Rock

Manic Street Preachers: Journal For Plague Lovers (Sony)

Forget any recommendations for record of this week. This will stand up as one of the records of the year.

Journal… is the album that Manics fans have been waiting for since the disappearance of Richie Edwards in the mid 1990s. It features 13 new tracks, all showcasing lyrics left by the intellectually peerless wordsmith.

His brilliant use of language and imagery, allied with incisive observations on celebrity, consumerism and dysmorphia make this a truly stunning work. *****

Riceboy Sleeps

Alternative
Jon Thor Birgisson & Alex Somers: Riceboy Sleeps (Parlaphone)

Music officiandos will instantly recognise Jon Thor as the man whose haunting falsetto vocals and other-worldly presence illuminate the elegiac work of the marvellous Sigur Ros.

He has, with his partner Alex Somers, been staging exhibitions for three years. This is the musical aspect of that collaboration and it’s a profound, almost-spiritual piece of life-affirming music.

Riceboy. . . is contemplative, mesmeric, unconstrained ambient music that has the intoxicating flow of early Brian Eno. ****

Alternative

Leona Naess: Thirteens (Polydor)

The talented chanteuse who was a one-time paramour of Ryan Adams offers her most personal work to date on this fourth album.

It follows the devastating death of her father in a climbing accident in South Africa and the break-up of her relationship with rock ‘n’ roll troubadour Adams.

These songs are intensely personal though there are happier moments, reflecting Naess’s indomitable and mischievous nature. The rabble-rousing Leave Your Boyfriends . . .  is a highlight. ****