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Best of 2018: Albums

ALL That Heaven Allows from Thomas Truax (Psycho Teddy Records), inhabits the same musical territories as Giant Sand, Valparaiso, the Dresden Dolls, Post War Glamour Girls or Moriarty, where the rich veins of cabaret, chanson and punk are reconfigured to unexpectedly spectacular effect.

Truax probes at the very edge of genres, forcing a constant adjustment to a sound that is wonderfully eclectic. Hard-edged yet polyphonic, it's as melodically elaborate as it is sensitive.

A tontine was a 17th century investment scheme that expired with the death of its last member and on Spear of Destiny's Tontine (Eastersnow Recording Company), it's sparked by the lance of Longinus, the centurion and later saint, who pierced the side of the crucified Christ.

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