Momus

"After Aktor and Quietism last year, the Scotsman is in top form, churning out albums that are stunning in their intelligence and pop refinement. If Mannequin is so good, it's for three main reasons. The first is that Momus has returned from his experiments that saw him playing around with AI or composing K-pop songs. We welcome with delight his return to the basics of a pure and perfect pop characterised by a certain economy of means, a DIY ethos — a synth-pop hodgepodge that suits him perfectly. Like Lawrence of Felt or Daniel Treacy of the TVPs (late period), Momus is never better than when he displays a certain sonic modesty that gives his cobbled-together, rickety songs the allure of miniature jewels.

Paradoxically, Mannequin is dark and resolutely despairing, but also an exercise in escape and divination. The miracle lies in this ability to transcend torment through naiveté, to overcome aggression through song, to annihilate evil through beauty. It could be achieved through excessive intellectualisation, but that's not the case here. A three-year-old would realize that Momus redeems the ills of our time by pushing his songs into and against the world, amidst general indifference. Listening to him gives a thrill of pleasure and relief, the feeling that you've made your day and that everything could be better. Mannequin has the grace of the musicians who played piano on the deck of the Titanic." - Benjamin Berton