19 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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Seventh album of alternative indie pop from the Sheffield-born guitarist and vocalist
7.6
There's great strength in the delicate beauty of this album Read Review
Shines with pure passion and soul Read Review
Worth every second of the wait. Print edition only
Delving deeper beneath his own anxieties that only increase the older one gets Read Review
The 11-track collection of lugubrious love songs shows Hawley returning to his smooth ice-cream ad soundtracking roots Read Review
The production is warm and luxurious Read Review
Finds the crooner at his most affecting and fragile Read Review
Richard Hawley: troubadour in chief for this generation Read Review
Hollow Meadows is yet another impossibly accomplished record from one of our national treasures Read Review
For those who made his acquaintance on the Mute albums -- Cole's Corner, Lady's Bridge, Truelove's Gutter -- or even Standing At The Sky's Edge, this loose-knit set just might be revelatory Read Review
Nitpickers may argue that it’s not a huge departure for Hawley – but when it’s this good, it doesn’t need to be Read Review
Richly, alluringly detailed yet, somehow, simultaneously hushed and minimalist, these tracks seem to breath freely and float along weightlessly Read Review
Hollow Meadows may be Richard Hawley’s most personal album yet Read Review
A warm home full of terrifically sad songs Read Review
A welcome addition to his formidable catalogue Read Review
It carries his usual songwriting quality but it feels more like a retrenchment. Print edition only
Mostly he’s back in easy listening territory Read Review
It’s perhaps not as melodically sharp as his best work, but reacquainting yourself with that rich croon is always a pleasure Read Review
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Richard Hawley: Hollow Meadows
Billie Martin Dog Eared
Still only 26, Marten's writing is a strong scaffold for an experienced live studio band, whose every flourish (the irresistible keyboard arpeggio on the breezy "Crown" is a particular delight) add depth to her words. Print edition only Uncut
Overall, it's a gently entrancing and quietly elegant album. Print edition only Mojo
Billie Marten’s fifth studio album delves into nostalgia, love and introspection in a cosy folk triumph The Skinny
It takes time for the 10 tracks to find their own spaces and the dazey melodies to take root The Independent
Justin Bieber Swag
The pop star’s latest offering is a perfectly decent record, albeit one that lacks lyrical flair, emotional depth or any sense of responsibility musicOMH
Alex G Headlights
Alex Giannascoli upgrades to hi-fi dad rock and sails home with a major label debut worthy of the all-time indie graduations Pitchfork
Represents a flirtation with commercialized approaches, with suburbanism, with, dare we say, the banal. Given Alex’s impressive record, it’s not a stretch to imagine that going forward, he’ll find a way to better reconcile the predictable and unexpected, the cliché and seminal, the well-worn and just-discovered The Line Of Best Fit
Haim I quit
I quit is a varied-but-very-enjoyable return from the Los Angeles trio Consequence Of Sound
The album doesn’t shy away from the glare, but rather steps into it Slant Magazine
Philly’s indie hero adds to his discography of unassumingly brilliant folk-rock on his major-label debut Rolling Stone
On Headlights, his first album on a major label, Alex G drills deeper into a refinement of his sound The Skinny
Lorde Virgin
Before he died David Bowie called Lorde the future of music and he was not wrong. See you again before the end of the decade, hopefully? God Is In The TV
Alex G is one of the most distinctive characters working in indie rock today, and despite some of its shortcomings, the songs on Headlights still prove that Exclaim
Headlights is as much of an opus as it is, only because it is so clearly, honestly both of these things—because Alex G proves on a major label the seriousness with which he takes his career as a musician, all the while strumming along a love letter to the singular sound he’s so conscientously developed Northern Transmissions
While the sonic invention and off-kilter details remain, on his 10th album the cult musician eschews distortion for melancholic melodies and crooked love songs The Guardian
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