While it lacks the sheer otherworldliness of his heyday, it is still a startling successful marriage of old and new. [Aug 2020, p.102]

Redoubled his grime values: scene loyalty via scathing wit and wildly entertaining chutzpah. [Aug 2020, p.104]

The melodic flow of Alchemist;s beats perfectly offsets his partner's raw, unfiltered delivery. [Aug 2020, p.107]

They're less assured on the more experimental numbers. [Aug 2020, p.109]

Her multiple selves clash more often than they connect. [Aug 2020, p.110]

A poised, inventive record, designed to catch you out. [Aug 2020, p.111]

Ellis taps the pulse of his surroundings in manner akin to Massive Attack's Mezzanine. [Aug 2020, p.111]

A record lyrically concerned with trying to find inner peace and a sense of community within a troubled wider world. Perfect sounds and sentiments for these times, then. [Summer 2020, p.98]

Direct, alert, questing, it's a record that powerfully refuses to settle down. [Summer 2020, p.107]

The album's joy lies in being whisked seat-of-pants through moods, styles and tempos by a band always with pop glory in their sights. [Summer 2020, p.105]

The whole set is sumptuously produced and is the trio's most fully realised sonic adventure yet. [Summer 2020, p.98]

While she could let her hair down a little more, this record finds plenty of sweet spots between melancholy and euphoria. [Summer 2020, p.107]

This zeitgeist-friendly genre-hopping proves the trio are moving with the times, but it's satisfying to note that when they return to their starkly simple, powerful melodic trademark sound on closer Hallelujah, Haim remain in a league of their own. [Jun 2020, p.94]

Startisha is a marriage that nods to the old while leaning on the new, where results are more mixed. [Summer 2020, p.103]

Love, Death & Dancing finds Garratt charged with a new, bright energy. [Summer 2020, p.100]

The likes of Once and Now That I Found You suit the stripped-back aesthetic perfectly but it's the strings-assisted version of Sad Song that is the real showstopper here. [Jun 2020, p.100]

22 miniatures serving up sliced funk, jazz and soul with all the dexterity and precision of a sushi chef. [Jun 2020, p.102]

At its core On Sunset is the sound of someone genuinely excited about all the glorious possibilities the world of music has to offer. [Jul 2020, p.96]

It's an enchanting and quietly moving new chapter. [Jul 2020, p.104]

These songs' surfaces are fastidiously arranged - but in his delicate vocals and allusive, nervy lyrics, Westerman still stirs up darker, less elegantly curated depths. [Summer 2020, p.107]

Fittingly complex. [Summer 2020, p.107]

A couple of tracks featuring Kember's spoken word are skippable, but elsewhere such druggily joyous songs as Just A Little Piece Of Me and the triptastic I Can See Light Bend induce pleasant daydream states. [Summer 2020, p.105]

He's better when he approaches modern life from more oblique angles. [Summer 2020, p.104]

This is the sound of a band perfectly balanced and creatively ablaze. [Summer 2020, p.104]

The record's second half feels a little dreary after the spectacular opening, but the combination of doleful beauty and violent emotion that makes Hadreas's work extraordinary is never hard to find. [Summer 2020, p.104]

With strings, brass and a great deal of drama on his side, it's a beautiful escalation. [Summer 2020, p.103]

A record that pulls you in slowly over repeated listens. [Summer 2020, p.103]

There are funk-pop uplifts too, but it's when he slows the pace down that Eastgate really comes into his own. [Summer 2020, p.101]