Review:The latest CD releases

Panic! At the Disco – Death of a Bachelor: If crazy = genius, then Death Of A Bachelor is genius. Formerly a four piece – and minus the exclamation mark – Panic! At The Disco returns as a one-man band. Possibly one of the Las Vegas band’s most exciting albums since 2005’s A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, the old baroque pop sound is back - although slightly more mainstream and upbeat than first time around. The latest album is certainly a tap-your-feet and sing along kind of album, with poppy anthemic songs like Don’t Threaten Me With A Good Time and LA Devotee, as well as plenty of nods to Sinatra with jazzy numbers like Crazy=Genius and the titular song, Death Of A Bachelor. Yes, it draws on Panic!’s debut, but it’s more exciting, more evolved and is bound to make waves in 2016. Nicola Gallagher

Steven Wilson – 4 1/2: This six-track mini-album from the 48-year-old British multi-instrumentalist is something of a holding project between full-length releases, but nevertheless stands up on its own merits. Wilson, a former member of the much-acclaimed English rock band Porcupine Tree, gets things off to a flying start with the quite excellent opener, My Book Of Regrets. It is followed by the equally impressive Year Of The Plague, which showcases Wilson’s uncanny knack for writing a melody that swiftly engages the listener. But it is on the final song, a re-imagining of the Porcupine Tree track Don’t Hate Me, that Wilson truly comes into his own. At nearly 10 minutes long, it brings things to an epic and satisfying close. Roll on that next full-length album we say. Kim Mayo

Aoife O’Donovan – In the Magic Hour: Aoife (pronounced ‘efa’) O’Donovan may sound Irish, but she in fact hails from Massachusetts, although, to be fair, she did spend several school holidays in the Emerald Isle and the effects on her music are clearly evident. In The Magic Hour is the second full-length solo album from the folk-tinged singer-songwriter, following 2013’s excellent debut, Fossils. Formerly a member of the band Crooked Still, the 33-year-old has crafted another fine set of songs and she certainly wears her musical influences on her sleeve, having cited her love for the work of Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. Stanley Park gets things off to a magical start with the title track, Magic Hour, while Magpie and the lovely Jupiter set her apart from many of her contemporaries. Great stuff. Kim Mayo

Tindersticks – The Waiting Room: Nottingham band Tindersticks have been a small, but significant stitch in Britain’s musical tapestry for the last 25 years and The Waiting Room is their 11th studio album. It presents Tindersticks in their perennially wistful state, helmed by Stuart Staples and his glum-sounding, crotchety and occasionally beyond parody, singing voice. Staples is on serious form elsewhere: in the tension-burdened We Are Dreamers!, and the slow stroll of the closing Like Only Lovers Can, but most notably when duetting with the late American-Mexican smoky-voiced singer Lhasa de Sela on Hey Lucinda, a lament to lost youth and the uncertainties of later life. Tindersticks hopefully have decades left plotting their most singular vision. John Skilbeck

Sibelius – Complete Symphonies:To mark the 150th anniversary of his birth, this new release of the seven symphonies is conducted by the most distinguished Sibelian of our time, Okko Kamu. They are performances of a perception unequalled on disc, the minute details revealed are then captured by vivid recordings of a quite remarkable dynamic range. Kamu has the benefit of his Lahti Symphony, a superb orchestra, with a fabulous woodwind section and trenchant brass, its members steeped in the cold and windswept atmosphere Sibelius so frequently pictured, here reaching freezing point as the jagged moments are hammered home by the timpani. Contained on just three very lengthy discs in an attractively thin box, (BIS 2076). David Denton