The Line of Best Fit

The staggering amount of feelings spent and tales fabricated draws the listener into the story as much as it may pull them out of it.

The shockingly personal look at every contour of this lofty title FENIAN – all the happiness, empowerment, community, successes, sacrifices, disenchantment, confliction, grief – makes for a far more interesting, humanising record. Kneecap’s fire understandably dimmed, but it never sizzled out.

This is a snapshot of a band that has conquered mountains and achieved grand things while proving you can still find those edges at the peak that go a little higher.

These new songs build on Sohn’s mechanical, rigid guitar-driven synthpop with stomping techno and bittersweet electronics, inducing a dreamy haze as the cyborg operates on a depleted charge.

An endearing, lo-fi filtered record not limited in what it has to say.

The beats prove slick with how they are able to further express his feelings, the lyrics are solid with bits of metaphors sprinkled for impact, and the production itself enlivens the whole experience. It wouldn’t be out of place for Joseph to come back in the next few years with a bigger masterpiece.

With how much groundwork they’ve already laid, Friko can afford to conduct themselves more lightly this time, but there are promises from their introduction that we’re still waiting for.

Singing shines brightest when Margaret's voices are in harmony.

Come Closer is a hostage to 90s Euro-Club-isms and torn in half by the lesser devices of two highly talented individuals, a near-first in music where a collab brings out the worst in each participant.

If she’s toed a contemporary line, it’s been mostly via sonic contexts and a swaggery bent. With Fidelity, she lets much of that go, embracing an old-school R&B MO. It’s a credit to her unflagging authenticity that despite her retro leanings, she’s still chic, modish, and frequently enchanting.