Keane fans will be happily familiar with the piano-heavy pop-rock, but those who wanted a little more grit will fine it in spades on The Wave. [Dec 2016, p.105]

A sweetly brain-scrambling experience. [Apr 2006, p.114]

The mood change from insurrection to brooding dystopia makes for a less immediate set of songs, but listen long enough and this is another powerful, affecting set. [Mar 2020, p.114]

The sheer oddity of the constituent parts is the thing that provides the thrill in the process, making this another perverse triumph. [May 2015, p.115]

The Coup's sixth album recalls OutKast or The Roots at their boldest, and Riley's an engaging host. [Dec 2012, p.103]

Like a silent movie star who discovered she didn't sound like Janet Street-Porter when talkies came, the overwhelming feeling is one of relief and career continuation. [Dec 2013, p.102]

It's stylistically close to 2012's excellent Interstellar, but on this form, too much of a good thing just isn't possible. [Dec 2013, p.112]

As strident as the MC5 yet as playful as Pavement, White Denim sound like the best rock'n'roll party you've ever gatecrashed. [July 2008, p.111]

A record whose combination of chirpy choruses and sharp, dark lyricism is difficult to resist. [Jul 2019, p.106]

By growing a personality, he's conjured up a low-key gem and a minor revelation. [Jul 2009, p.119]

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]

It's full of clever rhymes and couplets, overflowing with wit and evocative charm, all set to the kind of arrangements that Harry Nilsson always dreamed of. [Aug 2001, p.142]

The sound is richer and the mood conveyed by Sambol--think a Muppet Show Sylan--is more rueful. [Apr 2010, p.121]

It's an album constructed from the simplest of elements: muted keyboards chords, pained falsetto vocals and Krell's greatest weapon of all: near silence. [Aug 2014, p.108]

Wonderful Wonderful is a glossy indie-pop album with sonics as slick and glistening as a brand-new Vegas skyscraper. [Oct 2017, p.110]

It feels hungry, modern and thrilling. [Nov 2019, p.111]

If you can forgive them their fondness for epic arrangements, theirs is a debut to transport you to a gentler place. [Jul 2005, p.122]

Circles showed his music was reaching new heights. [Mar 2020, p.116]

It's a lush and elevating experience. [Dec 2012, p.109]

Whether psychedelic riffing or crooning over strings, theirs is top-notch garage pop. [May 2007, p.126]

These 10 tracks sustain a brooding atmosphere. [Jul 2020, p.109]

It's worth having--just don't expect the act of possession to be all one way. [Feb 2014, p.110]

Understated but always adult record, but Aves's guitar twinkles across these impossibly catchy tunes and his voice's warmth masks its sometimes barbed content. [Mar 2016, p.106]

Dive in unreservedly. [Jun 2018, p.119]

A tripwire-taut production from pop magus Cam Blackwood ensures these bleak but brilliant punk confessions grip like a vice, even as you fear for Carter's mental health. [Jul 2019, p.106]

MDNA's dirty dozen rank it her best since, in all sincerity, the career high of 1998's Ray Of Light itself. [May 2012, p.88]

Once you've let it grow on you, Sea Change is largely so lovely that you'll forgive him. [Oct 2002, p.98]

Each of the 10 songs are beautifully simple, sounding like they've been passed down in a Welsh oral tradition from generations long forgotten. [May 2012, p.100]