New Albums This Week: Adam Stafford, K-X-P + more

Adam Stafford – Taser Revelations (Song, by Toad)

Taser Revelations promises shock and awe in its title, and delivers on the latter. After 2013’s subtly transformational Imaginary Walls Collapse, Adam Stafford’s third LP of experimental pop embraces the 'pop' end of the scale more tightly than ever – though not so tight as to squeeze out the maverick ingenuity at the core of his best work.

K-X-P – III (Part Two) (Svart)

Formed from the darkest matter, the Finnish trio's latest completes a cycle that began with last year's III (Part One). Stark, ominous, unrelenting, it's a vision of the other side as viewed from the shadows. On a starless night. While wearing shades. The Fast Show's Johnnny Nice Painter ("Black!") would invert his world view in an instant were he ever to be confronted by its unremitting bleakness.

Richard J Birkin – Vigils (Reveal)

Inspired by river mist and Murakami, and carrying echoes of Nils Frahm and Max Richter’s Sleep, sound artist/composer Birkin’s new work is beholden to a naturalism rich in tone and delicate in application; the sparse instrumentation – piano, acoustic guitar, the strings courtesy of the Iskra String Quartet (who’ve added lift and glide to material from the likes of Sufjan Stevens and Vampire Weekend) – representing etudes in grace and equilibrium.