FICKLE FRIENDS - YOU ARE SOMEONE ELSE

AFTER an endless stream of single releases, it seemed to be a long, distant wait for the arrival of Fickle Friends' debut album. You Are Someone Else is nostalgic for the past, for the 1980s, and it pays homage to genre-defining songs from the likes of Whitney, Tiffany, Shannon, and all the other major power-pop players of the decade.

The tracks combine this with more current dance and trance sounds, heard in Glue and Bite, but overall this knows exactly where it belongs. With a primarily synth base, the album is packed with little touches and shows flawless production - flashes of synth melodies scattered over the top of the main melody, small isolated guitar riffs - and is bound to fill any dancefloor.

The most striking elements are the big, singalong choruses, which are executed brilliantly. There are darker parts to this colourful offering - the songs are often driven by a heavy bass, and at times they seem to be moving a little bit too quick, like an experimental, musical drug. Whether your kind of music or not, it is intense, fast and erratic. It keeps you on your toes, and is an excellent, classic pop album. 9/10 SOPHIE GOODALL

KIM WILDE - HERE COME THE ALIENS

Kim Wilde once warned you should Never Trust A Stranger; here is another public service announcement. The UK's green-fingered queen of 1980s new wave pop has cultivated an obsession with little green men, the strangest of strangers.

"They're out there in the stars, maybe they come from Mars," she sings on 1969, the tacit title track to Here Come The Aliens. Inspired by Wilde's own close encounter, the glam-rock stomp sees Wilde as a girl, gazing starry-eyed at black-and-white broadcasts of the first Moon landing, before turning her thoughts to distant galaxies. Pop Don't Stop pays homage to Buggles classic Video Killed The Radio Star with its piano-led intro before bursting away on an inter-planetary path. Such pleasing allusions are scattered across the album where the highlight comes with Kandy Krush, the closest thing to Wilde's touchstone hit Kids In America.

It comes as little surprise to learn Wilde, who opened for Michael Jackson on his Bad tour, has seen some extraordinary things. The real revelation here is that her 14th studio album might be the Chelsea Flower Show gold medallist's finest non-horticultural work in decades. 8/10 JOHN SKILBECK

ALEXANDRA BURKE - THE TRUTH IS

Alexandra Burke, who won The X Factor a mindboggling 10 years ago, is finally dropping her third studio album The Truth Is after a six-year wait. She's grown in that time as an artist and as a woman, particularly in the past year - what with her successful Strictly stint and the death of her mother - and is set on making her mark in music again.

However, for all that life experience and the absorption of a more musical theatre-friendly style - thanks to her years treading the boards in the West End - somehow this new effort doesn't feel like she's quite giving her best... yet. Nothing is particularly bad here: Burke is a powerful songstress - her voice is undeniably one of the best of her generation - and the production is fair enough. The power ballads are pleasant, if not a bit lacking in true heart, while other tracks have the essence of something great but fall short of brilliance. Moments of greatness come from her duet with Ronan Keating, Say We'll Meet Again, and the title track.

This certainly isn't one to write off, but one to perhaps think of as a precursor to Burke's next release, which will hopefully see her really pin down her style and flaunt her talents to the fullest. 6/10 LUCY MAPSTONE

CASEY - WHERE I GO WHEN I AM SLEEPING

The second album from the Welsh melodic post-hardcore group. On this album Casey are unafraid to expose their physical and emotional traumas. More specifically, vocalist Tom Weaver recalls ongoing and past episodes of his life, which include a diagnosis of brittle bones, colitis, and suffering a heart attack - as well as manic depression. Weaver and his bandmates lay everything out in this raw, emotionally charged record.

Sometimes this genre of music can be a little self-indulgent but Casey get the balance right, mainly due to the honesty and subject matter. One imagines the recording process for this album provided some form of cathartic release. There are no real standout tracks; it is a record best experienced as a whole. 7/10 RYAN WARD