breakbeat from being charttoppers. [Oct 2008, p.113]

You can't turn the clock back, of course, but in "Sad Days And Lonely Nights" you completely understand how the simple groove and ringing of the strings might act as a revivifying tonic. [Jun 2021, p.23]

There's little on OFOW that he hasn't done already. [Nov 2002, p.128]

Where in the past he has often impressed rather than engaged us, here there's an emotional warmth that makes it by some distance the best record he's ever made. [Apr 2003, p.110]

The bulk... is given over to rolling, near-baroque piano balladry. [Nov 2004, p.102]

The joyous hooks and choruses remain, but they're tempered by a welcome moodiness. [Dec 2002, p.129]

It's like Belle & Sebastian slopping sorbet with early Jonathan Richman. [Feb 2004, p.82]

This album will appeal equally to hard house and handbag crowds alike. [May 2002, p.113]

His is a gentler, pastoral treat. [Nov 2005, p.111]

The acid test of any recorded OST is its ability to stand independent of image and dialogue and on that count, Hill's latest as Umberto more than measures up. [Dec 2012, p.78]

Hermetically sealed but beautiful. [Jul 2013, p.80]