He's a poet of the everyday, finding outsized emotions within these life-sized tableaux. [Dec 2018, p.28]

Sexsmith's soulful voice, mixed with simple guitar strums and sweet harmonies, especially in the delicate yet incredibly intense closer, "Ever Wonder", pushes style, composition and existence into a timeless adventure. [Mar 2023, p.35]

Even when they slow up, the quality doesn't let up. [Sep 2008, p.100]

Weathervanes is another imperious demonstration of Isbell's signature ability to simultaneously project confidence and vulnerability, both musically and lyrically. [Jul 2023, p.32]

Mastodon mostly veer clear of the slick atmospherics that turn other technical metal bands into post-rock wallpaper. [Oct 2006, p.117]

Blue & Lonesome feels like a major reassessment from a band, returning to the source and in doing so reminding us why they mattered in the first place. [Jan 2017, p.26]

More subdued yet equally captivating follow-up. [Oct 2019, p.24]

Across this record, you could spend days unravelling the songwriting. [Nov 2019, p.22]

Even more impressive [than 2022's Versions Of Modern Performance]. [Feb 2025, p.35]

Teen Dream finds the duo resolving to present their songs in somewhat firmer strokes. Nothing rocks, exactly, but organs coo in sharper focus, drum machines bear with added vigour, and an eerie disquiet occasionally linger. [Feb 2009, p.79]

Not since Lennon howled "Mother" have there been songs as naked and fraught as "Mama Here, Mama Gone" and "March 11 1962." [Jun 2010, p.88]

Nashville is clearly a home away from home, though, as this set from September 2008 proves. [Jul 2011, p.92]

Hiatt has rarely rocked harder than on Forever. Yet those moments are also smartly tempered by songs that sometimes flirt with '80s psychedelia ("Ghost Ship") and the kind of country-roots balladry with which she first made her name over a decade ago. [Jan 2025, p.34]

The music here is intimate yet remote. [Dec 2002, p.140]

Head Above The Water is a triumph of sensitivity, as Power's exquisite voice gives shape and contour to folk-centric songs that assimilates elements of country, jazz and experimental drone. [Jul 2020, p.33]

Nine Types Of Light suggest they're settling in nicely. [May 2011, p.78]

While somewhat novelty, it's hard not to appreciate Daniel's conceptual moxie. [Aug 2014, p.79]

Her most orthodox album, perhaps, and by some distance her best. [Dec 2013, p.68]

Warm, uplifting and fizzing with both passion and virtuosity, Rejoice is not only a fitting last will and testament from Masekela, but a glorious affirmation of music at its most potent and universal. [May 2020, p.22]

The thrill it provides will send a shiver of recognition through anyone who grew up with The Specials, The Smiths or Parklife. [Album of the Month, March 2006, p.86]

The result is a delight. [Nov 2007, p.115]

The results are gorgeous. [Oct 2009, p.112]

Lennox and Kember create breezy sonic collages of sunshine melody, fluidly chugging rhythms and fizzing analogue synths without succumbing to full retro-jukebox pastiche. [Sep 2022, p.29]

[A] stunningly assured fifth studio album. [Aug 2014, p.80]

It finds its sound in glowing electric waltzes, piled high with massed guitars and sawing fiddles, that take up a riff and grind it into extinction. Not to be missed, though, is their skill for softer atmospheres. [Jun 2021, p.27]

An LP of spooked delicacy and wheezy, wayward charm. [Jun 2003, p.104]

An album that is as poignant as it is over the top. [Oct 2003, p.118]

Unsurprisingly, American V is the most desolate of the series, bereft of the moments of playfulness that leavened its predecessors. [Aug 2006, p.92]