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…
Review: The National – I Am Easy To Find
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…
Review: Parekh & Singh – Science City
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,…
Review: Maps – Colours. Reflect. Time. Loss.
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…
Review: Morrissey – California Son
In making his 12th studio album a covers record, you’d think Morrissey might be looking to avoid controversy. It would, after all, be a relief not to separate art from…
Review: The Waterboys – Where The Action Is
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,…
Review: Lamb – The Secret Of Letting Go
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,…
Review: The Cranberries – In The End
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…
Prince: Giving It All Away
The new posthumous Prince album Originals is the clearest insight so far into just how varied his mind was, able to write for musicians from Kenny Rogers to The Bangles…
Godfathers of Pop: Kirk Brandon
Kirk Brandon rose to fame as the frontman of post-punk rockers Theatre Of Hate, who enjoyed their biggest hit with Do You Believe In The Westworld in 1982. He went…