Here they're presented as a crisp, razor-edged groove unit, with not a milligram of flab aboard. either instrumentally or melodically. [May 2024, p.84]

That Dark Matter succeeds so well is due to the and focusing their creative energy, just as Watt's sonic Nutribullet technique condense PJ's core rumble into punchy blasts. [May 2024, p.82]

Fabulously serious work. [May 2024, p.91]

Ramona has a very on-Broadway energy. There are occasional Blue Hotel lapses, but I'm Getting Married To The War or A Precious Thing come across like a rock opera Aldous Harding, while title track - inspired by Bob Dylan's 1964 song To Ramona - is the third curtain-call Patti Smith. The force of her voice alone earths these songs. [May 2024, p.86]

This edge, this acknowledgment of the stakes at play behind her messages of faith, pushes these songs past any risk of empty sentimentalism, and makes Sun Without The Heat truly uplifting. [May 2024, p.87]

They're more straightforward than they've ever been. .... They're not slackening. [May 2024, p.86]

What might be their best yet. All the various elements of Joe's songs are here. [May 2024, p.88]

A delicate, inward-facing set. [May 2024, p.80]

The group takes aim at the deadening effect of copywriting, the need for bands to "have so many things to sell you" and the conspicuous tastefulness of some online music fans. Unsubtle but often archly funny, this commentary goes down easier thanks to a melodically complex tunefulness that consistently serve up gems. [May 2024, p.82]

A masterfully subtle follow-up to 2018's Down The Road Wherever. [May 2024, p.85]

Three albums in, and King is still full of surprises. [May 2024, p.82]

Parr's front porch vocals and mesmerising guitar pickings mingle with mouth harp, backing vocals, piano, electric guitar and fiddle on an album full of wonder and love for the unloved. He really should invite friends round more often. [May 2024, p.91]

What might be a bleak set of songs about fragile ecosystems and unsustainable lives is saved from desperation by the warmth of the instrumentation – strings, synths, piano – and the watchful humanity of the lyrics. [May 2024, p.84]

It's the LP's sparer, outward-looking, more spontaneous-sounding songs which house the best melodies. [May 2024, p.85]

While his mentor and grandfather RL's original form was violent and nihilist, Burnside's is just as fierce. [May 2024, p.88]

Love In Constant Spectacle is watchful rather than showy, its songs not boxing up one simple mood at a time but sitting with their uncertainty. Nuance might be going out of fashion in the world outside, but in here, Weaver speaks it fluently. [May 2024, p.83]

Only God Was Above Us feels like a record made by a band once more comfortable in their skins. [May 2024, p.86]

Doherty's songwriting rises to the occasion. [Apr 2024, p.88]

Overall, it's the sound of a band rejuvenated. [May 2024, p.84]

Overall: troubled, unflinching, but tuneful and triumphant. [May 2024, p.82]

The seven-minute title track best reflects the fluid magic of the quartet as they travel from deep soul to deep space. [May 2024, p.89]

Hey Panda may seem whimsical at first, but its depth is all the grander for the work it takes to mine its many gems. [May 2024, p.84]

Overall this record is a heady, expansive treat. [May 2024, p.90]

They're still sparkling. [May 2024, p.91]

Musically, the spectral sound lies between Fever Ray at their least forbidding and the shadows cast by David Lynch soundtracks. [Mar 2024, p.90]

What began as a benefit for Swami Satchidananda and evolved into a summoning of John Coltrane’s spirit now stands as a tribute to the liberating force of Alice Coltrane herself. It’s a communion. Drink deep. [May 2024, p.101]

The centrifugal force is Rosali's calm, deep voice, belying her lyric's nervous energy and drama, balancing vulnerability with resilience. [May 2024, p.88]

His best (if worst-titled) work so far. Sometimes JPEGRAW's 12 tracks feel like they're ticking boxes: a flurry of lounge piano blues here, a blast of jazz trumpet there... But there's a clarity to the writing, with his vaulting ambition accompanied by strong hooks and an even stronger pop sensibility. [Apr 2024, p.84]