At their best, they sound like a still-warm, half-remembered dream. [Feb 2013, p.79]

Much of the album mediates on Torrini's new status as a mother but does so through some intensely poetic lyrics. [Oct 2013, p.75]

There's a rich atmosphere of Americana on the faith-questioning "Falsetto" and the hop-skipping hoedown "On My Conscience," while the lover's lament "Priscilla" and emotional navel-gazing of "Half Of Me" find him dallying on the outskirts of John Grant pop grandeur. [Sep 2013, p.86]

This will make a happy memento of a rollicking show, but set against the invention and distinctive voices elsewhere in folk, it;s rather marking time. [May 2013, p.71]

There's vulnerability in Chapman's lazily charming voice. [Sep 2015, p.78]

Some of Bridges Not Walls shares a punkish musical sensibility with its ancestor, and while "The Sleep Of Reason" is an invigorating polemic, Bridges Not Walls is at its best dropping a gear for the country shuffle of "Saffiyah Smiles." [Jan 2018, p.18]

On "Operator Error" and "Less From You", the duo nimbly reintegrate the post-punk and power-pop elements of their mid-'00s selves with the more avidly dance-oriented direction of the band's last decade. [Apr 2023, p.38]

The conceit, owing as much to Thomas Pynchon as it does to the Grateful Dead, and songs like 'Jehovah Will Never Come' remain delightful. [Nov 2009, p.104]

This is raucous, relentless fun; in Parton’s own words, a musical “life raft” for shitty times. [Aug 2021, p.28]

Another bittersweet, finger-picked confection that shows their chemistry is still there. [Jul 2004, p.101]

The rhythmic, melodic and thoughtful After The Disco stands as impressive proof of the strength of their partnership. [Feb 2014, p.74]

The Living And The Dead finds her broadening her palette, enlisting Tom Waits guitarist Marc Ribot to bring a miore rock flavour. It's only partially successful. [Nov 2008, p.102]

The mournful tone is seductive, but at times the femme melodrama teeters into All About Eve territory. [Feb 2005, p.83]

The results are impressive enough, though never totally successful in effecting seamless rapprochement between cultures. [Nov 2011, p.92]

In sentiment and execution, Feeling Mortal is more Hank than Dylan, yet there's a subtle poetry in the way the lyric flits between life and death, dreams and wakefulness.

This is a focused record by Weezer standards, one that play to their strengths (sun-kissed tunefulness, nerdy introspection, loud guitars). [May 2016, p.82]

Maximalists and circus ringmasters might enjoy it, but many will be scrabbling for the stop button. [May 2012, p67]

White has not only fashioned a terrific album from less than ideal circumstances, but one that finally feels like a worthy successor to No Such Place. [Mar 2012, p.96]

It's a record packed with earworms and a deliciously deadpan charm. [Mar 2013, p.79]

Summer Camp are no longer a memory of a pop band, but the real thing. [Oct 2013, p.75]

Their witty pop vignettes are about as much fun as you can have alone with a stereo. [Oct 2006, p.109]

An overload of genre hopping and exotic finery swamps whatever attracted all the heavyweight talent to her in the first place. [Aug 2003, p.108]

He can be relied upon to sprinkle a few brilliant tunes on each release, and this is no exception. [Oct 2012, p.81]

The second album of their third coming aims for the spontaneity of the early recordings, pushing those buried melodies to the surface. [Jul 2009, p.93]

This is departure lounge pop--antiseptic, pleasant, with Photoshopped pics of exotic locales scattered around, but none of the hedonism of actually being there. [May 2011, p.82]

It's a solid rather than spectacular effort. [Apr 2012, p.87]

Political metaphors abound on this eclectically ramshackle collection. [Mar 2012, p.98]

Her acoustic leanings have been ditched in favour of a moody, downtempo sound, full of eerie loops and elctro-bleeping. [Jul 2012, p.80]