Clash Music

Where other emo bands might dramatise the horrors and wonders of death, American Football evokes its totality as a comfort, an ending whose completeness leaves nothing to fear. In the process, they’ve crafted another work of startling, very human beauty.

It’s one of their strongest of the 2020s and across their 25-year career.

Dan Carey – Speedy Wunderground head honcho and producer of Fontaines D.C. amongst many others – helms the boards for this record, and sonically it feels richer, with more depth than its predecessors. .... That said, some of the cartoonish aspects of Kneecap’s past remain firmly fixed in place.

What ‘Kehlani’s’ self-titled moment lacks in risk or originality, it makes up for in songs that explore the fullness of female/non-binary sexuality.

Embracing simple yet infectious lyricism, impressive guitars and folksy harmonies, Starkey has created another unadulterated Americana album in ‘Long Long Road’, carving his name deeper into the hall of fame.

With his last album, ‘Stick Season’, Noah Kahan confirmed the reign of folk-pop in the current age, and with ‘The Great Divide’, he further proves that he’s not just a one-hit wonder.

The Foo Fighters return in defiant fashion with an album that refuses to let up from start to finish.

‘Forever Ends Someday’ is wonderful – a rich, emotionally vivid experience, an inspired statement from start to finish.

Her new music sounds way more nuanced, as if Margaret has learned to work on another level of detail and to find deeper meaning in small, insignificant words. This brings her vocal comeback closer to the approach of another maestro of layered lyrics and sonics – Phoebe Bridgers.

ZAYN is a pop icon who sought retreat, and this record finds the UK-born singer finally re-engaging with the concept of being a main character once more. Yet it’s also highly subtle – the understated songwriting, the hushed, after-hours sonics give him space to lose himself.