The Wombats: Glitterbug review – desperately uninvolving third album from indie bigtimers
They’re not as bad as their critics might suggest, but the Wombats’ latest is certainly nothing special
Nadine Shah: Fast Food review – passion-drenched but poised love songs
Nadine Shah’s classy second album is full of cool taunts and strikingly sultry music
Waxahatchee: Ivy Tripp review – alt-rock solace in a cynical age
Katie Crutchfield’s third album showcases her incisive, fearless lyrics and sees her shaking off her anxieties
Fyfe review – calibrated electropop from a luminous talent
Guitar-weilding Paul Dixon’s towering torch songs and skittering beats catch fire in an intimate setting
Recorded at the Automat: The Best of Rough Trade Records review – impressive overview of a great label
From the Smiths to the Strokes and beyond, this is a fine showcase of the venerable Rough Trade label
Primitive Motion: Pulsating Time Fibre review – a secret garden of sound
The Brisbane duo’s second album, recorded in a home studio, is drenched in reverb and bound by a sense of intimacy and mystery
Sufjan Stevens: Carrie & Lowell review – a delight in every way, and an album of the year
Sufjan Stevens’ seventh album finds him returning to the sombre, intimate mood of Seven Swans, and it’s a devastating listen
Godspeed You! Black Emperor: Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress review – a resolute, defiant return
Godspeed’s sixth album is a resolute, defiant work full of angry convulsions and devastating drones
Circa Waves: Young Chasers review – sturdy songcraft and youthful indie exuberance
Liverpool indie boys Circa Waves aren’t exactly breaking any boundaries, but they have a certain wide-eyed charm
Death Cab for Cutie: Kintsugi review – melancholy music for arenas
Marked by departures, this is an understandably sombre record, and its epic indie rock is occasionally overwrought
The Cribs: For All My Sisters review – powerpop fun, but never too polished
The Jarman brothers recruited Cars frontman Ric Ocasek to produce their sixth album, and the results play to their strengths
James Bay: Chaos and the Calm review – festival-ready and forgettably pleasant
The Brits critics’ choice churns out some predictably safe, critic-proof blues-rock anthems
Courtney Barnett: Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit review – acerbic and staunchly down-to-earth
The Melbourne indie-rocker’s debut album mixes small-town stories and sharp humour to smart effect
Courtney Barnett: Sometimes I Sit and Think and Sometimes I Just Sit review
The Melbourne musician has a knack for vivid flights of imagination born of insignificant detail, but this richly rewarding debut is more than slacker rock
Lucy Rose review – a little less polite conversation, a little more grit please
The former Bombay Bicycle Club vocalist stays true to gracious form, but her spotless set suffers from loveliness fatigue