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15 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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New

Dove EllisBlizzard

"With shades of Jeff and Tim Buckley, the Galway-born artist writes tunes so strong they seem as familiar as old friends" (10/10 - The Guardian). "The sound is entirely his" (8/10 - DIY)

New

Melody’s Echo ChamberUnclouded

"The music is immaculate and interesting throughout" (8/10 - Northern Transmissions). "A record that is just as impressively crafted as anything she has done" (9/10 - All Music)

New

Oneohtrix Point NeverTranquilizer

"An impossibly dense and transportive electronic album that takes impermanence as its inspiration" (8.6/10 - Pitchfork). "A demonstration of Daniel Lopatin’s mastery of structural tension" (9/10 - Slant)

Highest Recent Ratings

Albums to watch

SnocapsSnocaps

"They are back playing pop that is pretty darn unmatched" (8.6/10 - Northern Transmissions). "A hailstorm of warm, exceptionally-written country-rock bangers backed by MJ Lenderman and Brad Cook" (8.5/10 - Paste)

Florence + The MachineEverybody Scream

"Florence Welch enlists horror and magic to harness hope" (10/10 - NME). "An urgent and vital testimony to survival and rebirth, Florence Welch’s sixth album is a defiant middle finger to doubters" (9/10 - musicOMH)

Lily AllenWest End Girl

"Her best album in 16 years, an incisive diary of a marriage in freefall" (10/10 - The Independent). "A hard-hitting pop exposition, while also providing an endless supply of hooks" (8/10 - Clash)

The Last Dinner PartyFrom The Pyre

"Insanely rich with ideas, hooks, smart artifice and real emotion, From The Pyre is a feast of giddy raptures" (10/10 - Record Collector). "Both thematically and sonically richer" (10/10 - DIY)

BrògealTuesday Paper Club

"2026 is there for Brogeal’s taking, they’re gonna be a lot of people’s new favourite band" (8/10 - God Is In The TV). "This is what it sounds like when a band get it right the first time" (10/10 - Dork)

Jay SomBelong

"With ‘Belong’ serving notice of Jay Som’s continued abilities" (8/10 - Clash). "Will undoubtedly solidify her reputation as your favourite pop singer's favourite pop singer" (8/10 - Exclaim"

IdlewildIdlewild

"The fact they are producing some of their best work seems almost absurd, and yet here we are" (9/10 - The Line Of Best Fit). "Idlewild is no nostalgic LP—it’s the sound of a band rejuvenated" (10/10 - XS Noize)

Blood Speaks

Smoke Fairies

Blood Speaks

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Hear it

Preview & download it

Smoke Fairies: Blood Speaks

Download full album for just £7.99
1. Let Me Know £0.99
2. Awake £0.99
3. The Three Of Us £0.99
4. Daylight £0.99
5. Blood Speaks £0.99
6. Take Me Down When You Go £0.99
7. Feel It Coming Near £0.99
8. Hideaway £0.99
9. Version Of The Future £0.99
10. Film Reel £0.99
11. Blood Speaks - Digital Booklet N/A

Latest Reviews

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

This is Lorelei Holo Boy

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

This is Lorelei Holo Boy

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

All-time top 10

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.