Since 2008’s Dear Hamlyn New York-based Australian duo Luluc have been weaving mesmeric, gossamer arrangements from understated, organic instrumentation. The stripped-back LP Passerby in 2014 was followed by the warm, shoegazey gush of Sculptor in 2018 and then 2020’s entrancing Dreamboat with its unexpected, wonky little touches. The duo, comprising Zoë Randell and Steve Hassett,Continue reading “Review: Luluc – Diamonds”
Category Archives: Reviews
Review: Gabriels – Angels and Queens
Gabriels are a rare phenomenon, residing in the overlap between passionate, larger-than-life showmanship and sincere, concentrated artistry. Their flamboyant frontman’s charisma has irresistible popular appeal, while their meticulous and earnest compositions, rooted in gospel and soul, endear them to the music nerds of the world. Consisting of vocalist Jacob Lusk, keyboardist Ryan Hope and violinistContinue reading “Review: Gabriels – Angels and Queens”
Review: U.S. Girls – Bless This Mess
Since releasing her first album as U.S. Girls in 2008, Meg Remy has been a prolific powerhouse of ideas, filling eight records with rich, vital and idiosyncratic pop music. Recent years have seen the Toronto musician leap deftly from the rough textures and patchwork grooves on 2015’s Half Free to dense, churning psychedelia on 2018’sContinue reading “Review: U.S. Girls – Bless This Mess”
Winter Highlights 2022-23
I’ve not been short of albums to review since I last posted. The last couple months of 2022 and the first few weeks of 2023 have seen some of the albums I’ve been anticipating for months, even years, released to great acclaim and excitement. But what I have been short of is time. And soContinue reading “Winter Highlights 2022-23”
Review: Taylor Swift – Midnights
Consciously or not, Taylor Swift has always been pop artist. No matter whether the song is tingling with teenage emotion and country jangle like Fearless, glazed with the 80s sheen of 1989, or crystallised in pristine chamber folk as on Folklore, underneath the surface is an effortless talent for melody and shamelessly pop sensibilities. AfterContinue reading “Review: Taylor Swift – Midnights”
Review: Björk – Fossora
Since her 1993 debut, every Björk album has come with a concept, a theme that defines it against the rest of her discography, whether it’s the sublime sensuality of Vespertine, the entirely a cappella album Medúlla or the nature-inspired Biophilia with its accompanying apps. Fossora is no exception. When the Icelandic musician announced her tenthContinue reading “Review: Björk – Fossora”
Review: Nicole Cassandra Smit – Third in Line
Very rarely does a first album showcase as much raw talent and imagination as Cassandra Nicole Smit’s dazzling debut Third in Line. The Edinburgh-based Indonesian-Swedish musician is not afraid to take risks on this LP, melding soul, jazz, hip-hop and electronica into her own sonic elixir. Yet the fluidity and sense of artistry underpinning everyContinue reading “Review: Nicole Cassandra Smit – Third in Line”
Spring Highlights 2022
Inevitably, I don’t get the chance to review every album that catches my attention. For each review I post, there will be several other great records released that I don’t get to write about. And the last few weeks in particular have seen a surplus of fantastic new releases, making it tough to prioritise whatContinue reading “Spring Highlights 2022”
Review: Pictish Trail – Island Family
As musical tributes to the Scottish Hebrides go, Johnny Lynch’s salute to the Isle of Eigg, Island Family, is certainly an unusual one. There’s barely an acoustic instrument in sight, no soaring fiddles or intricate guitar to evoke the windswept landscape and rough seas. Instead, jagged electronics and coarse percussion cut across seas of seethingContinue reading “Review: Pictish Trail – Island Family”
Review: Jenny Hval – Classic Objects
The fact that Jenny Hval calls her latest LP Classic Objects her ‘pop album‘ speaks to just how left-field her previous musical ventures have been. Far from conventional, Classic Objects opens with a vibrant, rhythmic meditation on the institution of marriage and concludes questioning the value of art in a commercial system, slipping into spaceyContinue reading “Review: Jenny Hval – Classic Objects”
Myriad Voices 