FLOOD

The pop star’s soaring vocals are overshadowed by scattershot and overengineered production on her third album, as her team of songwriters’ styles clash more often than they mesh.

In addition to capturing some behind-the-scenes moments from rehearsals for their upcoming tour, we connected with Sam Beam and a few members of his current backing band to discuss how Light Verse, his first album in seven years, came together.

Sounding like a streamlined debut, the alt-pop songwriter’s third album propels the impact of her melodies by sanding down the electronic stylings and returning to her folk roots.

The indie rockers’ fifth album unfurls like a middle-aged plot twist, occasionally finding its balance between the band’s jammy origins and more recent experimental art-pop leanings.

Partially inspired by the film of the same name, the pop icon’s seventh album sees her perfecting familiar musical territory while attempting to wipe all the pain away.

The Brooklyn-based outfit’s sixth album brims with pretty jangle-pop melodies, though their familiar indie-surf sound lacks in experimentation.

Possessing a more live and ramshackle sound than their debut, the Radiohead offshoot’s latest experiment is firmly ensconced within the aesthetic fields of In Rainbows and A Moon Shaped Pool.

The Brooklyn-based songwriter continues her penchant for strong turns of phrase in the storied tradition of Americana music on her emotionally taut sophomore effort.

Collecting 20 songs from 20 years of the alt-rockers’ storied career, this compilation is a serviceable greatest-hits effort meant to elicit nostalgia without bringing anything new to the table.

Robert Pollard’s project’s surprisingly hi-fi 39th album shows its current lineup holding a torch for no-frills indie rock with no punches pulled.

On her third covers LP since 2018, the alt-rock songwriter takes on Jeff Lynne’s symphonic rock hits and deep cuts with a locked-down style that’s less theatrical than even her own recordings.

Dipping into both the chamber-folk balladry of his early career and his later electronic experimentation, Stevens’ 10th LP is a whispered statement that yells its intentions into the void.

For their 13th album, the longrunning alt-country group leans their mid-tempo rock melodies through Cate Le Bon’s layered production approach.

This new collection of B-sides from the Modesto group’s 2003 LP reexamines the prophetic promise of the crumbling computer age that the original album showcased so well.

Recorded last summer at the annual event in Rhode Island, the Canadian-American songwriting icon’s first live set in two decades showcases her infectious performance personality.

The Norwegian producer’s sixth album finds him jettisoning his slow-orbit jams of the past for propulsive beats and a lighter production mix.

With the help of a 41-piece orchestra, this demure-yet-dazzling eighth LP is more intimate in scope when compared to the Icelandic band’s yawning post-rock discography.

The Atlanta emcee leans into gospel and soul influences on his first LP since co-founding the more electronic-infused Run the Jewels a decade ago.

This Yoshimi-era EP of fan-favorite demos is a warm piece of rock mythos finally made available to collectors as a cotton-candy pink curio.

Birthed from dreams and the Biblical book of Psalms, the nocturnal characteristics of Simon’s new 33-minute acoustic tone poem are another fork in the path for the songwriter.