The vocals are more inhuman, the rhythms more enforced, the guitar riffs more complex and alien. Yet within all this darkness, beauty still resides: you want to sing along to every track of this journey towards eternal human autumn

There is not a single bad song here, no awkward moment or overtly familiar riff, as time allows for minor details to suddenly step forward, and the songs blossom beautifully in consequence

Whatever the case is with lyrics, it all simply works as they fit into the Dinosaur Jr. sound like a very loud silk glove, putting There Near among some of the best albums they have recorded so far

His love of country-western is on display and there ain’t nobody who can get in his way of showing it

In lesser hands it could all have been a glorified mess, but, again, Wagner pulls things of, this time with full, gentle, force

As much as the Whigs can be said to have a classic sound – volume-pedal swells, wah-inflected slide guitar, open strings – the album embraces those sonics without being self-referential

There are four or five songs here better than anything on their debut. There are also four or five that a firmer hand would have cut, which would have left something leaner, stranger and harder to ignore

An album of entirely “Paradise Runner” clones could have done more damage than good. Yet the sense remains that reserves exist, that these songs of Devotion are the end of the beginning

A hard album to grasp initially, fata morgana might be much, much more visionary than people will initially realise, precisely because the language to describe it is still inconceivable to many

On first listen, some fans may find themselves itching for the more upbeat, fast-paced celebratory anthems that were so prevalent on the previous album, but upon further listening, they’ll find a quieter, sweeter, yearning joy interlaced throughout the record

It Goes On is about as fine a record as any debut album of the last 20 years

Boards of Canada are firmly rooted as documentarians of the ruinous now

Brilliant writing that is subtle and clever, delivered with arrogance, irony and self deprecation

Ultimately, despite the tumultuous few years Bridgers has faced, Lost Weekend triumphs as her strongest body of work to date