Gorillaz’s strange, hybrid formula is still where Damon Albarn feels at home
It takes balls to start your record with a five-minute instrumental played on a bamboo flute
ByAlbum reviews
Read all the latest album reviews from the New Statesman here.
Madison Beer is a copy-paste pop star
Her new album, Locket, is perfect pop music – which is part of the problem
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Robbie Williams didn’t need Britpop
The singer’s new album is a tribute to the “golden era of music” – in which he never really belonged
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Florence and the Machine’s season of the witch
Her new album Everybody Scream is shaped by the occult but portrays profoundly human experiences
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Does Taylor Swift really shine on The Life of a Showgirl?
The new album trades her heart-thumping highs for soft-rock meanderings
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Sabrina Carpenter shows us a good time
Her new studio album, Man’s Best Friend, may be muted. But she remains the only popstar with comic talent.
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The lost futures of Stereolab
In an age of genuine instability, do we still want to get our politics from pop music?
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Lorde’s Brat moment
The pop star is supposed to be above this kind of self-conscious marketing.
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On Mayhem, Lady Gaga makes a chaotic return to form
The singer’s new album attempts to recapture the intense art-project pop of her early records.
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Sam Fender’s politicised rock
The North Shields artist’s third album, People Watching, shows the musician continues to find inspiration in his troubled roots.
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Vashti Bunyan’s second life
At 60, the singer released Lookaftering, her first album in 35 years – and sparked a career renaissance.
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Ethel Cain’s American Gothic
The singer found fame with her debut album in 2022 – but Perverts, a subversive horror movie of a record,…
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Laura Marling’s songs of experience
As the singer showcased her new album Patterns in Repeat at Hackney Church, the parallels across her work – and…
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Jennifer Lopez’s beautifully unhinged visual album
This Is Me… Now is a bizarre but poetic record of her rekindled love for Ben Affleck.
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The paradoxical moods of Joni Mitchell’s Court and Spark
Released 50 years ago, the singer’s commercial breakthrough is a masterwork of ambivalence.
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Dolly Parton’s Rockstar is a cheesy, moving, joyful covers album
It’s too long, and unavoidably corny. But this is such a fun endeavour that it’s hard to resist.
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REM’s soundtrack to the end of history
The album Up captured the dehumanisation and sexless ennui that defined the late Nineties.
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Britain is scared of jazz
Ezra Collective is the first ever jazz band to win the Mercury Prize – lifting a curse on a genre…
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The Ballad of Darren is one of Blur’s best records
The band’s new album, like all their greatest work, is suffused with melancholy.
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Joe Dunthorne on Black Sunday by Cypress Hill: “My favourite way to get blazed”
From the Long Players series: writers on their most cherished albums.
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