Packed with lovely, unusual and attention-grabbing intros. ... Less heartening are his lyrics. ... Much of the record consists of its maker bragging about his sexual conquests with a dead-eyed disdain. [May 2020, p.106]

It's another masterwork from a group of no peers. [Sep 2020, p.113]

Their juggernaut third album is the sound of a band becoming ever more defiantly themselves. [Sep 2020, p.104]

The trajectory remains far-out, each track a space station on Deradoorian's exhilarating trip. [Jul 2020, p.106]

The instrumentals stay restlessly creative too, this time absorbing hip-hop cadences, wistful fiddles and dreamy post-punk. [Sep 2020, p.108]

Compelling and masterful. [Sep 2020, p.113]

This is heavy, yes, but it's never leaden. ... With The Universal Want - sad, wary, yet still alert to life's thwarted beauty - Doves are in the right place, the right time. [Sep 2020, p.106]

McKenna's charisma and melodic sense ensure it's a delight nonetheless. [Sep 2020, p.113]

A triumph. [Aug 2020, p.111]

[2018's debut's] Rousing tunes and harmony-rich arrangements marked them out as contenders. This second outing delivers on that promise. [Sep 2020, p.110]

Even when Energy takes a ruminative turn towards the end, there's not an ounce of fat. [Sep 2020, p.108]

Fado is a harder sell, a stronger taste. Still, Lina's voice has an irresistible dramatic heft, and combined with the smudgy ambient arrangements, all dark wood and bitter coffee, she and Refree could fill a gap that non-believers might not know they had. [Apr 2020, p.111]

Occasionally the vocals soften the edges, but on a record that feels as if it's trying to catch the moment of changing states - geological and mental - it's dynamism always powers through. [Summer 2020, p.104]

While it's not always clear what's on offer amid the density, there's always a sweetener on top to keep you coming back. [Sep 2020, p.111]

Play With Fire is the perfect length: straight in and straight out, leaving you wondering just where that knife wound came from. [Sep 2020, p.109]

Elevated throughout by Garcia's immaculate phrasing, this is music that fuses he tradition and modern with real purpose. [Sep 2020, p.110]

What stops it from feeling like an exercise in arch, vintage chic fancy dress is the warmth of their tunes and the lively untidiness if the execution. [Sep 2020, p.109]

Smart audio trickery and intriguing atmospheres draw the listener in and, overall, it's a real beauty. [Sep 2020, p.111]

A superbly restorative tonic for troubled times. [Sep 2020, p.108]

Beneath the hazy romance, California sunshine and chamber-pop sheen lies something less blithe and breezy. ... Quite the trip. [Sep 2020, p.108]

It's a record that draws you in, first with its story, and then with its songs. [Aug 2020, p.106]

The production here recalls all those beautifully arranged, rich-sounding Americana records from the '70s, a style to which Healey's mellifluous baritone is well suited. The songwriting, meanwhile, is a large leap forward from his earlier EPs. [Sep 2020, p.108]

Reminders of a great talent lost, and what might have been. [Sep 2020, p.111]

The nostalgia would be overwhelming were it not for Bayley's ability to offset it with woozy, elastic beats. [Aug 2020, p.102]

These crafted confessionals are a reminder that Murphy couldn't write a bad song if he tried. [Aug 2020, p.109]

Withering, in all the right ways. [Aug 2020, p.105]

With A Celebration of Endings, Biffy Clyro prove beyond doubt that they've got the idiosyncratic sewn up. [Sep 2020, p.112]

The way Blumberg expands and contracts the title track four times over the record, or filters a warped background shriek into Silence Breaker, underlines his experimental drives, his desire to push through sound barriers. [Sep 2020, p.107]