Little May — For The Company (Dew Process/Universal)
Picking up our Album Of The Week with four stars, our reviewer thinks For The Company is a culmination of all the hard work the trio has done: "the band's finest moment so far". With "intelligent, crisp lyrics" and "driven, dark delivery", the band make use of their trifecta of vocals "belying the drama of the words they sing".
City & Colour — If I Should Go Before You (Dine Alone/Cooking Vinyl)
If I Should Go Before You is more of a band effort than his past albums, with "pedal steels aplenty" and more grittiness too. Dallas Green is fast becoming a confident and mysterious blues rock mainstay, with a tone "that's hard to forget and easy to get sucked into". "Optimistic" but "with a hint of wistfulness", his maturity shows in songs like Mizzy C, Woman and Map Of The World. We gave it four stars.
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Boy & Bear — Limit Of Love (Island/Universal)
Recording this album straight to tape, Boy & Bear have created "their most refined effort to date". Stripping back their soundscape, "gone is much of the sweeping folk-rock instrumentation", instead leaving "a fresh sense of inspiration about this album". Our reviewer notes that the influence of producer Ethan Johns in pushing the boys to write collaboratively is "a key influence on the album's cohesive atmosphere". We gave it three-and-a-half stars.
Aine Tyrrell — Queen Of Swords (Sixty Six Records)
Alex G — Beach Music (Domino/EMI)
Art Vs Science — Off The Edge Of The Earth And Into Forever, Forever (Magellanic/MGM)
Cheap Fakes — Modern Vintage (Independent)
Chris Russell's Chicken Walk — Drive (Rocket)
Dan Kelly — Leisure Panic! (ABC/Universal)
Grave Pleasures — Dreamcrash (Sony)
Hurts — Surrender (Sony)
Jess Moskaluke — Kiss Me Quiet (Sony)
John Grant — Grey Tickles, Black Pressure (Bella Union/[PIAS] Australia)
Kelela — Hallucinogen (Warp/Inertia)
Lawson — Lawson (Global Entertainment/Liberator)
Loren Kate — 'Til The Night Meets The Sun (Independent)
Lou Doillon — Lay Low (Cartell Music)
Mayday Parade — Black Lines (Fearless/Unified)
Oberhofer — Chronovision (Glassnote/Liberator)
Omi — ME 4 U (Sony)
PHILM — Fire From The Evening Sun (UDR/Warner)
Protomatyr — The Agent Intellect (Hardly Art/Inertia)
Queensryche — Condition Human (Century Media/Sony)
R. City — What Dreams Are Made Of (Sony)
Reece Mastin — Change Colours (Social Family Records)
Saintseneca — Such Things (Anti-/Warner)
Selena Gomez — Revival (Universal)
Slum Sociable — TQ (Liberation)
St Germain — St Germain (Parlophone/Warner)
Summer Flake — Time Rolls By (Rice Is Nice)
The Decemberists — Florasongs (EMI)
The East Pointers — Secret Victory (Independent)
The Garden — HAHA (Epitaph/Burger Records)
The Ocean Party — Light Weight (Spunk)
Tiny Little Houses — You Tore Out My Heart (Independent)
Tom Jones — Long Lost Suitcase (Caroline)
Various Artists — Norman Jay MBE Presents Good Times — Skank & Boogie (Sunday Best/[PIAS] Australia)