Music reviews

Jane’s Addiction – Alive at 25 – Ritual de lo Habitual: 1990’s Ritual De Lo Habitual set Jane’s Addiction apart from their contemporaries, soundomg other-worldly, exotic, rocking, romantic and nostalgic at the same time. Alive At 25 – Ritual De Lo Habitual captures the band on the last night of their Sterling Spoon Anniversary Tour at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre in California. Energy levels are still as high as they once were, the gear-shifting adrenaline rush of Stop kicks the doors open, and the dog-barking, cartoon brilliance of of Been Caught Stealing still shines. Perry Farrell comes across like a Vegas showbiz pro, but it’s Dave Navarro’s brilliance on guitar that still marks Jane’s as a band apart. Three Days sounds as majestic as it did 25 years ago and this live revisitation does a masterpiece justice. Colm McCrory

Steve Adey – Do Me a Kindness: Steve Adey’s third studio album is one of this year’s most innovative releases. Do Me A Kindness may be an album of covers, in which the Edinburgh-based singer-songwriter revisits an eclectic range of tracks such as Morrissey’s Everyday Is Like Sunday and Over by Portishead, but it’s a refreshing ode to all. Recorded in a 19th century church using mostly vintage equipment, you can feel and hear the reverberations in the emotionally charged, beautifully revitalised tracks. Try not to be moved by Adey’s rich vocals. Try not to be sucked into his honest renditions of songs you already likely know and love.Standouts include Adey’s haunting version of Bob Dylan’s I Want You, and his musical adaptation of Hermann Hesse poem How Heavy The Days. A unique and resounding effort. Lucy Mapstone

Camille – Oui:amille is well known in her native France for making music with a distinctly avant-garde flavour, but has enough pop leanings tomake her work also suitable for perfume adverts and collaborations with lounge-pop outfit Nouvelle Vague. Oui sees her pitched somewhere between a French Bjork and a French Kate Bush. Minimalist soundscapes dominate, centred on thunderous drums (a Camille staple) and faintly menacing synths. Front and centre is her voice, which goes from a sultry whisper to demented shriek – often within the space of a single song.

Camille has described the album as “politically charged”, but playful and inspired by her experiences of motherhood. this ethereal mix of drums, synths, choirs, coughs, gasps and whispers is enchanting. James Robinson

Soccer Mommy – Collection: Sophie Allison is a 19-year-old from Nashville who uprooted to New York almost two years ago, packing away in her suitcase the Soccer Mommy alias and a bundle of sketchy requiems to her teens. Collection, formed of full-band re-recordings of early releases and fresh material, is both a farewell to Allison’s formative years and telling evidence of her arrival as a songwriter not only to watch out for but to enjoy in the present. On the single and highlight Out Worn she laments: “This ain’t the love that I had desired/ I’m sick of living in your eyes.” Elsewhere there are nods to a youth spent living with Cure and New Order records, but mostly there is a steely conviction in Allison’s sense of self that carries the album. Collection is a confident, intelligent, big-city record. John Skilbeck

Dutilleux & Saint-Saens – Cello Concertos:You journey with Henri Dutilleux through a otherwordly landscape of exotic sounds mixing with brilliant shafts 
of coloured lights to illuminate objects of great beauty. Written in an innovative 20th century style it requires Leonard Elschenbroich’s self-effacing virtuosity to remove any sign of stress. Maybe he is a little too impetuous in the outer movements of the Saint-Saens first concerto, but he certainly captures the pure joy of the score. Between the two he brings a relaxed and sensitive approach to Debussy’s Cello Sonata, with two ‘encores’ from Messiaen and Ravel. The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra bring their own vast array of colours to Dutilleux, Onyx’s recording is rather close and very dramatic. David Denton