Review
by Krystina Nellis
There is a lot to like about Gauntlet Hair - they've just made it that bit too difficult to get at it.»
Review
by Krystina Nellis
Is Nicola Roberts good in her own right, or just better than her peers? Fortunately, on the evidence of this, there’s every chance she’s both.»
Review
by Krystina Nellis
It feels almost like an academic exploration of the schism between the wants of the head and the needs of the heart, rather than a personal one.»
Review
by Krystina Nellis
It is next to impossible to imagine Beirut ever sounding like anybody other than completely themselves.»
Review
by Krystina Nellis
If there's one thing to quibble about, it's the desire to see more original material - if only to demonstrate what brilliant pop Alex Metric is capable of.»
Review
by Krystina Nellis
There's a lot to like in Suego Faults, but in the end, not a lot to love.»
Review
by Krystina Nellis
A more comprehensive collection of an artist's career to date, you'd be hard pushed to find. The songs are of universally high quality - surprisingly so for a collection like this. And it's always nice to have everything - or, at least, the vast majority of it - in one place.»
Review
by Krystina Nellis
Lupercalia is straightforward in its sound, complex in its outlook and unabashedly heartfelt.»
Review
by Krystina Nellis
An album that, in anybody else’s hands, would have probably been standard hipster indie fare becomes a shimmering key to anyone’s heart.»
Review
by Krystina Nellis
In the end, there’s no real risk-taking, just adherence to a tried and tested method.»
Review
by Krystina Nellis
What we have in Pala is not some great band reinvention, or some desperately profound effort; it’s giant choruses, relatable lyrics, a million earworm riffs and 11 dance anthems.»
Review
by Krystina Nellis
It’d be reductive to try and describe a timeless album like Smother as a step up from its two predecessors, or even as a surefire Mercury contender - although it is, on both counts.»
Review
by Krystina Nellis
You can practically hear the studio debates about how to sound like they don’t give a fuck.»
Review
by Krystina Nellis
For all its clever-clever effects and pose-throwing, In Love With Oblivion is a big fun record meant to be blasted through the loudest speakers possible.»
In Depth by Krystina Nellis
It would be fair to say that Walk The River, Guillemots’ third album, is not an altogether happy affair. In fact, the album’s tales of having to rethink everything about who you are after being uprooted in cataclysmic fashion is likely to give a major case of the sadfaces. It is also brilliant: the polar opposite of second album Red’s Looney Tunes adventures in experimental pop, it manages to both be sprawling and have a laser-like focus on its targets. It’s the sound of the band’s disparate personalities coming together in the chaos and heading down the same road, even if that road is decidedly murky.»
Review
by Krystina Nellis
Very good, occasionally great; it doesn’t need to be anything else.»
Review
by Krystina Nellis
Simply 11 songs that, somehow, exist in a space we weren’t even aware existed.»
Review
by Krystina Nellis
The album doesn’t have that ‘grab-hold-and-don’t-let-go’ emotional pull that would elevate it beyond sounding nice into something to treasure.»
Review
by Krystina Nellis
A set of songs that transcends the clichés of concept albums, folk, electronica and being Scottish in one fell swoop.»
Review
by Krystina Nellis
The insane thing is that here it not only works, but the result is an absolute triumph.»
Review
by Krystina Nellis
A voice like Clare Maguire’s deserves infinitely better than the calculated dross on display here.»
Review
by Krystina Nellis
In an era where the act of can’t-be-arsed is so often mistaken for hipster cool, the fact they’re even trying already puts them ahead of the pack.»
Review
by Krystina Nellis
Listening to Oh My Days is, in many ways, a frustrating experience. »
