Sports Team: Deep Down Happy review – debut album with plenty to say
This six-piece band marry Britpop sensibilities with a US alt-rock sound
Phoebe Bridgers: Punisher review – from the heart
The LA songsmith’s second album doesn’t disappoint
Jehnny Beth: To Love Is to Live review – intense and provocative
The Savages frontwoman goes solo with an accompanying erotic short story collection
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever: Sideways to New Italy review – slightly less sharp
Despite flashes of brilliance, it’s difficult-second-album territory for the indie band from Melbourne
Pins: Hot Slick review – Manchester trio trade indie for anodyne pop
Full of girl-group vocals and earwormy melodies, Pins tread a fine line between energetic reboot and mannered synth-pop tribute
The 1975: Notes on a Conditional Form review – music for the no-filter generation
Piling on genres and themes, the unwieldy NOACF smartly interprets contemporary chaos yet seriously lacks quality control
I Break Horses: Warnings review – more woozy synthscapes
(Bella Union)
Moses Sumney: Græ Part Two review – introspective magic
Sumney’s “art rock and black classical” double album concludes with quieter highs
Car Seat Headrest: Making a Door Less Open review – Will Toledo in yet another guise
The indie maverick is a purveyor of all styles on his studiously eclectic 12th album
Ghostpoet: I Grow Tired But Dare Not Fall Asleep review – dark but defiant
The ruminative British singer returns with an album freighted with worries
Car Seat Headrest: Making a Door Less Open review – cult indie star in middle of the road
Will Toledo’s alt-rockers have emerged out of lo-fi fuzz, but seem unsure of where to turn as they drift toward the mainstream
BC Camplight: Shortly After Takeoff review – a tumultuous pop masterpiece
Brian Christinzio distills beauty from pain and allows melodies and hooks to hang around on this triumphant album
Gerry Cinnamon: The Bonny review – Scottish stadium sensation keeps it simple
His lyrics lack the vivid character studies of old, but there is still plenty of cleverness hidden in this prosaic songwriting
Fiona Apple: Fetch the Bolt Cutters review – a glorious eruption
The unhurried artist’s first studio album in eight years is astonishing, intimate and demonstrates a refusal to be silenced
Hamilton Leithauser: The Loves of Your Life review – crooning glory
Four of the five band members have reappeared as solo artists after their “extreme hiatus” announced in 2013, but it is frontman Hamilton Leithauser who has deviated least from the Walkmen’s distinctive brand of atmospheric indie. Black Hours (2014) marked … Continue reading