A God-awful Small Affair

2015's FROOT was Marina Diamandis' best album yet. The youngest of her fans will firmly attest of course that it was 2012's Electra Heart because of it's memorable hits, but outside of those it was a hollow affair full of meaningless fodder and cheap pop. Her debut, The Family Jewels , had her best singles, anyway, so it's a losing battle. But no - FROOT was a fully-realised, thematic hit and packed to the brim with unpredictable fun. There is, then, a sense of dread when it takes four years to follow it up and the singer has ostensibly ditched the "and the Diamonds" from her stage name. She's black and white, she's not wearing much make-up and she's quite literally stripped bare. Last year's guest spot on Clean Bandit's Baby may have given fans some hope that she hasn't outgrown pop (but not much, as it was a pretty irritating single) but... that hope may very rapidly have been quashed with her fourth LP. 16 tracks of

Despite becoming something of a meme in lieu of his monster hit Take Me to Church - somehow all the way back in 2013 now - the stock of Hozier is surprisingly high. This record managed to hit the #1 spot on America's Billboard 200, and in his native Ireland of course. And yet... the critics have turned. A string of EPs filled in the gaps between this and his eponymous 2014 debut, but it seems the dreaded task of having to follow up one of the biggest hits of the decade has been fulfilled by chucking everything at this: a gospel, marching drums and only Mavis Bloody Staples are drafted in. Mavis lends her inimitable voice to 'Nina Cried Power', a track that follows one of those aforementioned EPs and was presumably deemed too good to not put on an actual LP. Understandably so, as it's a dramatic, vocal showcase that is full of indebted admiration to the music giants it mentions; a real celebration of music. That same vibe is dialed down a little but still prese