Their songwriting doesn't always soar like their Hall of Fame inspirations, but the intense, super-saturated atmosphere is every bit as evocative as that advertised on the neon-lit cover. [Aug 2019, p.116]

Many of the early tracks feel over-packed with ideas, musical styles , thrusts of synth, bongos, spoken word and chemtrails of jazz. Later, though, when he settles into sparser ballad territory, there is a sense of him drawing into focus as an artist. [Aug 2019, p.116]

Heightened emotions stop Keepsake's soft-focus textures from slipping into the background. [Aug 2019, p.111]

Not all of the dream-influenced Gold Past Life is sharp enough around the edges to propel Johnson away from cultdom, but the high-definition poignancy of Drawn Away and the title track's aggressive Bee Gees pastiche show him decisively pushing at the walls. [Aug 2019, p.111]

A record that lurks around the same eerie corners as Dead Can dance, or White Chalk-era PJ Harvey. [Summer 2019, p.112]

He's smart to pair Angel Olsen with a beat from the understated end of Queen's playbook, but it doesn't always work with Camila Cabello sounding oddly generic on Find U Again. [Summer 2019, p.116]

Destroyer attempts to shoehorn more incongruous elements into an already busy mix. [Summer 2019, p.108]

A solid, rather than remarkable record. [Summer 2019, p.115]

Its gorgeousness isn't always matched by a real statement of intent. [Summer 2019, p.112]

There's nothing transformative enough to make this more than a placeholder and plenty that is kitsch. [Summer 2019, p.112]

This debut full-length channels abrasive energy akin to early SoundCloud rap. [Summer 2016, p.111]

The album is so cacophonous that it borders on the unpleasant. Yet there are redemptive moments. [Summer 2019, p.111]

Rakei's gently wistful tone fits the general mood, though it's something of a relief when he shifts gears. [Summer 2019, p.115]

At times, it's too mellow. [Summer 2019, p.108]

It makes for a meditative, transportive listening experience, exemplified best on the elegiac piano and swelling strings of opener Haar. [Jul 2019, p.109]

Marigold and Paradise Drive show they aren't short of thrills, but Levitation's title track, which despite its seven minutes and two parts, never achieves the promised lift-off, and encapsulates Flamingods's shortcomings. [Jul 2019, p.110]

Fredo does little to soften the edges of his rough-cut persona for this solo debut album. [Mar 2019, p.115]

A long and winding and faithfully atmospheric cover of Pink Floyd's Echoes that closes the album is perhaps the main attraction here, but too much of what precedes it tends to waft away into the ether. [Jul 2019, p.114]

There are suggestions of better directions not taken. [Jul 2019, p.113]

Very much an album of two halves. [Jul 2019, p.113]

There's enough deviation from Lowe's fastidiously tasteful norm to prevent YU descending into dullness. [Jul 2019, p.113]

Here they lean too heavily on space-age boogie-rock. [Jul 2019, p.110]

Though probably not the best place for the uninitiated to start exploring the work of this often brilliant and evocative musician, at the same time, songs such as the aching South rank up there with his best. [Jul 2019, p.110]

Too much feels half-baked. While the songs aren't without charm, they're torpedoed by Doherty's distracted, sloppy performance. [Jul 2019, p.109]

While their third third album won't win any prizes for innovation, it's pumped full of the kind of GM-modified anthems expressly tooled for both sticky-floored clubs and gigantic arenas. [Jul 2019, p.109]

These songs might waver and stumble, but they still feel like a successful step forward. [Jul 2019, p.106]

It's remarkably poised, a level gaze that could give a little more away. [May 2019, p.111]

Short on visceral thrills, but long on soul and dexterity. [May 2019, p.108]