This is really an album about empathy, and feels incredibly necessary today.

Smother does exactly what it suggests but with a poetic fragility and an exacting panache that enthrals and entices like never before. An essential album.

‘Good News’ is a triumph, and a late contender for Album Of The Year.

Its brevity might lead some to think it slight, but those who persevere with ‘Seeking New Gods’ will find yet more evidence of Gruff Rhys’ undaunted off piste genius.

‘Melt My Eyez See The Future’ finds Denzel Curry sitting in a lane of his own. A unique, unified experience, it’s a boundary-less work of endless fascination.

Though the days of the jangly, innocuous Britpop they were so integral to establishing are gone, Suede haven’t lost their roots – they’ve just re-established them for a new era.

If they’ve perfected the modern pop template associated with acts like SOPHIE (on production duties here) - and they have - it’s somehow not the most impressive element of the record. The second half of the album includes a pair of breathtaking epics, ‘Cool & Collected’ and ‘Donnie Darko’, that showcase a songwriting maturity well beyond their 18 and 19 years.

It finds Fontaines D.C. moving ever outward into a realm of their own. Powerful and probing, ‘Skinty Fia’ is a record that relishes tough challenges, and refuses simple answers.

It's a strong and accomplished debut, and Jessie Ware has provided the missing link between SBTRKT and Sade. Whether you think that's a good thing is your call.

‘Year of Love’ opens the record with a palm-muted guitar riff, unexpectedly, and from there ‘Classic Objects’ blossoms into classic Jenny Hval, ‘Cemetery of Splendour’ and ‘Jupiter’ forming its plain, heavenly, skyscraping highlights.

A remarkable return to form by one of rap’s finest wordsmiths, it’s Pusha’s most focused and cohesive solo effort to date, and one of hip-hop’s strongest long-players of 2015.

A beautiful outing in hauntingly pastoral heartbreak. Impressive.

Multitude is the perfect return for such a formidable musical talent, serving not only as a reminder of his innovative talents, but also highlighting how much richer his soundscaping and storytelling has grown over his hiatus.

The duo have created something extraordinary here - something that definitely needs to be heard.

Far from dipping into past glories, the Mael brothers continue their storied run on a stylish, impactful record that illuminates their continued engagement with the wonder of the pop song.

Elaenia is one of those rare albums that crosses genres and audiences with ease due in thanks to the sheer craft that's gone into its seven tracks.

The friction between these two worlds is rife throughout the album, creating moments of explosive hyper pop euphoria (Bites on My Neck) and complete emotional vulnerability and devastation (Friendly Machine).

A stunning work of self-analysis, it’s Jamila Woods’ finest record yet – high praise in itself – one of the most absorbing, illuminating records you’re going to discover this year.

Once again I am moved with the delicate care Gia Margaret approaches her art with, something of a prayer and an anthem to the sovereignty of unraveling, longing and finding.

Misty keeps this album pretty genuine. There are jaunts and horns and dancing mixed with sorrow and piano and heartache; his lyrics cutting through any joy with wicked humour and his comic persona still second place to his incredible songwriting.

A raw, primitive nod to the planet we inhabit and our connection to it.

It’s evocative and like much of Empress Of’s entire discography, it’s a reconfiguration of laptop material and pop expectations. It subverts heartbreak, makes it sexy, and silhouettes a continuous desire to distort dancefloor traditions with experimental come-ons.

‘Fir Wave’ is a subtle triumph, a record whose innate beauty dissipates to reveal complex aesthetic machinery, while never fully revealing its secrets.

‘Coral Island’ is huge in scope and ambition, while also remaining staggeringly consistent. The bar is set high from the off, and they never fail to reach it. A lazy comparison: it’s as creative as ‘The White Album’ and as unified as ‘Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake’. A truly superb experience, it feels as though The Coral have painted their masterpiece – a one way ticket to ‘Coral Island’ is a truly an offer you can’t turn down.

A powerful album, confirming Home Video as another exquisite offering from Lucy Dacus.

To hear someone so comfortable in their own creative process, binding the childhood inquisitiveness that’s never left them to the artistic confidence that they’ve developed over more than three decades, is a delight and a privilege.

Ultimately The Impossible Kid is an album that will reinforce whatever preconceptions about Aesop Rock you already hold. However, it’s also worth noting that this is most probably the least cryptic and most honest of all his records.

‘This Stupid World’ is another wonderful instalment in their extensive catalogue.