The music is slow and airy laid-back electronic built on the backbone of a piano and the soft harmonies of male and female duo Josephine Vander Gucht and Anthony West. I love the way their voices sound together: there’s a ton of contrast and an obvious distinction between them (thanks to their difference in gender, obviously), but there’s a hint of playfulness that reminds me a little bit of the harmonies in Of Monsters & Men.

For a debut release, this record is incredibly impressive: incredibly catchy pop songs spread across fifty-three impeccably crafted minutes, Oh Wonder no doubt understands the art that can go into making music like this. It’s refreshing to hear a band whose interpretation of the laid-back electronic pop genre believes so much in the art of the music, and not just the single. Highly recommended.

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Julian’s voice is easy to listen to, but what really pulls it together is the way he plays guitar. There’s a reassuring quality to it: he uses his palm to keep a steady rhythm, which means you feel like you’re always in good hands even though the percussion is sometimes pretty sparse.

Fans of Dustin Kensrue’s solo work or City & Colour will find a lot to like here.

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These guys are old school, blues-infused rock’n’roll. Really, if it weren’t for some of the foul language, your mother wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between this record and Chuck Berry’s On Top. It’s an immensely entertaining record from start to finish, with homages to the old school everywhere and some of the best guitar noodling out there.

Two things are pretty clear: Black Joe Lewis loves blues music and rock’n’roll, and Black Joe Lewis believes in the almighty guitar riff. If there was ever a hidden gem in modern rock music then, a guy that could consistently hit you beneath the belts, right where it hurts, right where you feel it, Black Joe Lewis is that guy. Don’t miss this record if you like your rock delivered with a little soul.

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At the same time, that familiarity is likely because she’s spawned so many imitators. People fell head over heels for Youth Novels when it was released, and she’s been raising the stakes with every album since, developing on how fully-realized Youth Novels was.

So the easiest way to describe her is saying that she sounds at once foreign and familiar, comfortable and difficult to grasp, predictable and also unknowable. In the world of pop music, these lines are thin and easy to cross. Lykke Li straddles them, taunts them, and draws new lines in the sand. She’s everything I wish Feist sounded like after The Reminder.

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Getting rid of the sheen helps make the music feel more approachable, as if you’re listening to some of your friends have fun in a garage. Does that mean these guys pose a threat to the success of Beach House? Probably not. But they offer something the big shoe-gazers don’t: a little bit of intimacy.

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