Saved! is powered by a sense of joyful rebirth. [Review of the Year 2023, p.29]

Smith has skill and ambition galore, but too often settles for tasteful stupor. [Review of the Year 2023, p.32]

It all seems to emerge from some vast, long-abandoned cistern, though the astonishing degree of detail contained in "Awakening" and "Vigil" rewards listeners willing to be fully immersed. [Review of the Year 2023, p.32]

"White Horse" and the chest-thumping "South Dakota" recall the redneck drama of a Skynyrd show closer, and standout "Think I'm In Love With You" is a simmering mirrorball-country slow jam. [Review of the Year 2023, p.32]

The duo show renewed confidence as they strike a balance between pristine electro=pop songcraft and the loopier inclinations that once fuelled Dazzle Ships. [Review of the Year 2023, p.30]

The pair's keen rhythmic sense makes even the unusual palatable. [Review of the Year 2023, p.30]

An album that has moments of shiny, hooky, electro-disco-pop as well as moments of more reserved melancholy. [Review of the Year 2023, p.30]

Hadsel sounds both ethereal and earthly. [Dec 2023, p.27]

For the acoustic half, she genuflects a little too readily, but the limberness of her voice hades new contours for the songs; the electric half takes a while to ignite, but "Like A Rolling Stone" is gorgeous. [Dec 2023, p.27]

Another fine encapsulation of what has become Price's signature mix of bracing honesty leavened with droll self-mockery. [Dec 2023, p.34]

A masterpiece in any time zone. [Dec 2023, p.26]

The manic, galloping "Susie Mullen" proves Anderson's still got a nose for fun. [Dec 2023, p.31]

The likes of "Scapa Flow" and "Rose With Smoke" are assured orthodox shoegaze, while "Tarantula" reflects a more playful, almost power-poppy tendency. [Dec 2023, p.28]

This rock'n'roll album falls far short of Little Ricard's atomic excitement in a genre here showing its age, but 78-year-old Van sounds youthly eager, even sensual in between the hushed female harmonies and honky-tonk piano of "You Are My Sunshine". [Dec 2023, p.34]

Her new album whizzes by in a 28-minute blur of finger-tapped melodies, lopsided time signatures and arrangements that, on tracks like "earth Eater" and "Believing IS Seeing", whip from jazz to glitter to metal with neck-snapping precision. [Dec 2023, p.36]

A baggy sprawl in places, but generally rewarding. [Dec 2023, p.36]

Standouts such as "Rocks Of Time" and "Next One, Maybe" have all the depth, richness and candour that Veirs' admirers have come to expect. [Dec 2023, p.36]

"Daddy Pop" has a Queen-like Break; "Jughead", post-Bomb Squad production. "Money Don't Matter 2 Night" is more subtly impressive. .... B-Sides plus intinerant sessions yielding 33 unreleased tracks. [Dec 2023, p.51]

While the material is frequently just serviceable, the arrangements are inspired thanks to the virtuosic interplay of JaRon Marshall's gilded piano, Brendan Bond's percolating basslines and Quesada's sizzling solos. [Dec 2023, p.27]

Less effectively soothing than 2022's A Journey..., it's unconventionally beguiling, more ambient predecessor. [Dec 2023, p.34]

The album flags a bit in the middle but maintains enough propulsion to easily glide past those saggy moments. [Dec 2023, p.34]

It's an embarrassment of riches. [Nov 2023, p.40]

LeBlanc wears his canyon-rock influences proudly on his sleeve, all high harmonies and chiming guitars, from the yearning "Stranger Things" to the tender "No Promises Broken" and the cathartic closer "The Outside". [Dec 2023, p.33]

The Aussie Maestros deliver seven concise tracks of electronica, largely indebted to Giorgio Moroder but with ventures into many of those elements Moroder inspired, from disco to techno and even jungle. [Dec 2023, p.33]

A familiarity with the back-story is not necessary to enjoy this potted indie-rock opera: as always with Darnielle's work, an appreciation of droll storytelling and deadpan melodies will do. [Dec 2023, p.34]

Skinner's brightest, punchiest and most eclectic in memory. It's a welcome return. [Dec 2023, p.36]

A reworking of an early Squirrel Flower track, "I Don't Use A Trash Can", and the delicately atmospheric "Finally Rain" bookend the work, showing Williams' quiet strength as a songwriter. [Dec 2023, p.34]

Laugh Track features a band free of some of their usual burden. [Dec 2023, p.34]