Cameron Avery – Ripe Deams, Pipe Dreams (Spinning Top/Anti-)
Having worked his magic as part of Tame Impala, Pond and The Growl, Cameron Avery’s solo debut carves a new path with gospel and soul-infused rock. It’s his powerful vocals that really sell this release, kicking off with Do You Know Me By Heart, where “Avery's breathy yearning unfold over a waltzing, dark dance hall atmosphere and trilling motifs”.
We gave it four-and-a-half stars and our Album Of The Week.
Laura Marling – Semper Femina (More Alarming Records/Kobalt)
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It’s hard to pinpoint which direction Laura Marling is heading with the release of Semper Femina – as she steps back from the noisier and rockier sounds of Short Movie but not really returning to her acoustic roots. “Really, it's just a little bit weirder,” our reviewer said, which “gives the album a unique personality and speaks to an increasingly intriguing future for Marling”.
We gave it three-and-a-half stars.
The Shins – Heartworms (Aural Apothecary/Sony)
Heartworms blends bursts of youthful energy with “an almost quintessential 'adult contemporary' sound; lyrically rich yet musically safe pop”. With more density to their sound and a slower feel overall, the album is “less innocent than The Shins we're used to, they make it no less enjoyable.”
We gave it four stars.
A Ghost Orchestra – Blood (Firestarter)
Bush – Black And White Rainbows (Caroline)
Buzzcocks – Buzzcocks (mk.1) Box (Domino/EMI)
Circa Waves – Different Creatures (Dew Process/Universal)
Cohenbeats – Daily Affirmations (Stone Throw/Inertia)
Colin Hay – Fierce Mercy (Sony)
Dada Ono – Granny Loves Smith (Independent)
Domini Forster – Raven (Independent)
Evocation – The Shadow Archetype (Metal Blade Records/Rocket)
Fink – Fink’s Sunday Night Blues Club Volume 1 (R’COUP’D/Interia)
Greg Graffin – Millport (Anti-/Warner)
Havok – Conformicide (Century Media)
Hurray For The Riff Raff – The Navigator (ATO/[PIAS] Australia)
Jacques Greene – Feel Infinite (LuckyMe/Inertia)
Kelly Dance – Wild Grass (Broken Stone Records/Remote Control)
Mama K & The Big Love – Blind (Independent)
Marty Stuart – Way Out West (Superlatone/Cooking Vinyl)
Nathan Fake – Providence (Ninja Tune/Inertia)
Nova Collective – The Further Side (Metal Blade Records/Rocket)
Omar Rodriquez-Lopez – Azul, Mis Dientes (Ipecac/[PIAS] Australia)
Outside The Academy – Second-Guessing (Independent)
Pirra – Animal Kingdom (Independent)
Porter Ray – Watercolor (Sub Pop)
Roland Kay-Smith - As Cool As They Come (Independent)
Roland Tings – Each Moment A Diamond (Sony)
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – The French Press (Ivy League/Liberation)
Shobaleader One – Elektac (Warp/Inertia)
sirWas – Digging A Tunnel (City Slang)
The Floors – Beat It Down (Beast)
The Picturebooks – Home Is A Heartache (Another Century)
Valerie June – The Order Of Time (Concord/Caroline)