Arlo Parks - My Soft Machine
Fully representing the multifaceted complexities of the world outside.
Ben Tipple
Ryan Beatty - Calico
An altogether more direct affair.
boygenius - the record
A story of unbreakable friendship and mutual respect.
Softcult - See You In The Dark
It’s in the louder moments where their message breaks through most.
Biig Piig, Gorilla, Manchester
As with her latest mixtape, it’s tantalisingly inconsistent in style and beautiful in delivery.
Fall Out Boy, Band On The Wall, Manchester
It’s an intricate balance between nostalgia and relevance, played out with incredible mastery.
Caroline Polachek - Desire, I Want To Turn Into You
A record that deliberately reaches a little to the left of perfect.
RAYE - My 21st Century Blues
It would be impossible for anyone to sleep on RAYE anymore.
Biig Piig - Bubblegum
Jess is discovering and experimenting with new sounds, ones that reflect the various facets of a transient life.
Taylor Swift – Midnights
Her lost nights are pulled together through a sound that lands somewhere between intimacy and soft pop production.
Skullcrusher - Quiet The Room
‘Quiet The Room’ leans heavily on folk, yet in style it embodies something entirely different.
Sorry - Anywhere But Here
It reeks of cobbled back alleys, underground dive bars and flickering streetlights, yet with a playful nod and an unmistakable affection.
Death Cab For Cutie - Asphalt Meadows
A record that finds its voice in emerging into musical freedoms found in separation.
Oliver Sim - Hideous Bastard
Oliver takes on both past and present realities with a candour that surprises even him.
Phoebe Green - Lucky Me
As bold as the personality that runs through it.
Lauran Hibberd - Garageband Superstar
Fun without feeling frivolous, packing relatable substance into its genuinely jovial sound.
Beabadoobee - Beatopia
The land of ‘Beatopia’ is a far better world for letting others in.
MUNA - MUNA
A celebratory expression of queer love that loses none of the trio’s magic.
Sky Ferreira, Southbank Centre, London
Although she carries herself with the same resignation as the previous weekend’s performance, on stage her art comes to life.
Perfume Genius - Ugly Season
An album in its truest form, a record to sit with and take in as one whole.
Carving out a singular space in the rock landscape, Amy Love and Georgia South have resolutely done it their way. Now, with the advent of Nova Twins' "Supernova', their potential feels limitless.
Ethel Cain - Preacher’s Daughter
Change, escape and identity are not easy things to navigate, and ‘Preacher’s Daughter’ is the dark, unsettling, sprawling beauty that comes out of it.
The Linda Lindas - Growing Up
A record that reaches across the generational divide through both its mastery of sound and the universality of its stories.
Jenny Hval - Classic Objects
The audible equivalent of a painting affixed with human hair.
