She makes the listener feel close to her time and time again throughout the album, from the blinding light of guitar-led anthems like “Lottery” and “I Get No Joy” to the pure fun of “Going Gone” and the almost terrifying gravity and proximity of “If I Die”. It’s this vulnerability that makes her approach feels so real, and that demands that we attend to her music and take something real away from it.

The EP moves easily through different spheres of young love, young fame and young ambition, all of it audible through coruscating backgrounds and intense vocal deliveries that channel the high-running tensions of technicolor teenage drama.

Given the record’s stated evolution, In League with Dragons is an inevitably uneven listen; after your first time through, you’ll likely walk away hungry for a fully realized version of Darnielle’s rock opera.

It’s a solemn, languid ambience, like a late summer breeze--pleasant, but verging on boring. For die-hard fans of The Tallest Man on Earth, there’s plenty of material to latch onto here, but for everyone else, the music floats around so much that there isn’t much solid ground for entry.

The record is purposefully compact, genre-blending, unifying, reaffirming, devoid of corniness, with just two well-selected features that heighten but do not overshadow her performance. If other artists are clever, they’ll take note: Lizzo has just set the standard for how to make a perfect pop record.

For those who love the aughts’ Lips catalog, but were thrown off by the abstract experimentation of the last few records, King’s Mouth should be a welcome return to form.

It would have been fascinating to see the band take a drastic turn and lean into experimentation, but instead they’ve returned with a relatively underwhelming fifth album.

Ventura is lean and lovely.

No Geography is sprawling, terror inducing, and absolutely primed for the dancefloor.

This is undoubtedly the band’s fiercest record.

With hits this tailored and successfully executed, the group’s roof-shattering popularity comes as no surprise in the least.

The Khoshravesh brothers’ Iranian sound spices things up on a few tracks, but not enough to prompt multiple listens. Hansard’s passion seems to be lacking in the way he sings on most tracks, and that ends up being a letdown. Perhaps the experience of making the album was much more magical than the music that resulted from it.

Where genre and production experimentation may lead others astray, Jones brings a particular grace to songwriting that allows her to adapt almost seamlessly to new forms. Begin Again revels in exploration, proving no territory is inaccessible to Jones.

On Free Spirit, Khalid sounds caught between wanting to play a superstar and wanting to be himself, with the result that he sounds like neither.

Morbid Stuff is a bold step forward for PUP, an incredibly mature record given how filled with anger and contempt it is, containing true moments of insight. Even the more straightforward bitter break-up songs like “See You at Your Funeral” and “Closure” have a self-awareness to them to offset the vitriol.

While she hasn’t quite inherited the pop monarchy from Swift and the other elites, Eilish’s debut makes a strong case that it won’t be long until we see her in a crown.

My Finest Work Yet is a strong collection of music buoyed by Bird’s mastery as a musician, recognizable whistling melodies, and , thoughtful lyrics. He does get political and inevitably opens himself up to criticism for it, but he does so with a light touch that doesn’t overpower the songs. Even if listeners disagree with Bird’s views, they’ll still enjoy the music.

Eraserland is a somewhat indulgent listen. While it can occasionally lash out for a moment (“Moon Landing”), it might be best to tighten up the compositions for the next go-round.

Empath is another fine addition to the ever-growing / never-ending Devin Townsend discography, and shows that Townsend should one day also be enshrined into this elite “musical chameleon” category, as well.

On the Line isn’t a breakup album, a death album, or even a “fuck-you” album, but one that encompasses all of it, ambitious and introspective, focused on embracing the mess and mistakes made along the way.

While wearing their influences on their sleeve, they deliver a lush and compact package of fleeting ballads to get lost in.

The resulting music ranks among Avey Tare’s strongest work of the ’10s, whether alone or with Animal Collective, and should be required listening for any old Millennial scared of turning 40 but even more scared of the alternative.

Live in London delivers more than an hour and a half of seamless music and comedy that doesn’t require skipping around.

Lux Prima is a beautiful little album: Ambitious, dreamy, and short enough to leave you wanting more.

Groove Denied is the sound of Malkmus truly untethered, and once you get past the initial jolt of its radical stylistic change, you’ll recognize it for being the great album it is. Don’t let the ascetic nature of the arrangements fool you. Malkmus is trying to blow our minds, and he succeeds spectacularly.

These new sad songs don’t quite hit the soul like previous ones did.

The carefully composed rock here reminds us that our journeys are our own, regardless of whatever else we tack onto them. No matter how full Donnelly’s hands get with the interpersonal frustrations of day-to-day life and the wounds of the past, the world is still hers for the taking, and she makes it feel like it’s all of ours, too.

It can wander into some weird areas, but it still feels tethered to a clear objective. It’s hard not to take notice when a bunch of like-minded friends come together to make something this personal and imaginative.