Despite the often heavy lyrical content, Lucky Me mostly sounds light and fresh – with perhaps only Leach’s self-loathing becoming a bit oppressive towards the end of the record.

This album is a pleasing, mature release, though a little more freakout wouldn’t have gone amiss.

With Cry Sugar we get a scrapbook of interesting ideas, diversions and pastiches from a producer with little to prove at this stage – it helps that Mohawke’s imagination and skill make the record great fun to listen to.

What is clear is that the band’s songwriting will never be short of heft, with the potential to rouse a festival crowd. The Alchemist’s Euphoria will definitely do that, especially the primal, chest-bared early examples – and so for now the band look set to begin chapter two of their story with a show of strength.

The sense of a missed opportunity lingers.

There’s barely a weak track on Surrender, and it’s a record that’s destined to appear on a lot of ‘end of year’ lists come December. The fact that this is only Maggie Rogers’ second album is astonishing, given the level of confidence and ability that shines through it.

Beyoncé mostly eschews polished vocal performances in favour of expression, with the intricate vocal runs that wrap up Plastic Off The Sofa a notable exception, and while the explosive final verse of Heated is being edited at time of writing its raw and spontaneous quality is intensely satisfying.

The general tone is low-stakes, suggesting that Bada$$ felt obliged to link the record to 1999 regardless of the content, and it lacks the impact he might want from his first release in five years. That being said, good taste in production makes it very listenable and his sound has evolved in an interesting way, meaning that ironically he’s not stuck in the past.

Hold My Baby emphasises King Princess’ position as one of pop’s most singular talents, but doesn’t drive home the point quite in the way you feel it should. Perhaps that makes it an even more interesting listen.

While the surprise and freshness of the Sticks ‘n’ Stones era is understandably a thing of the past, there’s more than enough on The Theory Of Whatever to show why Jamie T has had such longevity.

It makes for a decent companion record to Fear Of The Dawn but also works perfectly well as a standalone album in its own right. Two decades on, Jack White’s creative fire shows no sign of dimming.

Beatopia is an album which shows Beabadoobee still experimenting to find her voice – that doesn’t make it a bad album, rather a slightly uneven one. There are enough moments, such as the gently soaring See You Soon, which hint that she’s due to break out of her cult status and become a major star sooner rather than later.

The album rallies later on, as I Love Your Girl and When The Party’s Over are impeccable tunes that more than deserve their place, but Mabel’s dedication to the pure pop that gave her big hits in 2019-20 is now threatening to leave her somewhat faceless.

Generally though, World Wide Pop is full of inventive, bold pop music – sometimes sugary sweet like the acoustic led Crushed.zip, and sometimes big and anthemic such as the CHAI and Pi Ja Ma collaboration Teenager. And, as ever with Superorganism, it’s never, ever boring.

Hellfire is a superb and strangely seductive album that adds another gem to the crown of a band who are fast becoming one of the very best of their era. Mystifying, terrifying, essential listening.

The Other Side Of Make-Believe is a dependably great album from a dependably great band.

Overall, Pearson has produced an album with very few weak spots. It’s a record that takes the strengths of Return and builds on them, resulting in a work that, from the very first listen, you know you’ll be going back to again and again.

Two decades on, Formentera sees the band still going from strength to strength, evolving their sound as time goes on, while retaining all the elements which make them such an enjoyable listen.

Clever but debauched, silly but serious, this is the best album of their career thus far.

It’s probably the most accessible Soccer Mommy album to date.

This enchanting and deeply felt piece of work marks Gwenno out once again as a unique artist with much to say.

No one really shakes things up. Still, there are numerous moments of real beauty here.

It’s the sort of album which flows naturally along, with not a song, or even a lyric out of place. She’s been flying under the radar pretty consistently for a decade now, but if there’s more records of the quality of The Spur, more people will inevitably fall in love with Joan Shelley’s music.

Here is a songwriter effortlessly recounting his joys of youth and getting lost, and in the process finding himself through a set of subtle musical gems.

There’s a massive amount of power and feeling in the music but perhaps even more of an impact is in the feeling of expressionism and freedom that it represents. In forcing herself to look at who she is as an artist and explore new ways of creating Zola Jesus has firmly taken back her power and forged a new way forward out of the darkness.

From start to finish, it’s a thrilling ride with some important messages of determination and empowerment that swirl above annoyance, frustration and resignation. Once again, the Berlin-based Newcombe has crafted yet another worthy addition to his portfolio.

‘Flicted is one of the more positive responses you will hear to the pandemic, and it continues Bruce Hornsby’s rich vein of form in recent years. ... It is giving Hornsby some of the best music of his career.

The main issue that dogs this album is weak composition – few of the ideas are outright bad, but they don’t earn their runtime.