Back catalogue: Pop

Review: Applying what we're all thinking in February 2021 to a kind of Netflix & Chill parody, Fickle Friends are definitely the most thematically fitting band of the month. The Brighton outfit join a long and esteemed list of British pop groups that manage to marry scathing, sarcasm, and bare-boned honesty with sweetness, beauty and universality. Providing you like those keyboards with a No.1-style glitter coating, of course.

Opening on biggest of the lot, 'What A Time', the troupe opt to get the most inescapably positive out of the way first before rolling out real variety. '92' is an icy cool, emotionally scarred (or scarring?) ballad, 'Million' is a stepping, rave-rock workout, with 'IRL' apparently made for sunnier times than the current UK winter, and finale 'Finish Line' closing out on a calming and uplifting tone that's not a million miles away from what some would describe as Balearic chill.

Review: Now firmly in "pop icon" territory after a 15-year career full of successes and commercial highs, Paloma Faith has earned the opportunity to do whatever the hell she likes musically. So, on her sixth album and first for four years, she delivers a set of deeply personal, often stirring pop songs whose lyrics form a narrative of coming back from messy relationship build-ups. Beginning with the Chase & Status produced 'Pressure' featuring Kojey Radical - a sub-heavy slab of punchy post hip-hop heaviness - Faith and lead producer Martin Wave confidently stride between empowering acoustic-meets-electronic dance-pop ('How You Leave a Man'), gospel-influenced anthems-in-the-making ('Bad Woman') and the kind of emphatic electronic pop that the artist has always done so well.

Review: The famously fun loving and colourful pop queen Paloma Faith shows a whole new life with her latest album The Glorification Of Sadness. As the title suggests, it is a captivating exploration of melancholy transformed into artistry with her signature soulful vocals and emotive delivery from and centre. They find Faith navigate themes of heartbreak and resilience with raw honesty and theatrical flair as each track unfurls like a cinematic journey adorned with lush orchestration and poignant lyricism. It's an album of bittersweet beauty. From the haunting to the empowering, always with a poignant narrative that celebrates the complexities of human emotion.

Review: It had been five years since fans had received any new, original material from Marianne Faithful by the time Vagabond Ways landed, and it's safe to say the record was worth the wait. Containing both her own work, and re-interpretations of songs by the likes of Roger Waters, Elton John, and Leonard Cohen, if the track list is impressive then the delivery is astounding.

Continuing in her neo-cabaret persona, Vagabond Ways is a theatrical and dramatic piece of work to say the least. Packed with emotion and stage presence, to call this rock would be reductive. More a journey into a kind of surreal, experimental pop realm that's filled with mystery, beauty, and unease, this is an excellent example of how a record can invoke incredibly vivid imagery of your own devising.

Review: Finneas's Blood Harmony album was originally reals din 2019 and now gets a special deluxe treatment that spreads it across two slabs of blue wax with an original insert. It also includes a new version of 'Let's Fall in Love for the Night' entitled 'Let's Fall in Love for the Night (1964)' and 2018 single 'Break My Heart Again.' The album rather underperformed at first but has since grown in popularity with its contemporary pop production and Finneas's accessible lyrics resonating with fans old and new. 'I Lost a Friend' is a strong electropop ballad with minimal bass guitar, piano and drums under layered harmonies and is archetypal of this record's sound.

Review: Florence Welch's globe-straddlingly successful epic-pop project has made its name largely through no-holds-barred emotion and rapturous melodrama, and although this third album has largely been trumpeted as a return to a more stripped-down and less over-the-top approach, long-term fans of the couture-clad siren needn't worry too much. 'How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful' remains true to her heart-on-sleeve approach and the cinematic splendour she's made her trademark. Crucially, even beneath the orchestral arrangements and the life-or-death vocal declamations, the songs on this record shone through as memorable and emotive enough to withstand the level of ornamentation around them, and fit to have Florence's fearsome pipes send them skyward.

Review: Frankie Goes To Hollywood - was there ever a group who created such a phenomenon and fell apart so soon afterwards? The seismic shockwave created by 'Relax' resounds eternally through pop culture, from the provocative video to the throbbing proto house production. Alas, the success dissolved the band before they could build on their undeniable talent, but there's still a rich trove of classic songs and more than enough alternative mixes to fill out this definitive three-disc collection. Alongside the hits there are tunes which will be enlightening even to long time devotees of the group.

Review: 2006 was a very different time in rock 'n' roll. We'd cast off the Britpop and nu metal of the previous century's finale and millennium turn, and things had moved onto sounds that were far more sentimental, sometimes self-pitying and always hyper-emotional. This was true both of the rise of emo and hardcore resurgence, and the more chart (and advert)-friendly stuff coming from the likes of Keane and Coldplay. Over in the US, The Fray were looking to secure membership to that Closer-soundtrack worthy club and on their debut LP made a strong case for it. How To Save A Life features a number of powerful tracks, from the titular lead single to the piano-vocal showstopper, 'Hundred'. Moving enough to become the best selling digital album of all time, at the time (only trumped by Eminem's Recovery in 2010), here it is in physical form.

Review: Fred Again's latest album Actual Life 3: January 1 - September 9 2022 is the third installment in a series of albums by the British artist which has received positive reviews from music critics and been praised for its experimental sound and emotional depth. The LP features songs that document his personal experiences and thoughts over a period of time. His musical style can be described as a blend of electronic, dance and pop with introspective and emotive lyrics, often incorporating samples from various sources, including personal recordings to create a unique and eclectic sound. The album features collaborations with various artists, such as Kieren Hebden, Jamie XX and Skrillex, among others.

Review: Is there any producer who has broken through as spectacular and made such an impressive mark in the last year than British producer Fred Gibson aka Fred Again? As well as producing plenty of high profile projects for other artists, his own diary-like albums have brought plenty of freshness to dance music. This was the first of them, back in April 2021, at the time an outlet for him to explore "a year of finding love and mourning its loss".

Review: Like many of us, Fred Again keeps a diary. But rather than writing in a journal, pager or Notes app, his diary takes the unusual form of an intensely personal album series, 'Actual Life'. The second instillment in the series hears him once again weave through Londonized R&B, future garage and pop-electronic, charting an 8-month period looking into an intensely difficult period of his life, in which the artist was confronted with a complex case of grief.

Review: Fred Again seems to be one of the most talked about artists of the year. Part of that centers around the astonishing Boiler Room set he served up, but also plenty of credit is due for the music he makes. A lot of that is summed up here on Actual Life 3, the third installment of his series after the previous two back in 2021 and recent collabs with the likes of Swedish House Mafia and Future. It shows off his mastery of a range of different sounds and scenes across 13 fun and fresh tunes that are backed with emotive beats and catchy hooks as well as some standout vocals.

Review: UMR reissue Nelly Furtado's third studio album Loose, notable for its stature as one of the foremost pop collisions between a doe-eyed starlet and the 21st-Century production mastermind, Timbaland (this time in cahoots with his protege Danja). An all-out genre tour, this is the Furtado record responsible for such r&b, reggaeton and funk-inflected ditties as 'Promiscuous', 'Say It Right' and 'Maneater', enduring additions to her everlasting canon.