New albums

Right from the outset, Bridie Monds-Watson’s second album sets out its stall in no uncertain terms, and not just with that blunt title. Opener “all aboard” features a train conductor…

Listening to The National can feel like being cornered at a party by an earnest individual determined to make you understand, whether you like it or not, a particular subject’s…

Recapturing youth’s emotionally intricate pleasures is never easy, but this duo from Kolkata, India, revel in it. Their second album sounds so superficially innocent one might mistake it for wimpish,…

Remember when James Chapman, nominated for a Mercury Prize with 2007’s We Can Create, was considered a bedroom artist? Well, the first thing one notices about his fourth studio album…

When you’ve made your living from music for almost four decades, you can feel reasonably confident your audience will follow you wherever you roam. So it is with Mike Scott,…

Andy Barlow and Lou Rhodes have made little secret of how completing their seventh album nearly roasted Lamb alive. Quite apart from the regular stresses of their complex working relationship,…

It’s impossible to listen to The Cranberries’ final album and not feel a little uncomfortable.   Dolores O’Riordan was never famed for her lyrics, but when she begins with the…

Since quoting people out of context is all the rage, let’s take a line from Suzi Quatro’s 17th album and wilfully misinterpret it. “I’m a rolling stone,” she claims on…