17 July 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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Album number eight from the Northumberland folk group featuring self-penned songs and arrangements of traditional material
7.9
This is properly epic stuff. Brass and strings swell the sound, amplifying the emotion already existing in the songs Read Review
Mount The Air is their most ambitious work and places them in the same league as the likes of The Gloaming and the Punch Brothers Read Review
The sisters voices are often gossamer-like but combine into a choral anthem as this records swings and sways its way through their whimsical and charming tales Read Review
All these tracks have folk deep in their roots, but to label them simply as such would only tell half the story Read Review
Reinventing the sound of epic, even by their own standards, this is huge. Print edition only
More than muddy-hemmed revivalists but rooted in a time long gone. Print edition only
The Unthanks are stretching the parameters of their genre with an ambition that’s rarely been heard before Read Review
A floating, swirling, blend of folk, indie-rock, and jazz. Subscription required Read Review
It's the Unthanks' acumen for crafting highly refined overcast ballads that ultimately wins out, and some of us are all the better for it Read Review
Stylish and extremely skilfull, but a bit too much arr and not enough trad Read Review
There are times when Mount The Air does feels like an elaborately illustrated story book (engrossing yet, at times, hard to follow) but this a first class effort and - more often than not - a thing of true beauty Read Review
The band hit form on the gorgeous, unadorned Magpie, while Hawthorn is an elegant, plaintive treatment of Charles Causley’s poem Read Review
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The Unthanks: Mount The Air
Wet Leg moisturizer
Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers have cracked the British charts with their playful sounds The FT
These are love songs for people who don't want to fall in love, made by a band that sounds more comfortable in its skin than ever All Music
Gwenno Utopia
This is artistic progression, and while some might miss the old, more fun, version of Gwenno, the more mature and serious version isn't half bad All Music
Sophomore slump? Not a chance. Wet Leg are only getting stranger, louder, and better – moisturised, refreshed, and ready to wreak more havoc Dork
‘moisturizer’ sees the band consolidate their position and create a more stable platform to kick on from in the future XS Noize
The Isle of Wight band’s sophomore outing is slutty, sensitive, sadistic, and superb Paste Magazine
Clipse Let God Sort Em Out
It's not the classic many of us were hoping for, but Let God Sort Em Out is a bombastic, unhinged and bitter reflection on modern hip-hop from two of the game's most creative and vicious MCs Exclaim
Growth isn’t always fun, but if Wet Leg’s development from one album to the next is this impressive, they’ll be able to channel maturity and snide detachment simultaneously before we know it Spectrum Culture
An English language work from an artist known for singing minority languages sacrifices creative bravery for a more sophisticated production sheen Spectrum Culture
BC Camplight A Sober Conversation
Brian Christinzio’s album about the source of his ongoing issues with addiction and depression combines real pain, jokes and incisive observations Spectrum Culture
Lorde Virgin
The voice that scored the coming-of-age of a generation of girls in the 2010s sounds most at home in the city that celebrates expression and self-discovery as much for the confusing journey as for the destination—New York is exactly where Lorde needs to be Spectrum Culture
Perhaps that’s why this 'difficult second album' is such a success - there’s neither complacency nor conformity here The Arts Desk
Ty Segall Possession
It’s psych-pop-rock that doesn’t need to be groundbreaking to be satisfying Under The Radar
If moisturizer feels a little unhinged at times, that’s because it is. Occasionally, it tries a bit too hard and doesn’t quite capture the chaotic charm of the debut, which still stands as the stronger release Under The Radar
Justin Bieber Swag
The album serves more as a platform for empty self-aggrandizement than self-reflection Slant Magazine
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
Spiritbox Tsunami Sea
Kendrick Lamar Damn.
D'Angelo And The Vanguard Black Messiah
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Ghosteen
Self Esteem Prioritise Pleasure
Bob Dylan Rough and Rowdy Ways
Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds Skeleton Tree
Frank Ocean Channel Orange