25 December 2025
Here's how it works: The Recent Releases chart brings together critical reaction to new albums from more than 50 sources worldwide. It's updated daily. Albums qualify with 5 reviews, and drop out after 6 weeks into the longer timespan charts.
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Second album of indie rock from the Canadian trio
6.9
Exciting in its pacing, invigorated in its writing, and illustrious in its instrumentation Read Review
An album that remarkably stuns, even though its world view is largely seen from a car stuck in the middle of snow bank on the side of the road Read Review
This is gleeful, irresistible, magical stuff Read Review
Sparsely lit lover’s folk is by no means a fresh development, but The Rural Alberta Advantage continue to take the sound in new, interesting ways Read Review
The songs throughout this album are powerful, memorable and some really moving Read Review
Throughout Departing, RAA keep the tones very cool Read Review
An enjoyable but still not entirely satisfying collection of songs that don’t really work as well together as they do apart Read Review
The Toronto band's thematic template doesn't make any radical departures from their debut, but they nevertheless display newfound restraint and maturity Read Review
The relatively sparse and chilly tone of Departing ultimately feels less like a slump than a conscious decision to present itself as the wintertime counterpart to Hometowns' prairie summer Read Review
While a surface-level listen to these songs is satisfying, they won’t hold up for too long Read Review
Where RAA once vividly evoked the fierce howling of the prairie wind, the recollections of it are now far hazier Read Review
Departing builds on themes the band explored on 2009 debut Hometowns with another batch of geographically specific Canadian tales of tumultuous loves Read Review
These are simple, almost campfire songs Read Review
The album never fully soars either imaginatively or musically Read Review
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The Rural Alberta Advantage: Departing
The Lemonheads Love Chant
The band’s first album of original music in 20 years is an undeniably self-conscious comeback, manifesting the existential angst of middle age in sludgier-than-usual riffs, sudden switchups, and some of Evan Dando’s most self-reflective lyrics to date A.V. Club
Dove Ellis Blizzard
Enigmatic Galway songwriter sounds like a storm-tossed mix of Thom Yorke of Radiohead and Jeff Buckley The Irish Times
This is Lorelei Holo Boy
Amos has been an expert popsmith for years; the world is finally catching up, and not a moment too soon All Music
One half of Water From Your Eyes re-records songs from the back catalogue of his other band, resulting in acoustic fare touched with regret and darkness The Guardian
Nate Amos’s latest solo album consists entirely of songs written in the years prior to 2024’s Box for Buddy, Box for Star. The music presents us with yet another robust block of material that allows his idiosyncratic songwriting to truly shine Paste Magazine
This Is Lorelei’s Holo Boy has the air of an artist taking stock, as he maps the route taken while checking which parts still line up now Spectrum Culture
Songwriter Nate Amos polishes up 10 tracks from his Bandcamp days and confronts humorous self-effacement with new confidence Pitchfork
A wonderfully enjoyable cycle of straight-down-the-line songwriting Clash
Oneohtrix Point Never Tranquilizer
It’s his best work since Replica, and the most complete realization of his long-running obsession with the imperfect persistence of time. Tranquilizer doesn’t just show you a world—it shows you how that world remembers itself Under The Radar
Melody’s Echo Chamber Unclouded
This is the epitome of a “vibes album,” and as a vibes album, Unclouded knocks it out of the park Spectrum Culture
Dove Ellis’ debut is remarkably assured, showcasing a new talent with strong potential Spectrum Culture
The Galway-born singer-songwriter takes Romantic yearning — for the pure, the mythical, the divine — and turns it gently earthward on Blizzard Paste Magazine
Despite its title, ‘Tranquilizer’ is deceptively mesmerizing, potently putting calm emotions into a frenzied state, and leaving you coming back for more Northern Transmissions
Little Simz Lotus
She’s a rapper who refuses to let up and keeps ensuring that her name is held aloft in the conversations of the best in the world Far Out
Dove Ellis breathes new life into the Irish folk-rock scene. The album is hopeful, complex and as a whole plays with the picturesque diction of a pastoral poem. Wondering what will follow this stunning debut makes the listening all the more enjoyable Hot Press
Since we've been around, that is. So, the highest-rated albums from the past twelve years or so. Rankings are calculated to two decimal places.
Kendrick Lamar To Pimp A Butterfly
Fiona Apple Fetch The Bolt Cutters
Rosalía Lux
Kendrick Lamar Damn.
D'Angelo And The Vanguard Black Messiah
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Ghosteen
Spiritbox Tsunami Sea
Self Esteem Prioritise Pleasure
Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Ways
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Skeleton Tree