Aldous Harding: Train on the Island review – even whimsy-resistant listeners will love these lucid, luminous songs

Lyrics about naked owls and eating rocks might be irksome to some – but there’s no denying that the alt-rocker’s fifth album is beguiling, tightly written and richly melodic

Rosalía review – ribcage-rattling riot is one of the boldest, most highbrow arena shows in pop history

The ambition of 2025 album Lux is scaled up even bigger by the Catalan megastar, delivered with operatic vocals and en pointe ballet moves as well as funny asides and glasses of wine

Kneecap: Fenian review – their new album is terrific, triumphant yet tortured

With strong words for Keir Starmer, the Irish rave-rap trio remain unbowed by the controversy around them – and yet this is a more ruminative record than you might expect

Kacey Musgraves: Middle of Nowhere review – weary, rootsy and wry, it’s her richest album since Golden Hour

After two underwhelming pop-leaning records, the country star gets back to basics on this sparsely produced gem filled with wit and hard-won lessons

Ne-Yo and Akon review – joyous joint tour is like time-travelling to a messy night out in 2010

From So Sick to Smack That, this double-headliner provides major millennial nostalgia – but goes to show how varied their respective careers were at their peak

Anohni review – masterful songbook reinventions are an out-of-body experience

Accompanied by a virtuosic band and powered by her operatic voice, Anohni is as good as Nina Simone at interpreting songs – and her own catalogue proves equally malleable yet strong

Carla dal Forno: Confession review – spartan, sunlit post-punk strikingly contrasts the desperation of desire

The Australian songwriter’s fourth album exists in the captivating chasm between the coolness of her music and the unrepentant obsession of the crush it explores

Olivia Dean review – soul-pop superstar shimmies into a classy and commanding first arena tour

The glam set design, gleaming brass and Motown moves are knowingly retro, but Dean’s performance is immediate, vulnerable and natural – the work of a singular artist

Noah Kahan: The Great Divide review – Stick Season turns Groundhog Day in stadium folkie’s endless autumn

All but repeating the formula of his breakout album, Kahan seems torn between whether success is sustainable or even repeatable on songs defiantly rooted in small-town life

Madonna: I Feel So Free review – album teaser offers hypnotic glimpse of a return to her club scene roots

The ‘Queen of Pop’ conjures the heady vibes of a small hours dancefloor with this exceptionally crafted single

Sean Shibe: Vesper album review – ever-imaginative guitar virtuoso brings mind-expanding flights of fancy

This thoughtfully curated programme of work by three British composers explores the guitar’s expressive potential, and new arrangements of Harrison Birtwistle’s piano originals are a revelation

The Flying Dutchman review – delusion, torment and menace in detailed and finely sung Wagner

Jack Furness’s unconventional staging for Welsh National Opera sees the orchestra play up a storm under Tomáš Hanus in Wagner’s legend of the man condemned to sail the oceans for eternity

Olivia Rodrigo: Drop Dead review – a maximalist rush of infatuation that’s just a bauble short of festive

On this giddy first taste of the US pop star’s third album, she sets aside her rock bona fides to revel in the opulent flush of a crush-come-true. But why does it seem so doomed?

Jessie Ware: Superbloom review – Table Manners host dishes up more disco – but where are the bangers?

The podcaster’s third sequin-festooned album in a row is her most retro, with its slightly cringe moments balanced by unerring quality control and opulent arrangements

Massive Attack: Boots on the Ground (ft Tom Waits) review – first single in a decade is a dark hymn for our times

Unsettling breathing, arrhythmic clatter, gloomy piano and military snares underpin a Beefheartian portrayal of a boorish warmonger on the band’s ominous return