Rock/Pop album reviews of the week...

Universal Republic ****

Tori Amos isn't your average singer-songwriter; she's been worrying the edge of mainstream success for nearly 20 years, occasionally pushing into the commercial realm but more often than not sticking rigidly to her decidedly off-kilter principles. Midwinter Gracesis yet another quirky record on yet another major label, and while its seasonal theme might get it some airplay on adventurous radio stations (are there any left, you might ask), you'd be hard-pressed to know exactly where it might end up. Yet the songs - Amos's take on traditional seasonal carols - is often beautiful, risky and totally Tori. A Silent Night With You, Holly, Ivy and Rose, Star of Wonder and Jeanette, Isabellaare singular pieces of hymnal pop, each with a backstory of something not quite right. All is calm, all is bright? Not in Tori's stories. www.toriamos.com TONY CLAYTON-LEA

Download tracks: A Silent Night With You, Star of Wonder

Twinkranes

Spektrumtheatresnakes

Twisted Nerve ****

These Dubliners know their onions when it comes to space-rock – meaning more than just the right names and tunes to drop into conversation. Their debut album is primetime psych-rock lunacy, a heart-stopping barrage of frenzied Krautrock rhythms, extraterrestrial synth strops, technicoloured guitars and monster, monster grooves. The latter are a fine example of Twinkranes' musical prowess and of how they balance restraint with a propulsive desire to hard-nose their way down the highway. Instead of finding themselves stuck in some of energetic but endless loop like other Neu! and Silver Apples' disciples, tracks such as Witch Huntand The Charmershow how the 'Kranes rely on hypnotic allure, swaggering panache and a ruthless adherence to the plan to keep them from stylistic dead-ends. To infinity and beyond. www.myspace.com/twinkranes JIM CARROLL

Download tracks: The Charmer, Witch Hunt

Old Ghosts

Slow Loris ***

The institutional name might suggest a team of crack musicians at work, but the songs on Old Ghosts are the one-man musings of Alex Synge. After stints in The Dewoh and Toothsticks, Synge has gravitated towards electronic- tinged scores without completely eschewing traditional instruments. Traces of Johan Johansson's compositions flit through Tangled Hair, but alternating guitars and electronics evoke the work of Chequerboard.

The album is released on Steve Fanagan's Slow Loris, and the packaging – hand- made and stenciled – is typical of the Dublin label. From the chilly vibrato of The Pull of the Earthto the Amiina-influenced The Gift,Synge shows huge promise as a composer. Old Ghosts, with its instrumental atmospherics, is suitably named, and this debut is one of 2009's more interesting Irish releases. www.myspace.com/lazyinfants SINÉAD GLEESON

Download Tracks: Tangled Hair, Whiskey Blanket

Apse

Climb Up

ATP Recordings ***

Apse fans have had to be patient. When the band’s debut album, a nocturnal saga six years in the making, was rereleased to wider audiences last year, it cracked open one of the most limited genres in music: the crescendo-building dynamic of post-rock. To Apse’s small but reverential following, this was old news. The band, meanwhile, had reshuffled their line-up and begun reinventing themselves in the relative isolation of Cape Cod.

The resulting Climb Upshowcases an innovative degree of variety, but the warmth and cohesion of previous releases are missing, leaving the listener straining for some semblance of focus. As the T-Rex-like thrust of Closurebrings things to an end, there's no doubt that this is the closest Apse have sounded to conventional rock, but ultimately it's an area they don't excel in with quite the same conviction. www.myspace.com/apse CIAN TRAYNOR

Download tracks: Closure, The Age

Noelie McDonnell

No Label ***

Noelie McDonnell's third CD is propelled by Americana producers Mark Addison and Don Kerr (veteran of Ron Sexsmith), and it certainly conjures wide-open vistas in the spit-polished balladry of the opening Long Night. McDonnell is at his best when swaddled by layered keyboards, although his voice sounds more comfortable in its own skin since his last (self- titled) album in 2006. It's now a more weather-beaten, lived-in beast that fares better in the cold light of bare guitar and vocals. Lyrically, McDonnell has widened his horizons as well, eking out universal themes from tales of love and hurt with more clarity than before. A musical journey that's still cleaving to the road well travelled, but with slivers of fresh-thinking goading him down the more compelling side streets. www.noeliemcdonnell.com SIOBHÁN LONG

Download tracks: Never Knew You, Long Night

Stereophonics

Mercury **

Stereophonics' seventh album may be named after a second World War slogan designed to keep the upper lips of British civilians sufficiently stiffened, but it could also describe their career. Through the high points (their first two albums) and the low (virtually everything else), Kelly Jones and co have steadfastly kept their heads down and churned out stadium-filling tune after stadium-filling tune, with nary a regard for innovation. This new album provides more of the same, although there are several thankful and unexpected diversions. The drum/synth beat of Beerbottleforgoes the dominant stodgy pub-rock sound, cleverly adding instrumentation in a steady trickle, while Troubleand Innocentpilfer the best bits of swinging '60s jangly pop clatter. Overall, though, it's a lacklustre exercise in how to bore already jaded listeners. Keep calm? We're practically comatose. www.stereophonics.com LAUREN MURPHY

Download tracks: Beerbottle, Trouble

Epic

**

The adage that winning isn't everything is one that JLS, last year's X Factorrunners-up, are all too familiar with. The London boyband are primed to become the next urban/pop/soul crossover sensations, but don't get too excited. True, the quartet have good looks, slick dance moves, über-smooth voices, trendy haircuts and even trendier footwear. What they don't have is a whole lot of soul or sincerity. Most of these songs hit the middle-ground between Boyz II Men and Ne-Yo – smoochy love songs crossed with r'n'b floorfillers – but desperately lack creativity . Beat Againand Privateare about the most appealing tracks on offer, but album itself about three songs too long, and occasionally – as heard on the soppy Close to You– infuriatingly bland. www.jlsofficial.com LAUREN MURPHY

Download tracks: Beat Again, Private