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Review: Are you a dreamer? Swedish band Death & Vanilla ask across eight contemporary takes on German Krautrock, French Ye-ye pop and 60s psychedelic. Vocals are breezy, their moog synths fat, with guitars drenched in reverb and delay. At times the band's sound aligns with other kindred groups like Goldfrapp, Portishead or even Bjork (with "Vespertine") through their subtle take on downbeat, alternative '90s pop and this is heard most in "Let's Never Leave Here". "Are You A Dreamer?" delivers the Malmo trio a fifth studio LP following last year's conceptual soundtrack for stage and screen entitled "A Score For Roman Polanski's The Tenant", and this time around, our highlights include the spacey western riffs of "Eye Bath" and the ever-so dreamy "The Hum". Esoteric modern pop for sure.

Review: It takes about a minute to fall head over heels for 'My Lights Kiss Your Thoughts Every Moment', the first track on Rushing, a collection of compelling and utterly spellbinding work by Bristol-based singer, sonic artist, and general visionary Lucy Gooch. A sublime concoction of ambient refrains, deep, moody, muffled keys, and perhaps the most spectacular voice we have heard this decade, creating something serene but powerfully emotive.

It sets a real precedent, but what follows proves every bit the match. The title track looks to focus more on production trickery, taking those sweet vocal tones and developing them into loops and layers while still ensuring the original words take centre stage, a backdrop of strings adding the sense of build and expectation. Throw in the almost church-like feeling of 'Sun', cosmic rays of melody that make up 'There Is A Space In Between' and we're sold. Well, we already were.

Review: Evand Dando and co broke through to the mainstream with the sublime, sunny songwriting of 1992's It's A Shame About Ray, then managed to sustain their time at the top the following year with the Slade-referencing Come On Feel The Lemonheads. It's an altogether bigger and superfically impressive prospect, with guests like Rick James and Belinda Carlisle making the contributors' list and a production job from The Robb Brothers which elevates it beyond the slacker rock tag they'd had until the is point. It also spawned their biggest ever single - 'Into Your Arms' - and a host of other chart successes, including the excellent anthem 'Big Gay Heart', which saw them neatly distancing themselves from the jock rock category that other contemporaries like Nirvana quickly found themeslves slipping into.

Review: There is, quite simply, so much to like about Vanishing Twin. In many ways they can be your everything, providing that everything is sitting in a room packed with psychedelic patterns, contemplating mind expansion beyond opioids. If you're looking for abrasive sounds, this ain't for you. However, those searching for a woozy combination of 1960s hippy and weird prog folk will find themselves at home.

Even that description feels reductive. 'Light Vessel', for example, sounds like the unearthed tapes from electro-pop year zero. Or not. 'Tub Erupt' is a spy film intro on adrenalin, while 'The Lift' comes across like a religious cult got lost and wound up at Woodstock. Or maybe Woodstock was the cult? Either way this is one of those 'buckle up' jobs.

Review: The experimental supergroup Vanishing Twin - named after its founding member Cathy Lucas' experience of the eponymous "syndrome" after her identical twin sister was absorbed in utero - have kept up a steady stream of danceable dream pop, cantankerous-contemporary-cosmic, and prodding post-punk since at least 2015. Now their newest album Afternoon X seeks again to break the mould, having been built upon "a vast constellation of instruments, samples, and unclaimed sources", conjuring comparisons to David Axelrod and Scott Walker. Though the songs throughout still get at that feeling of janky dreaminess that Vanishing Twin always nail, it's this reclamation of long-disused cultural reference points - a musical-ideal version of squatting, if you will - that makes this album special.