Leaning lightly into their love of R&B on the likes of “Proof” and “Stevie”, and relaxing into expansive, stoned-in-the-sunshine grooves on pulsing lead single “Champion” and “Like Sweetness”, it’s a perfect goth summer record. [Jun 2022, p.34]

For all the record’s sonic invention, though, its Sangaré’s voice that commands attention, a rich, textured instrument that has only grown more nuanced and subtle with age. [May 2022, p.34]

Arcade Fire have delivered a triumphant restatement of purpose that 2022 probably doesn’t deserve but is brightened by all the same.[Jun 2022, p.35]

LP number nine features meditations on ageing: “Deathbed Of My Dreams” does it in a Nashville style; “Young And Stupid” does it like an early 1970s Eurovision entry. There’s also joyous self-affirmation. ... Best of all are “Prophets On Hold” and “Talk To Me Talk To Me”, AOR masterpieces that should have been on the last Abba album. J[Jun 2022, p.25]

Playful homages to country at its most synthetic and dancefloor-friendly, “Better Than Any Drug” and “Fall In Love Again” bridge the gap that once existed between Madonna and the Mandrell Sisters. [May 2022, p.29]

Woozy psych-folk remains her default setting, but there’s a fresh sense of experimentation at play here. [Jun 2022, p.26]

An eventually rousing album. [Jun 2022, p.34]

The constant is Wilson’s fiery vocal, still powerfully passionate well into her seventies. [May 2022, p.36]

The thoughtful A Beautiful Time finds Nelson in remarkable voice, giving thanks for a life well-lived over songs that feel wise and wily without being overly sentimental. [May 2022, p.30]

It absolutely stands on its own merits, however, as an album replete with the sinister strangeness and bleary whimsy which has characterised Laibach’s best work. [Jun 2022, p.29]

This Liverpool duo’s debut full-length occupies a brooding space somewhere between Mazzy Star and overlooked early-’90s slowcore heavyweights Idaho. [May 2022, p.29]

Palomino is upbeat, glossy country, tending somewhat towards the generic, but redeemed (as usual) by the rich twang in Lambert’s voice and the waspish humour which frequently enlivens her lyrics. [Jun 2022, p.29]

“Sex Magik” and “If We Get Caught” offer unashamedly lusty visions punctuated by agreeable glimpses of pop glitter. Otherwise, though, waspish, charismatically delivered lyrics are let down by workaday instrumental backing. [Jun 2022, p.25]

Fear Of The Dawn succeeds better when it surprises. [Jun 2022, p.34]

Tomberlin's second long-player seems to semi-consciously urge you to move along – nothing to hear here. Yet it creates its own slow-burning allure on repeated listens. [Jun 2022, p.34]

On her 2019 debut album Keepsake, Harriette Pilbeam, who records as Hatchie, showed an inclination to take her shoegaze-infused pop onto the dancefloor. That’s something continued on Giving The World Away. [Jun 2022, p.28]

It makes for another assured chapter in a celebrated life, a celebrated achievement. [Jun 2022, p.24]

At low volume, the album could serve as dinner music, but crank it up and its hushed intensity will gut you. [Jun 2022, p.25]

An exceptional, disarming collection of mutant electronic music. It’s a dense, disorienting 40 minutes of hyper-punctual edits, very tonally bright and often overwhelming; a sensorial bombardment. [Jun 2022, p.29]

There’s a sweet sadness to the end-of-relationship duet with Dave Gahan on “Stop Speaking”, but while the melancholy romantic meditations of other tracks can also be initially intriguing, the songs then lack the peaks and troughs to keep you from disengaging. [Jun 2022, p.29]

Prochet crafts another bewitching set of songs that weave together strains of vintage Gallic pop and gentle shoegaze with the gnarlier elements. [May 2022, p.30]

Thanks to a glut of albums by introspective piano students, there are elements in these largely reflective pieces that may seem familiar, but James Heather is still capable of subtly defying expectations. [May 2022, p.29]

There are some pretty melodies here, like “Bells”, “Hymn” and “An Intimate Distance”, but there are some tracks where Eno’s melodies are so minimal that they become quite mind-numbingly banal. [May 2022, p.26]

Heartbeat rhythms raise the emotional temperature. Joseph’s theme is abuse, and survival. Her voice coils and swirls in songs that play like maternal nursery rhymes rendered for comfort. [May 2022, p.29]

On “Tangerine” and “Fuzz Jam”, The Lazy Eyes strike an appealing balance between Beachwood Sparks-calibre prettiness and their gnarlier, squigglier impulses. [Apr 2022, p.31]

A record that acts as both a good-humour history lesson and a rousing party-starter for future generations to discover. [May 2022, p.22]

Spencer Gets It Lit is the strongest recorded offering from the rocker since the Blues Explosion’s 2012 album, Meat + Bone.

Paint This Town is the work of a group who understand that the genre is sufficiently robust to withstand an amount of affectionate roughing up. [May 2022, p.30]