Back catalogue: Rock (All)

Review: So what happens when a European post-punk outfit meets an American 'ambient country ensemble'? The answer: A Nanocluster. In fact, three. This being the third. Immersion first met SUSS in September 2021, and the results were mesmerising. Three years on and the impact was no less staggering. Originally landing in September 2024, part tres takes us into the kind of musical places we're used to finding Spiritualized or Mogwai, and even then the references are misleading. For as many times as Nanocluster Vol. 3 sucks us into a thick soup of ambient and atmosphere, inviting us to get lost in opiate cloud formations, it also asks us to jump on board a stream train of rolling and driving rhythms, juggernauts gathering depth and complexity as they forge ahead. A stunning collection of highly evocative and incredible musical instrumentals.

Review: Inner Cop Avoidance is a cult supergroup that is already surrounded by plenty of discussion and conspiracy despite only having played their first gig in 2022. Made up of Krisitan Poulsen on guitar, Mathias Saedrup guitar, Sebastian von der Heide on drums and percussion, Max Stocklosa on synth, xylophone and vocals, this self-titled album from the group lands as the inaugural drop on their own label. It is a brilliantly cacophony of electronics and percussion with twisted rhythms, post-rock guitars and a fiercely experimental approach that results in brilliantly beguiling music that somehow combines the futuristic and avant garde with bird calls and ancient shamanic ritual.

Review: The Innocence Mission's 13th studio album is a delicate masterpiece that blends poetic lyricism with sparse instrumentation, creating an ethereal, lo-fi atmosphere. Frontwoman Karen Peris's distinctive voice, imbued with emotional fragility, is the centerpiece, guiding listeners through songs of yearning, memory and subtle beauty. The band's gentle arrangementsiprimarily acoustic guitar, bass and occasional pianoiframe these contemplative tracks, evoking a sense of nostalgia and longing, reminiscent of 1970s childhood sing-alongs. Themes of memory and loss run throughout, with lyrics that evoke vivid imagery and emotional depth. In one standout moment, everyday objects serve as gateways to memories of lost loved ones, while in another, the arrival of a beloved is compared to the blooming of snowdrops and magnolias. The album's mood is often wistful, with moments of joy and hope rising amid the melancholy. With its intimate, understated production, the record invites reflection, offering a soothing antidote to the chaos of the world. Subtle shifts in mood and instrumentation keep the album fresh and immersive, ensuring its place among the band's finest work, showcasing a deepened affection for their craft and a mastery of sensory storytelling.

Review: Light Verse is the seventh studio album by the American singer and songwriter Iron & Wine. The album was announced on February seventh 2024, simultaneously with the release of the lead single 'You Never Know' which showcases Sam Ervin Beam's great songwriting and arrangement skill, with his blend of folk and pop music has been compared to greats like Simon & Garfunkel, Nick Drake and Neil Young. Sam has been loyal to the Sub Pop label since first being signed there over 20 years ago. This (Loser Edition) comes on transparent yellow vinyl and will hit stores in late April.

Review: San Francisco Days is Chris Isaak's fourth album, originally released in 1993. It presents a more upbeat sound compared to its predecessor, the darker Heart Shaped World featuring the breakthrough hit 'Wicked Game.' Though it didn't achieve the same level of commercial success, it was certified gold by the RIAA, and several tracks became live staples for Isaak. The album's 60s-styled cover art and design evoke a sense of timelessness. The collection is the most experimental Isaak had yet recorded, blending his clean, classic approach with newer musical touches and unique arrangements. Highlights include the barrelhouse piano on the title track, sassy female backing vocals on 'Can't Do a Thing to Stop This' and 'Move Along,' and the dark feedback rumble on 'Round N' Round.' Guest Jimmy Pugh's Hammond organ adds a quietly funky element to the album. Tracks like the gently loping 'Two Hearts' and the stripped-down 'Waiting' will appeal to fans of 'Wicked Game,' while the cover of Neil Diamond's 'Solitary Man' concludes the album on a high note. Overall,a a fantastic album from Chris Isaak that helped prove he was no one hit wonder.

Review: If you've managed to tune out of society's collapse and the reorganisation of global orders for a second this week, it might have become apparent that Jason Isbell has swept up countless Album of the Week column inches. It's not hard to hear why, either. Finally, then, something we can all agree on - Foxes In The Snow is a breathtaking slice of Americana, folk, country and unplugged rock that's very timely really. Proof, if it were needed, of the vulnerability, thoughtfulness and feelings that can define humans if they stop shouting and shooting each other. An all-acoustic recording, Isbell played a 1940 Martin 0-17 guitar and nothing else to make this record. As so many critics have pointed out, how exposed he is throughout is why this feels like an artist unleashing their true superpowers. It's raw, it's honest and there is absolutely nowhere to hide here. For anyone. Expect few dry eyes in any house when this plays out, then.

Review: Having just recently made his major acting role debut in Martin Scorsese's Killers Of The Flower Moon, what an opportune time to reissue the debut solo album from former Drive By Truckers lead guitarist Jason Isbell. Originally released in 2007, Sirens Of The Ditch awarded the songwriter a chance to put his own voice front and centre, with a bluesy concoction of neofolk/alt-country meets indie-pop. Working with former bandmates as well as the iconic Spooner Oldham, in an effort to capture a balance between primitive folk aesthetics and modern pop sensibilities, Isbell managed to craft a startling debut that weaves its deft narratives around saccharine compositions, while charting out an immensely successful solo career with even his latest, exceptional ninth full-length Weathervanes landing earlier this year.

Review: Since parting company with alt country/Southern rock combo Drive By Truckers in 2007, singer/songwriter Jason Isbell has built a successful career as a solo artist. While he initially explored a punky and bluesy sound, by 2015 he'd pivoted to a softer sound inspired by folk and Americana. Ten years on, following a period spent touring extensively, Isbell is finally ready to drop another solo album. Wonderfully stripped-back but no less evocative or lyrically rich than his earlier work, Foxes In The Snow comprises 11 songs in which Isbell accompanies himself on acoustic guitar. There's no hiding place with such a sparse sound, but Isbell genuinely nails it. In fact, it could be his strongest and most startling solo album to date.

Review: Jason Isbell's tenth album is the first to hear the singer-songwriter without his 400 Unit band, and marks a return to the spotlight after a ten-year break, following 2015's Something More Than Free. Recorded over five days at Electric Lady Studios in New York, Isbell contrasts to the studio totalities of his earlier records here, this time playing all the songs on a single all-mahogany 1940 Martin 0-17 acoustic guitar. Evoking warm, diurnal drives across interstate roads, and carvings on oak tree trunks forsook by old times, Isbell's lyrics are real wrenchers, balancing fantasies of an outlawed life lived on the run, with those of a humbler pedigree.

Review: On Imitation of War, songwriter and guitarist Kayla Cohen advances Itasca into rockier terrain, with a suite of smoky nocturnes and uneasy idylls surveying, with refreshing urgency, mythologies and psychologies both classical and personal. Co-produced by Robbie Cody (Wand, Behavior), these ten sturdy set-pieces represent the loosest, leanest, and most smoulderingly electric, guitar-forward recordings in Cohen's deepening catalog. Cohen explains the title as the "performance of war postures" evident at every scale of human and animal life, making war itself, or at least the thing we call war, a fundamental fact of existence. But it could just as easily apply to the revelation that, with Imitation of War, Itasca has finally come to inhabit fully the staged postures toward which former records gestured. She sounds more herself, more confidently authorial than the longing protagonist of her earlier work. This self-knowing sentiment implied in the lyrics of 'El Dorado'; no imitation, formal or emotional, of former self or imagined other, remains.