Lauren Mayberry: Vicious Creature – Chvrches singer’s solo debut balances weighty lyrics with quirky melodies and clipped beats
The Scottish vocalist’s album is a largely soft-edged and subtle exploration of what makes her tick
Michael Kiwanuka: Small Changes – More drastic changes might have served him better
The London-born musician tweaks his sound and thematic concerns, burrowing deeper into the niche he has forged
Gillian Welch: ‘The community outpouring was incredible here in Nashville. This album is our giant thank-you note’
In 2020, just before Covid hit the US, a tornado hit the country music star’s studio. She and David Rawlings responded with Woodland
The 4 of Us: Crescent Nights – As evocative and well-crafted as anything Brendan and Declan Murphy have done
The tenth album from The 4 of Us has come to fruition through the duo’s weekly live-streams, providing fans with a glimpse of their creative process and helping to guide the brothers via feedback
Kylie Minogue: Tension II review – One sexy banger after another
The original Aussie pop star is not only surviving but thriving after 36 years of releasing albums
Damien Dempsey: Hold Your Joy – An infectiously wholehearted approach to singing and storytelling
Dubliner’s new album features rousing words to live by and personal stories, but at 16 tracks, it feels too long
Orla Gartland: ‘I’ve observed behaviours in myself and a lot of women. I don’t know where the pressure comes from’
Happy with the slow ramp up of her career, the London-based Irish musician has just released her second album and is about to embark on a sell-out US tour
Belle and Sebastian’s Stuart Murdoch: ‘I had a tough time, a physical and mental breakdown. The thing I clung on to was the book’
The Belle and Sebastian frontman’s debut novel, Nobody’s Empire, draws on his own experiences, including of ME. Part travelogue and memoir, it’s also a love letter to his favourite music
Coldplay: Moon Music review - Saccharine, superficial pop and a feeble effort at a protest song
Moon Music is another album made with stadiums in mind; surface-level lyrics for instant connections
Pinhole: Sweetspot – It’s hard to turn a multitude of bright ideas into a palatable pop package
This debut’s meandering sense of direction often feels as if it may lead off the edge of a cliff rather than to utopia
‘I don’t miss it, I have to say’: Hayden Thorpe on life after Wild Beasts
Ness, the new solo album from the former frontman of one of the most underrated bands of the past 20 years, is based on an epic poem by Robert Macfarlane
The Coronas: Thoughts and Observations – honeyed piano ballads dotted with big arena anthems
Dublin trio resist temptation to reinvent the wheel with this solid collection of reassuringly sentimental songs
Blossoms: Gary – Party album goes big on frivolity
This is the Stockport pop group’s party album, which goes big on frivolity. Nowt wrong with that
Katy Perry’s rocky album rollout shows how not to manage your pop career
The lead-up to this week’s release of 143, her seventh album, has been a disaster. What went wrong – and where does she go from here?
Marc Almond: ‘I was hysterical about everything. Everything was total drama’
The singer, now 67, talks about his semi-anonymous life on a farm in Portugal, writing new songs with Soft Cell partner Dave Ball, and the challenges of ageing