Whenever thoughts here turn to love, the results are not pretty.... But when antipathy rules, things go with a fizzy enthusiasm that’s quite infectious.

By the end of Post Traumatic, you realise Shinoda is right: this record is as much about Bennington as it is about him, but that’s what makes it so vulnerable and such a triumphant debut.

Their sixth album, Marauder, is their most experimental to date, blending everything from rough garage rock to Motown rhythms. They’re reinvigorated, brimming with energy and self-assurance.

Race is richly entertaining, immersive and evocative, orchestrated with fastidious care and feeling.

Everyday Life is a fascinating, occasionally brilliant curio, reflective of a band still very much figuring out how to respond to a world that has become meaner, dirtier and crueller since they were singing about clocks and colours. They’re not quite there, but you can admire the effort all the same.

Tight and heartfelt if ploddingly unoriginal.

It's still northern Europe that dominates their music.

It's all very laidback and earnest, but the endless lo-cal homilies ultimately grate.

The vibe on this debut for Jack White's Third Man label is pre-rock'n'roll.

The sonic thinness which seems inherent to Mount remains his limiting weakness, and modest strength.

Friendly Fires' follow-up to their Mercury-nominated debut is a huge disappointment.

His impressive collective of collaborators--John Mayer, Ed Sheeran, Ryan Tedder, Julia Michaels and Khalid--all help foster Mendes’ music into a more mature space.

Overall, the weaknesses far outnumber the strengths. Not, of course, that that will prevent huge sales figures for 4: because those numbers, ultimately, are what it's all about.

The combination works best on the single Attracting Flies; less engaging is the descent to playground chanting on Best Be Believing.

The more languid, erotic performances are balanced by ones on which Deantoni Parks' drums dictate the mood through their rattling, martial bustle.

Love Is Dead continues to ask questions of the world, but realises they’re not always black and white, or in CHVRCHES case, light or dark.

The record itself functions like an escape pod. When confined within Bastille’s catchy hooks and imaginative, era-spanning production, what lies ahead suddenly isn’t so terrible. The future is bright – for 30 minutes’ worth of bops, at least.

Combined with the faux-naive, fairytale tone of the narratives, it makes for an irritatingly condescending experience. The lofty aimlessness is matched by musical settings.

Musically, she strays a little too far from her folkie comfort-zone, with varied results

What a couple of charmers.

With her delivery tacking impressively between sweet and smoky, "On the Road" recalls what happened when the Kind of Blue influence hit the likes of Tim Buckley and Tim Hardin.

In places, Portico Quartet's third album recalls old-school jazz-funk, from the chamber-jazz end of the spectrum rather than the party end.

With his new Brotherhood, he's finally found the ideal vehicle to indulge his taste for "Cosmic California Music".

Sometimes, bigger is not better: Giant Sand's Howe Gelb has often been most potent with minimal resources, which may explain why I'm slightly underwhelmed by this major project.

Few musicians ever achieve such complete dominance and superiority on their instrument as Jerry Douglas: not a single voice is raised in challenge to Douglas's mastery of the dobro. This latest, guest-laden album shows why.

The result is an engaging, softly sensuous air of desolation, emotion recollected in tranquility.

It shifts desultorily from style to style, with songs barely hanging around long enough to state their case.

It's an album as hard to pin down as fog, but redeemed by moments of transcendent beauty.