TAME IMPALA - THE SLOW RUSH

After five years Tame Impala are back with their fourth studio album, which caters for all. It's taken a decade, but it seems that Kevin Parker is now settled in his role as psychedelic rock guru.

Back in 2010 the group's debut InnerSpeaker dropped - poppy tunes with punchy guitar riffs and just a tickle of synth to soften the edges. Five years later and album number three, Currents, showed clear prog-rock influence coming in to lengthen the tracks and slow things way down.

The band's latest offering, The Slow Rush, gives a bit of everything.

Mainstream pop vibes remain, with songs like Borderline and Lost In Yesterday providing listeners with something to nod and sing along to, but are interspersed with more ethereal tunes.

In these the synth is laid on thick, creating heavy electronic soundscapes which both soothe and melt the mind. For those new to the band, they may come across a little self-indulgent and require some patience, but for more regular listeners it's a really nice balance.

As an album, TSR might not blow your socks right off, but it's a completely solid return for Tame Impala, and one that's well worth a listen - or two. 7/10

LA ROUX - SUPERVISION

Elly Jackson has got her groove back.

The formerly flame-haired frontwoman of pop duo La Roux returns with her most personal album yet - set to low-slung rhythms reminiscent of George Michael and Stevie Wonder.

Supervision comes after a period of intense soul-searching for the singer, whose piercing voice rocketed In For The Kill to the top of the charts just four days after her 21st birthday. In the decade since, she clashed with her label and split with her producer Ben Langmaid. Those quarrels colour the album but despite this, Supervision is a wildly optimistic ride.

Jackson's third outing under the moniker sees her exploring lower tempos and brighter, more textured musical palettes - those trademark synths are mostly absent.

Automatic Driver is full of vocal runs that burst forth in colour while Otherside features a hip-swinging rhythm that owes much to early disco.

La Roux's early years produced a flurry of hits. Supervision is unlikely to do the same but that is no bad thing. It's album that stands up on its own. 8/10

SUMMER CAMP - ROMANTIC COMEDY

Love is in the air for married couple Elizabeth Sankey and Jeremy Walmsley of indie-pop band Summer Camp, as they return with their first album in five years. Or at least movie love, as Sankey sings on Barefoot In The Park: "I don't care if it's not real, I just can't help the way I feel... I wanna get married in a big white dress as the credits roll."

The album is a companion piece to Sankey's film of the same name, an exploration of the romantic comedy genre, and examines the distance between the cliches of kissing in the rain on London streets, and the more prosaic reality.

In single The Ugly Truth Sankey sings "if we never met it wouldn't bother me, but it feels alright" and album closer Run asks if "there must be something beyond this".

With nods to Motown and 1960s girl groups like The Shangri-Las, this is the perfect bittersweet romantic present. 8/10

HUEY LEWIS AND THE NEWS - WEATHER

Huey Lewis has never been cool, but you don't get to sell 30 million albums without some serious talent. Still, it's hard to imagine there are many people waiting with bated breath for his first album of original music since 2001 (there was a covers set in 2010).

Weather opens promisingly with While We're Young, which mixes some ska touches to Lewis's usual rock, pop and soul sounds. But the next track, Her Love Is Killin' Me, is Lewis-by-numbers and just sounds dated.

Remind Me Why I Love You Again is an upbeat pop/soul song, and it's good, but it's not a patch on his 1980s classics The Power Of Love and Do You Believe In Love.

With only seven songs and a 26-minute running time, Weather is too short to outstay its welcome, but it's also not good enough to make you immediately press play again. 5/10

NATHANIEL RATELIFF - AND IT'S STILL ALRIGHT

A twin elegy for the end of Nathaniel Rateliff's marriage and the death of his longtime producer Richard Swift, the Night Sweats frontman's third solo album is a bruised but occasionally hopeful set.

The album is released on Valentine's Day, yet What A Drag and Kissing Our Friends mark a firm farewell to his wife while the hard-hitting You Need Me was written while they were still married - "I find out what I'm really thinking when I put it down in a song", Rateliff has admitted.

Night Sweats guitarist Luke Mossman features among a cast of backing musicians also including DeVotchKa's Tom Hagerman, while drummer Patrick Meese co-produced - in Swift's old studio in Oregon, with his presence never far from the album and its lyrics.

The title track's "bury your friends" line and, in particular, the impossibly raw closer Rush On see Rateliff pay emotional tribute to a friend who continues to shape his work. 6/10