The songs themselves range from the good (the surprisingly energetic I Can Do It With A Broken Heart, throwback ballad But Daddy I Love Him, the extra textures of the Florence + The Machine duet, Florida!!!) to the somewhat samey but still enjoyable (So Long, London; the title track; Fresh Out the Slammer), to the unnecessary retreads (Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?, The Alchemy), to the truly rotten (Down Bad – which can’t manage to disguise its hollowness with truly beautiful textures, and I Can Fix Him).

A Certain Ratio’s 2024 model is a lean, mean, fighting machine that delivers one of their very finest albums to date – and for a band who have been in existence for more than 45 years, that really is saying something.

Best of all, it’s an album that cuts all the fat – it’s just 11 tracks long and there’s barely anything that feels like filler. Even the more generic sounding rockers like Waiting For Stevie and Running have a palpable energy about them that will no doubt make them firm favourites on the band’s upcoming stadium tour.

It may last just 25 minutes, but One Million Love Songs doesn’t feel half-sketched or incomplete. On the contrary, once it’s finished, you’ll just want to go straight back to the beginning to wallow in this strange, otherworldly gem of a record.

As it’s a debut, she’s still developing her sound, but all indications are that this is a start of a long and successful journey for Nia Archives.

Yummy adds itself to the James canon as an album both for fans and newcomers, a triumph over prejudice and anxiety. Everyone is welcome here.

While Surrender was an album that immediately hit you, Don’t Forget Me takes a bit longer to work its magic. That does, though, bode well to her longevity as an artist. These songs have a timeless feel to them, and seem like ones we’ll be listening to for quite some time to come.

It’s a debut album full of confidence, heart and ambition, with songs that sound both instantly familiar and also like nothing you’ve ever heard before.

While there's no arguments with the quality of the craft on display, over the course of a 12 track album, you may find yourself nodding off sometimes. Yet there's still a warm glow to this album, and anyone who's missed the sound of Knopfler expertly working the fretboard, will find much to love on it.

Mostly, Love In Constant Spectacles is one of Weaver’s most successful albums – it may not have the instant ‘wow factor’ of The Silver Globe or the nods to the dancefloor that her last album Flock had, but these are some beautifully intricate, thoughtful songs that deserve all of your attention.

This record has been a long time coming, as Fabiana first appeared as one to watch in 2017, but with her development as a singer, songwriter and producer it’s surely been worth the wait.

Feels like a jolt to the nervous system in the best possible way. As a soundtrack to the weird times we all find ourselves in, and a potent call to action, it doesn’t get much better than this.

The yearning title track brings to a close an album that is quite probably Harcourt’s best since Here Be Monsters.

In many ways The Sunset Violent feels like the completion of a journey: Mount Kimbie have become a very different act with a sound palette that isn’t beholden to any one genre, and on track after track they prove themselves to be masters of their own style.

A La Sala succeeds in the way that a good AC/DC album does: more of the same, done well.

After just a few listens, it cements itself as the best Vampire Weekend album to date and, much like the New York City to which much of this album is an ode to, there are layers and layers to this record which are a delight to unpack and discover.

There are still a few forgettable plodders on All Quiet – the likes of Baron’s Claw and Be Young seem to be a bit phoned in. Yet while the fire of 20 years ago is inevitably never going to be reignited, this new version of The Libertines seems to be settling quite nicely into a once unimaginable middle age.

Interplay is a consistently fine piece of work, and even though it is a shade too long it has a strong claim to being Ride’s best album since they reformed. Given the quality of the music since that second coming, we can go all out and say they are one of the finest guitar bands in the country right now.

While it’s impossible to fault Cowboy Carter’s ambition, it’s sometimes a bit too sprawling for its own good. Eighty minutes is a long runtime for an album, and some tracks inevitably sag a bit, especially in the middle section.

On first listen it feels understated, the low-slung rhythms an easy listen with many melodic and textural high points. Yet as you spend more time with them the frank admissions of the band take on a reassuring quality, sharing our own highs and lows with everyday life and offering a calmly assertive way of dealing with them.

There’s nothing essentially wrong with Evolution, but it just sounds like it’s mostly been written on auto-pilot. It’s always nice to have a musician of Crow’s calibre still active, but Evolution feels more like an inessential addition to her canon, rather than the glorious comeback it was no doubt intended to be.

As the mainstream of club music continues to seek out bigger and more energetic sounds, Logic1000’s relatively mellow approach is intriguing, and Mother certainly shows potential – it just needs some fine-tuning to become the full package.

It’s a remarkable, joyous and life-affirming record, a testament to remaining musically open-minded and progressive, and very much confirms O’Hagan’s under-appreciated genius.

An album which sounds like the beginning of a new chapter for the duo.

Big Anonymous is a deliberately paced album that some may find a bit too bleak to visit often. It’s beautifully crafted, as you’d expect from Sarah Assbring, but at times that darkness can become a bit all-consuming. If you’re in the right frame of mind though, El Perro Del Mar’s world is one that’s well worth stepping into.

It’s certainly a confident step-up from Garageband Superstar and if more of Hibberd’s musical personality is allowed to shine through next time around, she could produce an even better album.

It’s their best album in years – maybe since The Seldom Seen Kid – and one of those records that will throw up new little surprises on each listen many months from now. Not only one of our most consistent bands, but also one of our most surprising – the national treasure status is well earned.

Tiger Blood is the sound of an artist improving on her already high standards.