Well, so much for judging a book by its cover or Hansard by his previous missteps because Didn’t He Ramble is a surprising and unexpectedly refreshing success.
The finished product here seems like an attempt to up the ante on the drama and showstopping that permeated 21.
Honeymoon isn’t quite as fine as Ultraviolence, but that’s less an indictment of the new album than high praise of the older one ... In any case, Del Rey’s rollercoaster of a career seems to have steadied on an impressively high level.
Terraplane is such a standout that we can only hope he makes his way back around to the blues relatively soon.
After the wild success of Alabama Shakes’ debut album, it took a lot of courage to veer into the territory they explore in Sound & Color, a deeply layered collage of tempos and textures – and a seemingly hard left-turn from their previous work.
Carrie & Lowell demonstrates, brilliantly and harrowingly, over and over again, how life’s most valuable lessons can only be gleaned by enduring its worst circumstances.
Finn is still as sharp as ever with his details and as striking as ever with his lyrical gambits.
It’s an album that shows again and again that very few songwriters on this planet illuminate the oft-unfair rules of this game or the inner workings of the players quite like he can.
What Sometimes I Sit And Think And Sometimes I Just Sit reflects is that Courtney Barnett is a burgeoning talent whose future likely holds great improvement from this already-impressive starting point.
He’s followed up one masterpiece of an album, 2013’s Southeastern, with a new one that is probably stronger top-to-bottom.