Super Furry Animals review – stirring reunion showcases immaculate songcraft
The Welsh band with a weird edge mostly let their formidable music speak for itself, lent a transcendent power by frontman Gruff Rhys’s rich voice
Aldous Harding: Train on the Island review – even whimsy-resistant listeners will love these lucid, luminous songs
Lyrics about naked owls and eating rocks might be irksome to some – but there’s no denying that the alt-rocker’s fifth album is beguiling, tightly written and richly melodic
Carla dal Forno: Confession review – spartan, sunlit post-punk strikingly contrasts the desperation of desire
The Australian songwriter’s fourth album exists in the captivating chasm between the coolness of her music and the unrepentant obsession of the crush it explores
Mahler Symphonies 1–9 album review – Bychkov’s set earns a place in a starry pantheon
Semyon Bychkov’s Mahler symphony cycle with the Czech Philharmonic is meticulous, imaginative and deserves to be placed alongside the very best sets
My New Band Believe review – beautiful ideas burst from ex-Black Midi man’s lovable debut album
Smoothing out the jump-cut chaos of his previous band, Cameron Picton brings entirely acoustic instrumentation to bear on these lovely, beguiling songs
Belle and Sebastian review – joyful anniversary tour makes debut album brighter than ever
On a tour playing Tigermilk and If You’re Feeling Sinister in full on alternate nights, Stuart Murdoch and co wittily reanimate their world of aesthetes and misfits
Echo and the Bunnymen review – Ian McCulloch leaves it to the crowd to sing these timelessly great songs
The frontman struggled to get through most of the band’s choruses but that left space for Will Sergeant’s glorious psychedelic shapes and a supportive sing along
Waterbaby: Memory Be a Blade review – stellar singer-songwriter pieces post-breakup life back together
The Stockholm musician’s debut album is a fascinating character study with improvised lyrics and a light, pretty sound that belies its emotional depth
Cruz Beckham review – son of David and Victoria transcends nepo-baby tag with intriguing psych-pop
His music is still all over the place, lurching from landfill indie to solipsistic ballads, but the youngest Beckham son can certainly play guitar
Lala Lala: Heaven 2 review – brooding alt-popper fights the urge to run
Lillie West’s fourth album is a hazy, mid-tempo meditation on escape that gets stuck in a numbing mid-tempo mode – though there is a gorgeous moment of release
Hen Ogledd: Discombobulated review – a manifesto for collective action from Richard Dawson’s folk-rockers
Featuring taunts in Welsh, ‘bard rap’ and spirited jigs, the British quartet’s ragged, rich music underpins their vision for change
Mitski: Nothing’s About to Happen to Me review – mordant, melodic melancholy from the best songwriter of her generation
The US singer-songwriter’s latest album flits deftly from horror to humour, with threads of melancholy and desperate unhappiness binding the tracks
Mandy, Indiana: Urgh review – grimy, thrashing, purgative attack on injustice is the year’s first great album
The Manchester/Berlin band’s second album refines their industrial-club sound, as physical and hyper-detailed as being dragged under by a wave and admiring the flotsam
Yumi Zouma: No Love Lost to Kindness review – New Zealand dream-poppers’ reinvention doesn’t go far enough
The quartet edge away from their trademark sound with louder guitars and bolder intentions – but their reinvention is more gradual than radical
Sleaford Mods: The Demise of Planet X review – vulnerability and versatility widen potty-mouthed appeal
The duo’s 13th album finds Jason Williamson as baffled and infuriated as ever at the state of the world, with help from some unexpected collaborators