In Brief

You won’t find a single dreamy texture here that hasn’t already been pioneered by a variety of British outfits, from Cocteau Twins to Portishead. And yet the mournful piano lines, retro orchestral passages and epic air of nocturnal doom are so powerful that you’re likely to disregard the occasional trip-hop cliches and embrace the sheer romanticism of it all. The album’s sophisticated orchestrations are dutifully cool, but its three vocalists are red-hot.

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Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent). The albums are already released unless otherwise noted.