Your Custom Text Here
Pip Blom’s second album Welcome Break
New album: The second album by the Amsterdam indie quartet continues their breezy, upbeat style, but with double-edged humour, riffing on pandemic lockdown but also on the brand name of British motorway services, familiar to any band touring
Read more
Darkly beautiful: Damon Albarn’s new album
New album: The frontman of many bands from Blur to Gorillaz returns with a new solo album suffused with slow beautiful, tender melancholy, falling piano chord progressions, jazz elements, electronica, gentle beats and wistful images
Read more
Afflecks Palace: Spirit of ‘89
New album: Spirited, uplifting debut by the Manchester indie quartet named after the legendary market stall building with a style very much echoing the heydays of baggy ‘89 Stone Roses, complete with jangling guitars, stop-start sections and wistful, upbeat harmonised vocals
Read more
Something to cling to: Penelope Isles’ second album Which Way To Happy
New album: A bright, sparkly blend of wistful, ethereal dream pop, space rock, some French disco and electronica by Brighton’s core of siblings Jack and Lily Wolter and a fine follow-up to the 2019 debut LP Until the Tide Creeps In
Read more
Going back to go forward: Nation of Language
New album: The follow-up to Introduction, Presence (2020), the Brooklyn trio continue in very likeable new wave synth vein, but dipping more into style of the 70s pioneers such as Kraftwerk and Neu! as well as early Human League and OMD
Read more
Marissa Nadler
New album: This ninth album by the Boston-based American singer-songwriter is a beautiful selection of slow, acoustic numbers rich in stories about individuals and inspired by the long-running TV documentary series Unsolved Mysteries
Read more
Sam Evian’s third album, Time To Melt
New album: Warm, woozy and fluid, an appropriate title for this super smooth third album by Sam Griffin Owens, the Brooklyn based artist, decorated with light funk, 70s psychedelic soul and lush, orchestral instrumentation
Read more
New album: Rich in textures orchestral and piano with that distinctive, articulate voice, the American artist’s new album is suffused with nature’s inspiration via a long Covid lockdown on the Cornish Coast, and by stages of grief for her mother
Read more
Blue Banister’s is Lana Del Rey’s eighth studio album in 11 years
New album: The American singer-songwriter returns with her eighth LP and second LP of the year with further slow, cinematic piano-based numbers filled with her soaring voice and vivid, heartbreak stories and images
Read more
Rebecca Taylor’s back
New album: Rotherham’s Rebecca Taylor returns with a second LP under her liberated moniker after Compliments Please with an even greater triumph of darkly humorous and caustic honesty topped with glorious gospel harmonies, big drums, orchestration and a celebration of emancipated womanhood
Read more
Remi Wolf’s full LP debut Juno
New album: This full debut by the charismatic 25-year-old Californian matches her persona – fluorescent, fizzy funk-psych-pop full of bright singing, bursting with sugary, almost wieldy but playfully imaginative energy
Read more
Shannon Lay’s firth solo album Geist
New album: As shown by the single Rare To Wake, profiled earlier this year, this fifth solo album by the LA singer-songwriter brings beautifully written songs performed with acoustic restraint, rich vocal harmonies and maturity
Read more
Joy Crookes’ debut album - Skin
New album: After three EPs, the 23-year-old south Londoner of Irish-Bangladeshi descent launches her debut LP with songs of high quality and consummate performance, joining the likes of Celeste and Arlo Parks as as likely huge soul stars
Read more
Sam Fender’s second LP Seventeen Going Under
New album: Hugely popular, especially after his 2019 debut Hypersonic Missiles, the 27-year-old singer-songwriter from North Shields builds on this with further Springsteen-style huge choruses and sax-decorated melodies and Strokes turns, but now with edgier, more personal lyrics
Read more
The ninth album by Pond
New album: No surprise that this is the ninth album by the Australians psychedelic rock and pop band, a dynamic release with a wide variety of styles, intelligent, atypical lyrics, passionate delivery and wonderful unpredictability
Read more
NAO’s third album blossoms
New album: Sunnily uplifting and defiant in style and lyrics, this third album by the 33-year-old east London soul and R&B singer features guest co-vocalists, but with the exception of a real beauty with Lianne La Havas, shines out best on her own
Read more
Bess Atwell
New album: Intimate, intelligent and gorgeously beautiful in voice and writing, the now Brighton-based folk singer-songwriter's LP is exquisitely performed with piano, guitar and gentle orchestration, reminiscent of Marika Hackman and Julia Jacklin
Read more
New album: The Welsh trio’s 14th studio album is their first number 1 since 1998, contains their classic sound, defiant, power-rock melancholy and overt politics, but also a rippling piano sound that echoes some of Abba’s big hits
Read more
New album: Superbly full-bodied, catchy, lyrically wry electro-indie-pop LP by the singer-songwriter and guitarist from Stratford-on-Avon whose songs have a wonderful juddery momentum enhanced by her strong, deep voice
Read more
Kacey Musgraves: veiled truth
New album: The acclaimed Nashville star’s follow-up to 2018’s Golden Hour comes on the back of divorce from fellow musician Ruston Kelly, so it’s a bittersweet but at times beautiful cross between country, rock, pop and R&B
Read more