A third guitarist changes a band’s angle. Santa Claws put that fact at the centre of "Sands Of Time". The Brittany five-piece return with a self-produced second album. Crunchy guitars, close arrangements and rich analogue texture fill its frame. It draws on 1990s rock energy. However, the current lineup brings a clear point of view. This "Sands Of Time" album review starts with the expanded formation:...

Simeon Kirkegaard's album "*" arrived, and it’s been rattling around my head like loose change in an empty pocket ever since. This Nordic musician dives headfirst into the murky, churning waters of lost love and the obsessive echo it leaves behind across ten distinct yet interwoven tracks. It maps out a landscape not just of longing, but of the peculiar haunting that follows a...