ALBUMS OFTHEWEEK

IF THERE were a definitive list of under-appreciated songwriters, Laura Veirs would surely make a prominent appearance. She finally cracked the top 30 a couple of years ago with k.d. lang and Neko Case, which bodes well for a potential breakthrough with her 10th solo album.

Recorded in Portland with longtime producer (and husband) Tucker Martine, The Lookout is a resplendent collection of folk drawing on family, nature and mortality, as well as the US political divide. Familiar themes, perhaps, but she makes them feel fresh and infuses songs such as When it Grows Darkest with a sense of hope.

There are some typically lovely moments, including a collaboration with Sufjan Stevens, alongside unshowy experiments in electronica, blues and country. The overriding impression is of a rigorous songwriter at the peak of her powers. IT’S usually the biggest pop albums that come with a vast castlist of musicians and songwriters. Longrunning Berlin techno duo Andi Toma and Jan St Werner have raided their address book to feature almost 50 collaborators on their first album in six years. It’s a lot to take in. Though some names may be familiar — Bon Iver, folk artists Sam Amidon and Lisa Hannigan, the Dessner brothers from The National, rapper Spank Rock — that doesn’t signal a new accessibility. Parliament of Aliens is an abstract, ever-shifting mix of electronic blips and live instrumentation that sounds like its title. Bon Iver’s contribution on Dimensional People Part III sounds pretty but shapeless. Flashes of beauty, as with Aviation’s looped guitar and dots of backing vocals, keep the weirdness just about at bay. ONE way of meeting the crushing, suffocating, agonising weight of industry expectation is simply to meet it head-on. “You know, I’m terrified,” sings 23-year-old former chorister and creative writing undergraduate Isaac Gracie atop his debut album. “That maybe I wasn’t cut out for this.” Thing is, he’s got a point. You can see why Virgin EMI scooped him up: he looks like he should be modelling Calvin Klein c1992, he used to be a choirboy, he fits neatly into the “people who liked James Bay” algorithm. But at least Bay has something. A hat for example. Some guitar chops. Gracie has a set of mannerisms. It’s just impossible to believe in the “Cocaine in your eyes and bullets in your gun” sentiments of Last Words, the ballad that got him signed; and as soon as he pronounces Paris “Par-ee” on the vituperative The Death of You & I, your sympathy is with the ex. The production (by Markus Dravs of Florence + the Machine renown) is all tasteful reverb DESCRIBING themselves as coming from “manywhere”, The Turbans are that very London phenomenon: a group of like-minded musicians getting together to pool their musical styles,