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Madi Diaz  Fatal Optimist

Rather than lean into the pop instincts that helped make 2024’s Grammy-nominated, Weird Faith something of a breakthrough, Madi Diaz turns inward and toward spare arrangements on Fatal Optimist. Complicated emotions and messy people are depicted using direct language and simple sounds, and Diaz wears her hurt heart on her sleeve Spectrum Culture

Madi Diaz  Fatal Optimist

It’s open, self-conscious in a way that feels completely honest, and lathered in the soft fabrics of hope even when the words themselves are sharp Far Out

Madi Diaz  Fatal Optimist

The album closes with its title track, giving space for life to unfold again, carried by a band that creates the perfect sense of movemen Northern Transmissions

Madi Diaz  Fatal Optimist

Madi Diaz lays everything bare and achieves a certain wisdom through the heartbreak PopMatters

Madi Diaz  Fatal Optimist

Scales back her sound, but not her devastating emotional honesty Rolling Stone

Madi Diaz  Fatal Optimist

Throughout its first ten tracks, Fatal Optimist offers occasional philosophical gems, like "Sometimes a good thing can break you/Sometimes a bad thing can save you" from "Good Lair," a song that also wonders, "Is it really that bad to cover up the sad?" All Music

Madi Diaz  Fatal Optimist

11 raw but gorgeously melodic songs. One of the least cliched [breakup] records you're ever likely to hear. Print edition only Uncut

Hannah Frances  Nested In Tangles

Musically, Frances hovers at the edges of genre. There are traces of folk and Americana, a bit of prog’s fondness for complexity, and the looseness of jazz that constantly destabilises whatever structure is in place God Is In The TV

Hannah Frances  Nested In Tangles

Shards of pure folk goodness poke through the ambitious, abstract arrangements on tracks like "Life's Work" and "Surviving You". Print edition only Uncut

Hannah Frances  Nested In Tangles

The album gels and is unexpectedly airy: with its souffle-light facade and full-fat core, this is a delight. Print edition only Mojo

Hannah Frances  Nested In Tangles

Wayward tempos and snapping drums break fresh ground in this unruly release from the Vermont musician The Guardian

Hannah Frances  Nested In Tangles

In the images of life-spanning hurt on her sixth album, the Vermont singer-songwriter never reaches for catchiness, only the discordant, zagging prog-folk that soothes the bedlam written within her A.V. Club

Madison Cunningham  Ace

Between a blend of pop, rock, folk, jazz, and the odd hint of the blues, Cunningham cultivates a joint sonic and lyrical calling card similar to that of Joni Mitchell or, in a more modern context, Adrianne Lenker Far Out

Madison Cunningham  Ace

The title is no coincidence. Ace is both the highest and the lowest card in the deck, and this duality reflects the album’s undercurrent: mastery and intuition, isolation and renewal, risk and control God Is In The TV

Madison Cunningham  Ace

Madison Cunningham explores a new moody sonic palette on her expressive third album The Skinny