This 13-track album is a more emphatic, even angry work charting her emotional evolution [than mixtape What We Drew].

What emerges from their empathy is a thoroughly great record that adds punch and groove to Rebennack's humid party music.

A record replete with drama and succour that wrestles with the messy business of being alive.

Dig deep and there's powerful drama and enigmatic subtlety in equal measure as the Cumbrian four-piece once again embrace understated electronica and invite favourable comparisons with Talk Talk.

Brevity sharpens the ex-Clipse rapper’s focus, though: rarely has he sounded as urgent, even with his signature laconic tempo, as he does on bravura opener If You Know You Know; or as authoritative as on Santeria, which packs three different movements into under three minutes.

The endeavour has clearly proved liberating, and prompted a renewed sense of creativity.

Kitchen Sink is an album that slowly charms its way into your conscience, and is all the more pleasing for that.

Backed by a gospel choir, 16-piece string section and horn fanfares, HMLTD confidently tackle musical styles as varied as choral harmony (Worm’s Dream), hook-laden soul (The End Is Now), grungy rock (Saddest Worm Ever) and plaintive pop balladry (Lay Me Down). ... It’s this richness that gives the album its depth, harnessing a large ensemble to showcase HMLTD as a band capable of committing to grand visions with brilliant intensity.

Perhaps this generous album’s biggest theme is the passage of time, and recognising distances travelled.

Mostly, Popular Problems presents Cohen’s wry, wracked recitations against almost ascetic backings overseen by Patrick Leonard, famed for his work with Madonna.

Quite how Murphy manages to turn all this sombreness into a great LCD album defies logic, but he has landed on his feet, yet again.

There’s much to discover here, making it an immersive and rewarding album to go back to again and again.

It peaks with How Music Makes You Feel Better, in which a techno-infused beat anchors a euphoric, arena-sized synth line, expressing Kourtesis’s belief in music’s capacity to heal the spirit.

Lost maintains a kind of motorik languor throughout, turning 80s arena rock into something much more intriguing.

Dry Cleaning have a sound that is as singular as it is dazzling.

It’s not an easy listen, but it is a rewarding one.

Gold Record marks another stage in one of the most intriguing about-turns in recent American music. The curmudgeon of Callahan’s early records might now meet humanity with a wry chuckle and an observational benevolence bordering on empathy.

The rest of Happier Than Ever tells a richly nuanced story about how human beings intersect.

While the heavier, distorted guitars of Tower and Love We Had feel somewhat jarring in the ebullient context of the album, Sun Without the Heat is a freewheeling and joyous listen, with McCalla employing her knowledge of musical traditions to produce fresh combinations.

Central City bears the hallmarks of all this success, in its own vintage guest list (Ciara, Faith Evans, Lil Wayne), high production values and songcraft.

A collection whose understatement allows different facets of Lamar’s talent to shine.

Sick! emerges with musicality enhanced, full of strings, soul samples, arpeggiating pianos and vinyl crackle – sometimes, as on the immersive Vision and Tabula Rasa, all at once.

At its most compelling, Shaking the Habitual is racked with lust, anger and urgent, quaking rhythms.

His tremulous voice and weed-fuelled guitar still resonating 41 years on.

Her authority is unquestionable: songs such as the Leonard Cohen-influenced Solitary Daughter give Laura Marling a serious run for her money.

The resulting album--Collins’s ninth solo effort--is a joy, brimming with ideas, but light of touch.

Simon is even more sonically restless than usual: microtonal variations say so much.

This electrifying, uneasy record stops, starts and turns, often within the confines of one track. The beats are restless; few comforting grooves are allowed to build for very long.