SOUND JUDGEMENT

The latest album releases reviewed

I DON’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE THE WAR ON DRUGS HHHHI

Since their founding 15 years ago, Philadelphia’s The War On Drugs have been compared to heartland rockers like Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty, and blues bands like Dire Straits.

Sometimes they have sounded like their influences, but on I Don’t Live Here Anymore, their fifth and probably best record yet, frontman Adam Granduciel and his rotating cast of collaborators transcend their musical heroes.

These songs don’t revolutionise the band’s sound – synthesisers still glimmer like starlight, anthemic piano stabs echo and stadium-size guitars riff in a sea of feedback. But this is some of Granduciel’s most direct songwriting yet.

SHOUT OUT! TO FREEDOM NIGHTMARES ON WAX

HHHHI

With a bang and a plume of smoke from his laboratory of sound, George Evelyn returns as Nightmares On Wax with his ninth studio album.

The Leeds DJ has been recording for 30 years and his joyous experimentation with music marries the traditional with the unconventional, teetering and tilting from orchestral jazz to funky electronica and hip hop.

Featuring a host of collaborative singers and musicians, this outing is similarly slippery. It’s not the most accessible record and it’s hard to love every inch of it – but it surprises, and the moments it succeeds in are wonderful.

OCEAN TO OCEAN TORI AMOS

HHHII The front cover of Tori Amos’s new album, showing her sitting on a cliff in a flowing dress, encompasses the feeling of this wave-like record.

The headline track, Ocean To Ocean, is the highlight, with an almost catchy chorus and pleasing piano accompaniment, but, like the whole album, will not have listeners on their feet.

This record almost rivals Kate Bush in its melodies and vocal range, but won’t break into mainstream music lovers’ hearts.