The key to Chris Stapleton's immense success, of course, is his remarkable, inimitable vocal tone: a worn-leather rasp that can stretch high and low, project real strength and sweetness, and isn't specifically "country"—there are traces of Stax soul, Ray Charles' R&B and deep-fried Southern rock. But Stapleton also feels reliable; he's an artist of integrity and good taste who doesn't bother with false moves or trying on trends. In short, he is classic in real time. And that hasn't changed with Higher, his fifth solo album (after fronting the band Steeldrivers for years) in less than a decade. Co-produced once again with Dave Cobb, the album taps into the catholic formula that works well for him. Single "White Horse" is glorious arena rock, a sinewy flex with some particularly heavy moments. "South Dakota" brings Memphis-blues stomp, slithering confidently and managing to make that prairie state sound badass: "I'm in South Dakota/ Trouble ain't hard to find." Written with Miranda Lambert, "What Am I Gonna Do" is a mid-tempo pleaser with lazy-sun Skynyrd guitar and Stapleton, as always, beautifully complimented by harmonies from his wife Morgane Stapleton. She matches him as an equal duet partner and not just support on "It Takes a Woman," a '70s-ish country ballad that gives Stapleton the chance to hit an otherworldly note as he sings, "You make me hiiiiiiiigh and keep my feet on the ground." Sultry "Think I'm In Love With You" delivers a very '80s adult-contemporary vibe, complete with urbane strings—violin not fiddle. "Loving You On My Mind" is silky R&B, Stapleton sounding like a natural lover man as he sings, "Ever since there's a morning/ I've been wondering/ How you do that thing you did last night." He pushes toward falsetto on that one, but goes all the way on soulful ballad "Higher." Acoustic "Mountains Of My Mind" is gentle as a mountain stream and evokes memories of Guy Clark, while memorable "The Bottom" has a Willie Nelson feel, as Stapleton finds a way to deepen country's tangling of love—and heartbreak—and alcohol: "The heart holds a memory/ And the memory holds a past/ And the past holds a woman/ At the bottom of a glass/ So I don't have a problem/ If I don't see the bottom." And "Crosswind" is a metaphor-rich driving song ("carrying a heavy load," "picking up speed") that mimics the rhythm of rolling truck wheels for an excellent snapshot of outlaw country: "Trying to keep all the rubber on 65/ Might not make it out alive/ White-knuckling the wheel just to survive/ Caught in the crosswind." The parts are old, but Stapleton makes it feel brand new. © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz

In four albums, Worrisome Heart (2008), My One And Only Thrill (2009), The Absence (2012) and Currency Of Man (2015), Melody Gardot has managed to sneak in between Diana Krall and Norah Jones to also find her place in the selective club of the female singers that are “a bit jazzy but not too much”, this oneiric cast that was so popular during the 50s, and in which she soon made the singularity of her very sensual voice resonate. A voice that she ceaselessly took touring to locations all over the world, and multiple times over at that. And so, there are enough recordings in the cellar to release a live album. However, live discs are rarely a must. There is often something missing, this small impalpable thing, that only those present that night will have kept inside of them… This Live In Europe from Melody Gardot is lucky to have kept, precisely, this “small thing”… The American has probably meticulously built it (apparently, she has listened to more than 300 recordings before making her decision!) by avoiding the true-false best of. “Someday, someone told me, ‘never look back, because there’s no way you’re going back’, she says. It’s nicely said, but if you don’t look back sometimes, it’s hard to see that time is on the verge of catching up to you. We all need to quickly look back into the rear-view mirror from time to time in order to adjust our trajectory. This disc is precisely that, the rear-view mirror of a 1963 Corvette, a postcard of our touring all over Europe. We spent most of our time on the road these last few years, and we’ve taken advantage of this trip to not only get around and get some fresh air but also to try, as much as possible, to get rid of the rules and create something exciting. I’ve been dreaming for years of releasing a live album like this one.” This desire can be felt in every moment of this disc comprised of titles recorded in Paris, Vienna, Bergen, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Barcelona, Lisbon, Zurich and London. Whether she performs her hits Baby I'm A Fool and My One And Only Thrill or covers the classic Over The Rainbow, Melody Gardot offers up a different point of view, but it’s always an open performance. To help her in her introspective trip that is constantly shifting, she is surrounded by her impeccable musicians, discreet but decisive. Drummer Charles Staab, saxophonist Irwin Hall and bass player Sami Minaie are completely in tune with her singing, like some kind of thin hand that you take and only let go of after the last note. Finally, there is this album cover which will lead to extensive press coverage… or not. © MD/Qobuz

Never before has Beyoncé made her fans wait so long between solo albums. Of course, these past six and a half years haven’t been easy for the singer—far from it. However, such levels of anticipation inevitably lead to impatience. After unveiling the house-pop influenced single Break My Soul, which definitely came as a surprise, you’d be forgiven for expecting her new album to be something more along the lines of Drake’s Honestly, Nevermind released a month prior, but it’s nothing of the sort. Renaissance has electronic rhythms at its core, but it’s extremely wide-ranging. Beyoncé flirts with disco-funk on Cuff It, summons huge choirs fit for a queen on Cozy, and includes a new ode to feminist empowerment with Church Girl (which gives an insight into her soul and gospel influences). Perhaps the best musical synthesis on the album is found in the track Virgo’s Groove, reviving the Latin sounds that feature on Move and Heated. With Renaissance, Beyoncé has really upped her pace, creating a highspeed musical freeway that’ll take you to a lot of different places. © Brice Miclet/Qobuz

Writing songs and bringing them to life is usually a two-person job. While hardcore Bob Dylan fans will argue he's the best singer of his songs, many others, including Bettye LaVette, have sung them better. The gritty soul vocalist has built a career interpreting other songwriters and now, after giving her all to collections of tunes by Dylan and the various artists of the British Invasion, LaVette has turned her interpretive gifts to the work of Randall Bramblett. Bramblett had a pair of unjustly ignored solo records in the '70s, but has been on something of a comeback since hooking up with New West records in the early aughts. Comebacks have also become LaVette's specialty. Since cutting her first record in 1962 (which made it onto the R&B charts) at age 16, LaVette has toured with James Brown, made a great record in Muscle Shoals that was shelved for over 35 years, and even had a disco hit. LaVette! was produced by Jay-Vee Records co-founder Steve Jordan (currently Charlie Watts' replacement in the Rolling Stones), who, along with bassist Pino Palladino, anchors a backing band of guitarists Christopher Bruce and Larry Campbell, and keyboardist L. Leon Pendarvis; the album also features an all-assemblage that includes John Mayer, Steve Winwood, Ray Parker, J., James Carter, Jon Batiste and Pedrito Martinez. The basic tracks were recorded at New York City's Electric Lady Studios, with a smattering of additional recordings done elsewhere. (LaVette's vocals were captured in seven other studios.) All this firepower has been put to good use, as LaVette has again turned in another bravura vocal performance.  Whatever she's lost vocally—which truthfully isn't a whole lot—the 77-year-old has gained in brassiness and a deepened understanding of how a song can make people tick. "Mess About It" from Bramblett's 2008 album Now It's Tomorrow falls into a monster groove. The ballad "I'm Not Gonna Waste My Love," benefits from a sensitive pedal steel part by Larry Campbell and the strutting "Don't Get Me Started" plays to LaVette's strengths as a vocalist who will always tell it like it is. "Lazy (And I Know It)" is a talky, slow rant that will let her catch her breath during live performances and lower her no-nonsense attitude by laughing at herself and reveling in its honesty. Another late career triumph.  © Robert Baird/Qobuz

Two years after Honey Moon, Lana del Rey comes back with the much anticipated Lust for Life, her fourth studio album. The voice is magnetic, more sensual than ever; the melodies are solid. If through the eyes of Lana, the world stays affected, slow and pensive, the skillfully chosen featuring tracks offer a few welcome respites. Thereby, the baby doll has invited a few friends to her ball. A$ap Rocky officiates on Groupie Love and Summer Bummer—in which he brings with him Atlanta’s wild youngster, Playboi Carti—The Weeknd on Lust for Life, Jonathan Wilson on Love. Others, and not least among them, have joined the party. Stevie Nicks, Fleetwood Mac’s emblematic singer, pops by on Beautiful People Beautiful Problems, and Sean Ono Lennon on Tomorrow Never Came. 16 tracks, 72 minutes. It’s a mix of genres ranging from hip hop with trap accents to psychedelic, without forgetting ballads on piano, and always a focus on acoustic. It’s a passionate craving for life then, which comes back to the one that has made her queen, Born to Die. It’s almost ironic. Has it gone back full circle? Anyway, this faded color melancholy is as attractive as ever, and its varnish doesn’t only crack to reveal the throes of an idol anymore, but also to tackle a modern America in disarray, between past and future. © MD/Qobuz

A guitarist worshipped by Jimi Hendrix, an insanely good falsetto singer that even Prince looked up to, an author heavily involved in the American civil rights movement and a top-tier songwriter: Curtis Mayfield was a man of many talents. His groovy symphonies helped form solid links between funk, jazz, blues, soul and traditional gospel. After making his name with The Impressions in the 60s, he embarked on a solo career in 1970. This box set named Keep On Keeping On contains the singer’s first four studio albums, each remastered in Hi-Res 24-Bit quality: Curtis (1970), Roots (1971), Back to the World (1973) and Sweet Exorcist (1974). Here, the rhythm'n'blues enjoy a second life, supported by a wah-wah guitar, careful percussion and an always airy string section. Every topic concerned is a mini-tragedy, socially engaged, anchored in traditional gospel music. The masterful arranging of these albums (especially his masterpiece Curtis, and Roots) can be considered rivals to Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On. It is worth mentioning that this 1970-1974 box set does not include the soundtrack to Superfly, Gordon Parks Jr.’s 1972 film which contains the singles Pusherman and Freddie’s Dead. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

Four years after the pinnacle of Stevie Wonder's mid-'70s typhoon of classic albums, Hotter Than July was the proper follow-up to Songs in the Key of Life (his Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants concept record was actually a soundtrack to an obscure movie that fared miserably in theaters). It also found Wonder in a different musical climate than the one that savored his every move from 1972 to 1977. Disco and new wave had slowly crept their way into the mainstream record-buying public, and hindered the once-ample room for socially and politically charged lyrics. However, Wonder naysayed the trends and continues to do what he did best. Solid songwriting, musicianship, and production are evident in the majority of Hotter Than July. Wonder also carries on his tradition of penning songs normally not associated with his trademark sound, from the disco-tinged "All I Do" (originally planned to be released by Tammi Terrell almost ten years previously) to the reggae-influenced smash "Master Blaster (Jammin)," which went straight to the top of the R&B charts. While admittedly there are a few less-than-standard tracks, he closes the album on an amazing high note with one of the most aching ballads in his canon ("Lately") and a touching anthem to civil rights pioneer Martin Luther King, Jr. ("Happy Birthday"). While most definitely not on the same tier as Innervisions or Songs in the Key of Life, Hotter Than July is the portrait of an artist who still had the Midas touch, but stood at the crossroads of an illustrious career.© Rob Theakston /TiVo

Annie Lennox's 2014 covers collection, Nostalgia, finds the former Eurythmics vocalist soulfully interpreting various pop, jazz, and R&B standards. In many ways, Nostalgia works as a companion piece to her similarly inventive 2010 album, the holiday-themed Christmas Cornucopia. As with that album, Lennox eschews predictability by picking an unexpected set of songs and producing them with detailed care. While Nostalgia certainly fits nicely next to any number of other standards albums by veteran pop stars, it does nothing to diminish Lennox's distinctive style. On the contrary, working with producer Mike Stevens, Lennox has crafted an album that brings to mind the sophisticated, contemporary sound of her original studio releases while allowing her to revel in the grand popular song tradition. Moving between evocative piano accompaniment, orchestral numbers, moody synthesizer arrangements, and even some rollicking small-group swing, Lennox takes a theatrical -- yet always personal -- approach to each song, finding endlessly interesting juxtapositions and stylistic combinations to explore. She references Miles Davis' plaintive take on the Porgy and Bess classic "Summertime," tenderly evinces a combination of Billie Holiday and Sade on "Strange Fruit," and draws on both Aretha Franklin and Screamin' Jay Hawkins for "I Put a Spell on You." Elsewhere, tracks like "I Cover the Waterfront" and "Mood Indigo" bring to mind similar recordings from Carole King and Bryan Ferry. Ultimately, even without Nostalgia's impeccable production, in the end it's Lennox's burnished, resonant vocals that steal the focus here, and just like the songs she's picked, their beauty will likely stand the test of time.© Matt Collar /TiVo

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I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got became Sinéad O'Connor's popular breakthrough on the strength of the stunning Prince cover "Nothing Compares 2 U," which topped the pop charts for a month. But even its remarkable intimacy wasn't adequate preparation for the harrowing confessionals that composed the majority of the album. Informed by her stormy relationship with drummer John Reynolds, who fathered O'Connor's first child before the couple broke up, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got lays the singer's psyche startlingly and sometimes uncomfortably bare. The songs mostly address relationships with parents, children, and (especially) lovers, through which O'Connor weaves a stubborn refusal to be defined by anyone but herself. In fact, the album is almost too personal and cathartic to draw the listener in close, since O'Connor projects such turmoil and offers such specific detail. Her confrontational openness makes it easy to overlook O'Connor's musical versatility. Granted, not all of the music is as brilliantly audacious as "I Am Stretched on Your Grave," which marries a Frank O'Connor poem to eerie Celtic melodies and a James Brown "Funky Drummer" sample. But the album plays like a tour de force in its demonstration of everything O'Connor can do: dramatic orchestral ballads, intimate confessionals, catchy pop/rock, driving guitar rock, and protest folk, not to mention the nearly six-minute a cappella title track. What's consistent throughout is the frighteningly strong emotion O'Connor brings to bear on the material, while remaining sensitive to each piece's individual demands. Aside from being a brilliant album in its own right, I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got foreshadowed the rise of deeply introspective female singer/songwriters like Tori Amos and Sarah McLachlan, who were more traditionally feminine and connected with a wider audience. Which takes nothing away from anyone; if anything, it's evidence that, when on top of her game, O'Connor was a singular talent.© Steve Huey /TiVo

Although Eric Clapton has released a bevy of live albums, none of them have ever quite captured the guitarist's raw energy and dazzling virtuosity. The double live album Just One Night may have gotten closer to that elusive goal than most of its predecessors, but it is still lacking in many ways. The most notable difference between Just One Night and Clapton's other live albums is his backing band. Led by guitarist Albert Lee, the group is a collective of accomplished professionals who have managed to keep some grit in their playing. They help push Clapton along, forcing him to spit out crackling solos throughout the album. However, the performances aren't consistent on Just One Night -- there are plenty of dynamic moments like "Double Trouble" and "Rambling on My Mind," but they are weighed down by pedestrian renditions of songs like "All Our Past Times." Nevertheless, more than any other Clapton live album, Just One Night suggests the guitarist's in-concert potential. It's just too bad that the recording didn't occur on a night when he did fulfill all of that potential. © Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

If you're a fan of Grandaddy, you know not to hold your breath. In 2000, The Sophtware Slump—a prescient, lo-fi forecast of humanity's problems with technology—earned Jason Lytle's Modesto, California, band a well-deserved spotlight. But they split up in 2006, months before the release of Just Like the Fambly Cat, over financial frustrations. Grandaddy reunited in 2017 for Last Place, a lyrical account of Lytle's divorce, then stopped touring and recording after the death of longtime bassist Kevin Garcia. Now Grandaddy is back, but only time will tell if it's a fleeting return. Blu Wav's title is a mash-up of bluegrass and new wave, though that doesn't really capture the album's vibe. Inspired by listening to Patti Page's "Tennessee Waltz" while driving across the Nevada desert, Lytle determined to borrow the sweet sway of bluegrass waltz and cocoon it in synth and fuzzy electronics. Waltz time is prominent on the record, as is pedal steel—to poignant effect on "Long As I'm Not the One," which reaches for moments of pomp majesty, and "You're Going to Be Fine and I'm Going to Hell," an alt-country meditation that opens up to a lush ELO-esque dreamscape. Loss and loneliness, constant companions in Lytle's music, are all over the place. "Ducky, Boris and Dart" is a plush farewell. "On a Train or a Bus" is a dreamy, sad-bastard ballad about love gone away. "Jukebox App," an easy-amble waltz, finds Lytle deliriously wallowing in misery and threatening to play "all our songs" after spotting an ex with a new guy. "Silhouette of the flame that died/ Your hair lit up by that neon light/ You and some dude knocking back the shots/ While I'm out here in the parking lot," he sighs/sings, fuzzed-out synth plucking the heartstrings. Paired with steel guitar, "Watercooler" proves Lytle can craft a heart-wrenched melody with all the pop aspirations and gimlet-eyed lyrics of Fountains of Wayne. "And you cry in the bathroom stall," he sets the scene, "Cuz I won't call although I know you hurt." ("Most of my relationships have involved girls who worked in office settings," Lytle has said. "This song is about the end of one, or perhaps a few, of those relationships.) When it all gets to be too much, he returns to the honey-sweet promise of "Cabin In My Mind": "There's a safe and loving glow/ Beyond the curve where you once were." There are several lovely sketches of songs—fleeting thoughts—including spacey "Let's Put This Pinto on the Moon" and satisfying outro "Blu Wav Buh Bye," that leave you wanting more. But as Lytle sings on the beautiful, forward-looking "Nothin' To Lose," "Cut and run toward the sun/ Our work here's done." © Shelly Ridenour/Qobuz

Comebacks are Bob Dylan's thing. Call him irrelevant and he'll summon his demons and write another masterpiece. In the 1990s, one of America's greatest creative engines was drifting. The Don Was-produced Under The Red Sky, Dylan's only collection of new songs in the decade, was met with a collective shrug.  In 1995, there was the death of Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia—a "big brother" Dylan would call him in a eulogy he wrote for Rolling Stone.  But starting in late 1996, Dylan began writing  a record's worth of tunes in his home state of Minnesota that, after an extended recording process in California and Florida, would become Time Out of Mind. Critics and fans who'd consigned him to the scrap heap once again were effusive in their astonishment: Maybe Bobby wasn't done after all! Although the lyrics are often bitter and tinged with mortality, the love song melodies on Time Out of Mind are tender and his delivery often more pleading than angry or accusatory. The album also marked a return to writing and performing original materia, producing some of the best songs of his later career including "Make You Feel My Love," "Love Sick" and "Tryin' to Get To Heaven."As with most Dylan albums—even the masterworks—controversies immediately set in. The recording sessions were disorganized, cacophonous events, with conflicts between the artist and producer Daniel Lanois. Dylan disliked the sound of the final product, ending the partnership with Lanois after two albums. Deeper insight into the making of the album is now possible thanks to the five-disc Fragments volume of the always excellent Bootleg Series. More than just a collection of outtakes and live performances from that era, this set crucially includes a new 2022 mix by Michael H. Brauer that strips out much of Lanois' trademark shimmering production and sonic luster, stripping them back to the kind of mix Dylan supposedly preferred. The most obvious result of the remix is that it becomes even clearer that these melodies, mainstays in his live shows ever since, are truly among his best ever. The often-erratic swirl of instrumentation on the original album—three drummers and two pedal steel guitars playing at once—reorders itself and makes more sense. "Make You Feel My Love," for example, becomes a very clean mix of vocals and the powerhouse keyboard duo of Augie Meyers and Jim Dickinson. Throughout the new mixes, Dylan's vocals (always a matter of taste) become more prominent. For fans of the original album, the three discs of outtakes (one previously released) provide depth and insight and include the near classic "Red River Shore," an unrequited love story unreleased until 2008, and early takes of "Mississippi" which appeared on his next album, Love and Theft. The disc of live performances of the Time Out of Mind material with a five-piece band is especially good, featuring remarkably clear sound and several knockout performances including a near-acoustic "Tryin' To Get To Heaven" from Birmingham, England, an ardent, previously-released "Make You Feel My Love" from Los Angeles. and a roaring take from Buenos Aries of " 'Til I Fell in Love With You." A deeper dive than most of the Bootleg series, Fragments embodies the idea of essential. © Robert Baird/Qobuz

Contractual obligations never sounded so good. When Miles Davis signed his first contract with Prestige Records in 1951, he was a heroin-addicted pariah of the New York jazz scene, barely able to get enough work to fund his habits. That first deal produced a couple of sessions with only one album,The New Sound, which was Davis' debut as a leader, released during that time. The next few years found Davis scrounging for pickup work on the road and in his hometown of St. Louis as his addiction worsened.  While he would record for Prestige here and there during this time, the output was inconsistent in both quality and quantity. However, when he returned to New York in 1954 he was sober and his next stint with Prestige would produce a number of incredible records. The final four of those albums—Workin', Steamin', Relaxin', and Cookin'—were recorded over two breakneck sessions in May and October 1956 in order for Davis to fulfill his obligation to the label and move on to Columbia Records, which had signed him after his triumphant comeback performance at the 1955 Newport Jazz festival. To be sure, Davis was wholly unconcerned with the quality of these sessions, and had directed his group to basically just improvise their way through them as quickly as possible, as if they were playing live. But here's the thing: This group was Davis' first classic quintet, with John Coltrane, Red Garland, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones, and while he was in triumphant comeback mode, the other four players were absolutely hungry and on fire. Combine that with new LP technology that allowed the group's riffing to expand and contract naturally, without the three-minute time constraints of a 78 side, and, well, you accidentally end up with some classic albums. And, even though it was released four years after it was recorded, Workin' may have been the most consequential, standing alongside the contemporaneous work of Art Blakey and Clifford Brown as one of the foundational documents of the hard bop sound that defined mainstream jazz from the mid-'50s through the mid-'60s. © Jason Ferguson/Qobuz

War on her mind? Whatever Beth Hart’s mind-set was in Autumn 2019, the Californian tigress has long shown her feisty side without ever getting caught up in the clichés. With the album War in My Mind, she adds the finishing garnish to her classic rock’n'blues’n’soul cocktail by looking inwards and confronting her inner demons. “More than any record I’ve ever made, on 2019’s War In My Mind I’m more open to being myself on these songs”, she explains. “I’ve come a long way with healing, and I’m comfortable with my darknesses, weirdnesses and things that I’m ashamed on – as well as all the things that make me feel good.” On songs such as Bad Woman Blues, Let It Grow and Woman Down, Hart pours her heart out – without being overly gushy - and uses her voice as an irresistible magnet that pulls every word, every sentence, every chorus. The cherry on the cake is that we find Rob Cavallo behind the console, crafting a slick yet never rushed production. © Clotilde Maréchal/Qobuz

Expanding on the concept of Songs for Young Lovers!, In the Wee Small Hours was a collection of ballads arranged by Nelson Riddle. The first 12" album recorded by Sinatra, Wee Small Hours was more focused and concentrated than his two earlier concept records. It's a blue, melancholy album, built around a spare rhythm section featuring a rhythm guitar, celesta, and Bill Miller's piano, with gently aching strings added every once and a while. Within that melancholy mood is one of Sinatra's most jazz-oriented performances -- he restructures the melody and Miller's playing is bold throughout the record. Where Songs for Young Lovers! emphasized the romantic aspects of the songs, Sinatra sounds like a lonely, broken man on In the Wee Small Hours. Beginning with the newly written title song, the singer goes through a series of standards that are lonely and desolate. In many ways, the album is a personal reflection of the heartbreak of his doomed love affair with actress Ava Gardner, and the standards that he sings form their own story when collected together. Sinatra's voice had deepened and worn to the point where his delivery seems ravished and heartfelt, as if he were living the songs.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

With Your Wilderness, Bruce Soord's the Pineapple Thief shift their musical focus away from their exploration of polished rock so evident on 2012's All the Wars and 2014's Magnolia, and back toward contemporary prog. Drummer Dan Osborne, who made his debut with the band on Magnolia, proved short-lived in his role; he has been replaced by Porcupine Tree/King Crimson kit man Gavin Harrison. Soord also enlisted guests including Supertramp's John Helliwell on clarinet, Caravan's string player/arranger Geoffrey Richardson, Godsticks' guitarist Darran Charles, and a four-voice choir. Harrison's addition can't be overstated. His playing extends the reach of their musicality exponentially. The album title denotes themes of isolation, loneliness, and alienation -- not unfamiliar ones in PT's oeuvre. That said, they've never been explored with such a brooding focus as they are here. The overall textural palette is muted, songs flow in and out of one another without much in the way of dynamic variables, but there's no shortage of excellent music. Opener "In Exile" is haunted by the sound of Steve Kitch's mellotron hovering behind Harrison's popping snare and tom-toms. They're eventually given flight by Charles' blistering guitar breaks. The chorus contains a small but pronounced hook, making it a perfect candidate for a single. It's followed by "No Man's Land." In his best subdued tenor, Soord relates loneliness and separation accompanied by a lovely meld of piano and acoustic guitar. Halfway through, Jon Sykes' massive bassline engages Harrison's rolling tom fills, adding drama that's expanded by electric guitars and keyboards toward a rocking close -- classic Pineapple Thief. "Take Your Shot" commences at midtempo, with gorgeous harmonic guitar layers and drum vamps amid ambient space. A middle-section crescendo fueled by Harrison is reined in by stacked choral voices before spiraling guitars wrestle it all free. The chorale, mellotron, strummed acoustic guitars, and Helliwell's free-floating clarinet fills make "Fend for Yourself" one of the album's high points, and a perfect setup for the nearly ten-minute "The Final Thing on My Mind." Like most things here, it commences sparingly and slowly. The emotional resonance in Soord's delivery and lyrics carry the song's weight. The bass and drums add a platform of tension as strings, choir, and monumental guitar breaks explode it. For all its strength and promise, Your Wilderness isn't perfect. Soord's songs are composed with a deliberately monochromatic dynamic foundation in order to assert the poignant, focused intention in his lyrics. As a result, the instrumental acumen gleams all the brighter. Deliberate or not, the lack of variation creates a series of lovely, sad, but blurry episodes in an extended work rather than strong individual tracks. That said, this is a marked return to form for the Pineapple Thief; it delivers back to fans a sound most have been missing for years.© Thom Jurek /TiVo