24 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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Fifth studio record from the Irish singer-songwriter, produced by T Bone Burnett and featuring guest appearances from Jools Holland and Jeff Beck
7.4
As if to assert herself, the songs on May’s boldly titled new album Life, Love, Flesh, Blood show her operating with a much greater degree of savvy and moxie Read Review
11 strong songs, which ache, break and twang as craftily as they do sincerely. Print edition only
Features May doing what she does best with that inimitable voice Read Review
Ditching her usual rambunctious rock ‘n’ roll for the bittersweets of jazz and soft soul, May focuses on the theme of lost love alongside deeper musings on childhood, religion and mortality Read Review
One of those albums where not only will you not want to skip any tracks, but many are tunes to stick on repeat all day Read Review
There are endless musical references and an easy embrace of the styles that have influenced her Read Review
Classic songwriting at its finest Read Review
It helps that someone as empathetic as producer T Bone Burnett casts a Spectoresque eye over the majority of the songs Read Review
Her most impassioned vocal is reserved for the gospel waltz “When It’s My Time”, to which Jools Holland adds sensitive piano Read Review
Her most personal collection to date Read Review
Burnett's reliably polished, sometimes even laidback, settings allow plenty of room for grit and sweat. Print edition only
A powerful new direction. Print edition only
There are earworms aplenty, whether they’re barnstorming singalongs or drowsy coos Read Review
A new look, a new sound, the same great voice. A solid start for phase two Read Review
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Imelda May: Life Love Flesh Blood
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