SOUND JUDGEMENT

THE LATEST ALBUM RELEASES RATED AND REVIEWED

JAMES BLUNT ONCE UPON A MIND

★★★★★ JAMES BLUNT is here to make you think deeply but feel pretty darn positive at the same time. The You’re Beautiful crooner has taken a personal edge with his sixth album, but despite its depth and candour, there’s a palatable peppyness to the record, the largely cheery-sounding folksy-pop songs spiked with jubilation.

Having dabbled with electronica on his previous album, Blunt is back to what he does best – combining his emotions with radio-friendly bops. From the euphoria of album opener The Truth, an upbeat song that would perfectly accompany a long, sluggish drive, to the anthemic and bold, lyrical hug that is Champions and the dramatic, piano-laced How It Feels To Be Alive, Blunt is better than ever.

STEREOPHONICS KIND

★★★★★ ONE thing frontman Kelly Jones has always excelled at is his ability to tell a story in his lyrics, and this shines throughout Kind, as you get the feeling this offering is more personal to him than others have been.

For those who love the anthemic rock choruses and stirring guitar solos from the ‘Phonics, Don’t Let The Devil Take Another Day and I Just Wanted The Goods are others to add to their list of classics. You get the overall feeling that the album is about searching for answers, and maybe even a fresh start.

REX ORANGE COUNTY PONY

★★★★★ REX Orange County, known to his parents as Alex O’Connor, jumps between jazz, balmy R&B, acoustic and 80s synthesiser-inspired pop with his anticipated third album.

Pony starts triumphantly, hooking you in before it flows between rough break-up tunes and whisper-soft melodies.

With the variety of genres and moods involved in Pony, you might think the album would be dissonant and unable to hold itself together. But the album’s unifying feature is the raw emotion underneath each track. The album, almost entirely performed and written by O’Connor, is a masterclass in empathy.