Minor Victories - Orchestral Variations (2017)

This shoegaze supergroup (featuring members of Mogwai, Slowdive and Editors) turned heads with their debut of last year, proving to be rather more than the sum of their parts, yet they've surmounted expectations here by producing something if anything even more special. Whilst the title of this new work might suggest a more ornately arranged and overblown variant on the shimmering guitar overload of their earlier incarnation, 'Orchestral Variations' triumphs by stripping these songs back to their bare essence, arriving at an emotional resonance and wintry melancholia that is a wonder to behold.