There are clearly mad skills at work, but silent Earthling is rarely anything other than a simple pleasure. [May 2016, p.81]

Her own songs are more intriguing, however; poetic mediations on love and its destructive powers, sung in a tremulous but intense voice. [Feb 2009, p.76]

Placid moments abound. ... But "Spoot Ebb's" syncopated, Penguin Cafe rhythms indicate choppier waters, and "Flattie," introduce by poet Will Burns, hints at dark, incoming clouds. [Jun 2019, p.27]

While Prass's gossamer tone is still light and distinctive. The moods, textures and themes, however, have evolved. [Jul 2018, p.35]

Richard Hawley hasn't strayed too far from a successful formula. What he does introduce is a deliberate sens e of brevity, keeping songs tight and focused. [Jul 2019, p.29]

It's among his best. [Apr. 2012, p.79]

It's too early to pass judgement, but in pursuit of Burdon's stated ambition to "finish my career with my head held high," 'Til Your River Runs Dry finds his mission fully on course, a hero returned. [May 2013, p.64]

They still sound epic and unusually angry. [Oct 2025, p.31]

Strange Friends marks a measured step towards accessibility for one of Britain's most inventive bands. [Jun 2014, p.82]

While some results can feel incomplete, it's riveting to hear the structures Allen creates even for Wasser's most sinuous compositions, the elastic almost-funk of "enter The Dragon" being the strongest evidence of this collaboration's viability. [Dec 2021, p.29]

When co-leader Marshall LaCount takes vocals the band teeter on the brink of woe-is-me self-parody, but overall this is like a statelier Mazzy Star, dark in all the right places. [May 2011, p.82]

Sonically, the album has a muted palette, an approach that suits the colourised introversion of Mitchell's writing. even so, there are occasional flashes of illumination. [Mar 2022, p.24]

If his 20th solo album, The Man Upstairs, is less excitable than the likes of Underwater Moonlight, Fegmania! and Queen Elvis, it's a change that many Hitchcock agnostics will welcome. [Sep 2014, p.68]

A horny fusion of glam-rock boogie, Urge Overkill's egotism and libidinous top-shelf naughtiness, all delivered with the molten fury of The Black Keys. [Nov 2005, p.111]

Return To Cookie Mountain sees TV solidifying their more ethereal tendencies into denser compositions. [Aug 2006, p.100]

If 2021’s Homecoming marked Du Blonde’s transition from the psychedelic experimentalism released under her birth name to a take-no-prisoners glam-punk persona, its follow-up is that of an ascendant star honing her craft. [Dec 2024, p.33]

Long respected for looking beyond the 12-bar rut that blights much of the genre, Bibb has rarely sounded so articulate and inspired. [Review of the Year 2024, p.27]

This is a colorful mix of styles, filled with feedback, mangled solos and manic vocals, and rocking like The Cramps on a good night. [Dec 2011, p.100]

Whether in the propulsive “The Fall” or the more delicate “Desire”, she’s rarely sounded so commanding. [Jun 2022, p.34]

Like their debut, Not To Disappear evokes bot the gauzy fragility of Cocteau Twins and the offbeat ingenuity of Kristin Hersh, though this time it cranks up the amps. [Mar 2016, p.72]

An immersive, fluid and emotionally fragile listening experience. [Apr 2018, p.30]

Weber masks the scale of the enterprise with typical grace. [Feb 2013, p.77]

[The album] follows a familiar trajectory: martial climaxes and blackened ambient passages, bombast and afterburn. Rarely, though, has that trajectory been charted so effectively. [May 2015, p.82]

At its best, The Magic Whip thrums with ideas and possibilities. [May 2015, p.65]

An instantly engaging, 11-track set with zip, heart, sly humour and real staying power, which shucks off the often dry terseness of the genre without trashing its template. [Feb 2024, p.34]

Still short on humanity, true, but possessed with an alien sort of beauty. [Oct 2009, p.98]

A far more ambitious affair as producers Black Dog and Custom Blue underpin her crystalline vocals with subtly pattering lite beats, clever jazz inflections and humming electronic textures. [Dec 2001, p.102]

She builds on that promise [from her last album, Lights Out Zoltar!] with a skittish yet evocative album that draws on surf-rock. [May 2012, p.72]