Laura Marling: Song for Our Daughter review – the intimate album we need

Written to an imaginary child about ‘what it is to be a woman in this society’, the singer’s seventh album is alternately intimate, sneering and sad, and lavished with gorgeous melodies

Ren Harvieu: Revel in the Drama review – a fresh start

(Bella Union)

Mystery Jets: A Billion Heartbeats review – woke without the edge

(Caroline International)

M Ward: Migration Stories review – expanding the borders of Americana

The vocals are perpetually reverbed and the guitars are always twangy, but on his 10th studio album, the singer-songwriter stretches his legs a little

Tops: I Feel Alive review – masters of modern soft rock

Sophisticated production, nostalgic synths and gorgeous tunes … the Montreal band’s fourth LP features their strongest songs yet

Waxahatchee: Saint Cloud review – fierce and ambitious but hard to love

Sobriety can smooth any artist’s fuzzy edges. Named after the Alabama creek that runs behind her childhood home, Katie Crutchfield, AKA Waxahatchee, ditched alcohol for good before making her fifth album, Saint Cloud, which sees her sound leap from reverb-laden … Continue reading →

Sorry: 925 review – full of disruptive ideas

Part of the London scene loosely headquartered at Brixton’s Windmill pub (from Fat White Family to Goat Girl and beyond), Sorry have undergone a radical upgrade in the two years since they started turning heads. Once a scratchy, pointedly blank … Continue reading →

Waxahatchee: Saint Cloud review – the best album of the year so far

With tracks that nestle in heartache and bask in hard-won wisdom, this is an artefact of American song that measures up to Dylan at his peak

CocoRosie: Put the Shine On review: a return to core idiosyncrasies

(Marathon Artists)

Lightning Seeds review – jubilant Britpop sweeps away years of hurt

Sage, GatesheadPlaying greatest hits alongside the whole of hit album Jollification, Ian Broudie moves past the trauma of recent years to arrive at soulful, lysergic pop

Porridge Radio: Every Bad review – DIY rockers go from guttural to the stars

The Brighton band’s second album is spiky, strange and uncompromisingly brilliant. Can they drag the avant garde into the mainstream?

US Girls: Heavy Light review – a major talent doubles down

The many albums of US Girls – Meghan Remy – could be summed up as a series of sound art installations evolving from experimentation into bold tunefulness. Album six, Half Free (2015), sketched female character studies like a pop Cindy … Continue reading →

Big Thief review – subtle rockers make a grand noise

Despite a stage presence bordering on the self-effacing, the US indie folk quartet are a class act with a devoted following

Disq: Collector review – bedroom rockers mope towards majesty

The twentysomething indie band sulk in style with an endearing album full of nostalgia and bruised naivety

Real Estate: The Main Thing review – artfully polished tedium

Three albums of catchily jangling indie into their career, New Jersey’s Real Estate parted ways with founding member and lead guitarist Matt Mondanile in 2016, after a series of women made allegations of sexual misconduct against him. His replacement, Julian … Continue reading →