The textures throughout are stunning, and the resonance and reverberation are captured with real skill—this is a beautifully engineered record, not just a gimmick with a good story. What next—a bishop or dean DJing the gospel reading to a four-on-the-floor beat? Whatever it takes to draw new audiences into our cathedrals and abbeys, let's try it. I love its difference. I love its challenging nature. I love the disco beat. And for a critic over 60, I thoroughly enjoyed every irreverent, reverberating minute of it. Try it—and dare yourself to like it.

Perhaps the biggest surprise arrives with Faded Blue Jeans, featuring Josh Homme. It's an unlikely pairing that somehow makes complete sense, with Homme's gravelly vocals adding a rugged edge to a song that blurs the boundaries between country, blues and rock. Their chemistry is effortless, and the result is one of the album's most memorable collaborations

There is a particular pleasure in returning to a recording again and again as a reviewer and finding that it yields something new each time, while one thing remains constant. With this latest Chandos disc from Elena Urioste and Tom Poster, that constant is the sheer beauty of the playing: the balance between soloist and accompanist is judged to perfection, and the engineers have done what Chandos so often manages, capturing the sound with such transparency that the listener seems to be eavesdropping on the duo rather than hearing a recording at all. It is sublime, moving and endlessly captivating.

Having earned a reputation as one of Australia's most electrifying new acts, Headwreck already have their sights set on world domination.

With the release of their moving duet version of Real Man, MORGXN and JB Somers have transformed a deeply personal song into a powerful conversation about masculinity, vulnerability, faith, and identity. Originally written from Somers' experience growing up as a pastor's kid in Alabama, the track takes on new resonance with MORGXN's soaring vocals and shared perspective.

American-Armenian art-rap collective Samuum continue to push boundaries with their striking new single, Coffee Cup Reading (Yaman, Pt.2), a genre-blurring release that fuses Middle Eastern influences with rap, punk and rave energy.

Few debut artists arrive with as much goodwill as Sienna Spiro. Ever since her powerhouse covers began circulating online, comparisons to Adele and Amy Winehouse have followed her at every turn. While those labels always felt premature, they were understandable: Spiro possesses one of the most naturally commanding voices to emerge from British pop in years. The Visitor confirms that beyond any doubt. What it doesn't quite confirm is whether she has the songs to match.

Over the last 32 years Beverley Knight has become a stalwart of the British music industry. Boasting one of the finest vocals out there, she has traversed genres, won accolades on the West End Stage and even proved a loveable presence on a couple of television panels.

Your new single Curious is about modern dating. Is the song written from personal experience? Yes, absolutely. However, it would be incorrect to say the song is written about one particular person but more a series of experiences. We've all experienced relationships, romantic or otherwise, that feel very one-sided.

That opening 'O Fortuna' is electrifying — dynamics are observed with real precision rather than mere brute force. Anyone of a certain age will recall its rather unlikely second life soundtracking a men's aftershave advert in the 1970s and '80s, which says something about how a single thrilling fragment can eclipse a far richer whole in the popular imagination. It's a pattern that feels uncomfortably familiar in other walks of life too – not least, dare I say, in the way British politics now rewards the soundbite over substance. Orff's wheel of fortune deserves more than fifteen seconds of fame.