The Long Lost - The Long Lost

01. The Art Of Kissing 

02. Amiss 

03. Sibilance 

04. Overmuch 

05. Past Perfect 

06. Ballroom Dance Club 

07. Siren Song 

08. Colour 

09. Regrets Only 

10. Cat Fancy 

11. Wobegone 

12. Finders Keepers 

13. Domestics 

14. Awash

The Long Lost consists of high-school-sweethearts turned husband-&-wife Alfred (a.k.a. Daedelus) and Laura Darlington. Both hail from Santa Monica, California, where they met in the high school orchestra - he on double-bass and she on flute - and became partners in the ballroom dance club.

After 4 years apart, they formed The Long Lost during a renewed courtship in 1998. In contrast to the avant-electronics and hip-hop aesthetics of Alfred’s music as Daedelus, The Long Lost is a union of two songwriters & producers with a penchant for sad sounds and delicate, electro-acoustic melodies. These two hopeless romantics make psychedelic lullabies for lovers and the lovelorn.

A fascinating and utterly individual project, The Long Lost take the subject of love away from the cliches and hackneyed wailing of the mainstream and reconnect it to those strange and uncontrollable emotions we’re all so in thrall to...www.plugonemag.com

Fiction Family - Fiction Family

1. When She’s Near 

2. Out Of Order 

3. Not Sure 

4. Betrayal 

5. Elements Combined 

6. War In My Blood 

7. Throw It Away 

8. Closer Than You Think 

9. Please Don’t Call It Love 

10. Mostly Prove Me Wrong 

11. We Ride

12. Look For Me Baby

SEAN WATKINS ALWAYS SEEMED to be the underdog of his bluegrass trio, Nickel Creek: His vocals and guitar-playing, though solid, never attracted the instant attention garnered by the honey-sweet vocals of sister Sara and the fiery mandolin melodies of Chris Thile. Instead of using Nickel Creek's indefinite hiatus to record a fourth solo album, Sean joined forces with Switchfoot's Jon Foreman on the project Fiction Family.

Despite Fiction Family's collaborative nature, its acoustic melodies and sweet vocal harmonies more closely resemble Nickel Creek's sound than Switchfoot's passionate alterna-rock. The self-titled debut is more cohesive than one would expect from a compilation of ideas swapped while each band was touring, but all those months on the road certainly influence the tone of the album. "Betrayal" and "Not Sure" convey a sense of longing and heartbreak; that air of wistfulness ties the songs on this album together. Watkins and Foreman switch vocal duties, but it isn't always immediately apparent (nor truly important) who's at the lead microphone. The resulting sweet harmonies make "Fiction Family" a solid set of near-duets from two diverse, accomplished musicians...www.washingtonpost.com

Casiotone For The Painfully Alone - Advance Base Battery Life

1. Old Panda Days (w/ Nick Krgovich)
2. Lesley Gore On The T.A.M.I. Show (version)
3. White Corolla
4. White On White
5. Holly Hobby
6. Lonesome New Mexican Nights
7. The Only Way To Cry
8. It's A Crime
9. Missoula
10. Hot Boyz (w/ Dear Nora)
11. Born In The U.S.A. (w/ Concern)
12. Streets Of Philadelphia (w/ Concern)
13. Graceland
14. Sunday St
15. Voice Of The Hospital

Advance Base Battery Life is a compilation of singles and rarities from Owen Ashworth's Casiotone for the Painfully Alone moniker. It collects rare songs from his decade+ long career, and features guests Concern and Dear Nora...www.prefixmag.com

Lily Allen - It's Not Me, It's You

01. Everyone's At It  

02. The Fear 

03. Not Fair  

04. 22  

05. I Could Say 

06. Back To The Start  

07. Never Gonna Happen  

08. Fuck You  

09. Who'd Have Known  

10. Chinese  

11. Him  

12. He Wasn't There 

Bigger, brighter and more danceable than predecessor Alright, Still, this autobiographical album is chock-full of double standards, crashing generalisations, and taunts, giving a handy update on Lily's state of mind.

Opener Everyone's At It is a wonderful ball of contradiction. Pointing the finger at everyone, from those taking sleeping pills to those on crack, Lily admits that she's been there. Now, bored with all-nighters, it's those still awake that she's hectoring. Musically, it's a different story, with more celebratory old-skool ''voot-voots'' than you can shake an MDMA fuelled glow stick at.

Fear addresses London-Paper-Lily, who buys a beach in Jamaica, supports Kylie at a private party in Dubai, diets, and has a shoe closet the size of Brazil. Eminently danceable and slightly trancey, she apologises for her avarice, confidently blaming the system.

Musical rip-offs are still at large: Him sees Lily wondering about God (''His favourite band is Creedence Clearwater Revival''), to a backing track referencing Nico's These Days, while George Bush tribute, Fuck You, trips along to the Carpenters' Close To You piano. 

The ugly side of the album comes out in Not Fair, a pseudo country track which could give Victoria Wood a run for her money in comedy bad sex songs. Likewise, accordion-fuelled Never Gonna Happen glorifies using someone who loves her for sex.

22 is a unkind ditty about pretty women who find that, nearing 30 and single, they are worthless to society, leaving you wondering if Lily Allen is an unreconstructed male in a young woman's body.

He Wasn't There is a track about her dad's lack of parental responsibility, while calling him her hero. And Chinese appears to address her mother, who's always there for her, yet, ''I know it doesn't seem so fair but I'll send you a postcard when I get there''.

And therein lies the difficulty: the album's a piece of exquisitely produced, loveable pop, perhaps down to co-writer and producer Greg Kurstin of addictively catchy duo, The Bird And The Bee. But it would be rather lovely to be able to listen without the clattering opinions of this complex character...www.bbc.co.uk