REVIEWS Independent opinion, informed criticism ALBUM REVIEW Sad and Beautiful World Mavis Staples In acknowledging the world’s sadness and beauty on this deeply felt album, Mavis Staples somehow finds hope too. by David Rea 4 November 2025 ALBUM REVIEW All is Love and Pain in the Mouse Parade Of Monsters and Men After their electro-pop LP Fever Dream, OMAM explore cinematic folk rock, but struggle to find consistent inspiration. by David Rea 11 October 2025 ALBUM OF THE MONTH Emerge, Return The Bookshop Band When Pete Townsend got in touch with the Ivor Novello-nominated duo, it seemed certain something special was about to happen. Words: David Rea 4 October 2025 STANDOUT NEW ALBUM The Resurrection Game Emma Swift Emma Swift’s stunning first album of original material is as immersive as an IMAX movie, and full of beguiling emotional complexity. Words: David Rea 3 September 2025 Robyn Hitchcock: Blissful transcendence in East London LIVE REVIEW Suffused with its inter-war ghosts from its days as a Savoy cinema, the EartH theatre turned out to be the perfect setting for Hitchcock’s transcendent performance Words: David Rea 14 September 2024 STANDOUT NEW ALBUM Ticking Haze Shapes Like People EXTRACT: The crystalline jangle pop guitar mines rich seams of bittersweetness on ‘Never Cut Asunder’ and ‘Ambition is your Friend’, and ‘Server of the Mind’ and ‘Fireworks’ float in hazy dream pop gauze. Words: David Rea 1 September 2024 ALBUM REVIEW Liam Gallagher John Squire This is very much in one of Britpop's key registers: cocksure optimism. Almost front to back it is tuneful, guitar-driven pop-rock, which wouldn't have sounded out of place in 1995. Words: David Rea 2 March 2024 30th ANNIVERARY REVIEW Definitely Maybe Oasis Listening to the band's rudimentary and derivative moving parts thirty years later then, it is easy to conclude that the tumult surrounding the band lent the music something which simply isn't there on the master tape. Words: David Rea 30 August 2024
