[Shaun]

#15 - Robert Plant - Band of Joy
I've never come across any of his solo/side project material other than this so where it compares to his back-catalogue is quite beyond me. But I think it's quite a pleasant, mature love album and sounds more Beatles (particularly You Can't Buy My Love) than Zeppelin...



#14 - Perfume Genius - Learning
A very simplistic album. He's got a very raspy voice and over the simplest piano tunes it struck an immediate chord with me - I can't remember where exactly I found him, but I'm glad I did.



#13 - Belle and Sebastian - Write About Love
Has some great collaborations with Norah Jones and a surprising one in the actress Carey Mulligan, but on the whole I think it's built on their typical mellow sound with some genuine romantic music - it's more symphonic and harmonic than their previous material.



#12 - Kings of Leon - Come Around Sundown
It was pretty much universally panned everywhere I read apart from Q and Rolling Stone, and I'm not sure why. Maybe they were built up as the new stadium-rock gods by the idiot media and were then surprised to hear a return to their more bluesy, Southern-tinged sound. I personally loved this.



#11 - Lissie - Catching a Tiger
It's got so many songs that sound immediately familiar despite me playing them very seldom - and I think that's evident of how potent and warm her music is. It's not really surprising when you read comparisons of her to the great Stevie Nicks - her voice has that smokiness and the songwriting has that spot-on accuracy she did.