I start this week with a young American artist, BØRNS, who I first heard in conversation with Zane Lowe, but this week stumbled across again on Spotify (the ‘Browse’ tab is actually quite interesting once you scroll through all the Bieber promotion). You may be beginning to tell by now that this columnist is fairly partial to synthpop and alt-rock, and this may be because of the current apparent saturation of the industry with electronic music, and athough BØRNS fits this genre, he is refreshingly different. The single ‘10,000 Emerald Pools’ first pulled me in, mixing my favourite things: a walking bass line, tripping beat and perfect vocal harmonies. But I kept listening because of the more eclectic sounds that built up over the album. In some places you can definitely hear the influences of Lana Del Rey’s favourite producer, Emile Haynie, who worked on the album, but in others the sound breaks out on its own. ‘Past Lives’ smashes 80s pop beats with futuristic synths, while ‘American Money’ takes bitter-Americana lyrics and powerfully underscores them with weighty bass lines and similarly hectic synths, but also a guitar riff that seems swamped in white noise. ‘Dopamine’ (the album title) has a lot going on, but BØRNS undoubtedly pulls it off.

Next up is the Canadian singer-songwriter legend of ‘Summer of ‘69’ fame, Bryan Adams. The album Get Up! is the first collection of new work since 2008, but in many of the tracks he has gone back to basics. Works such as ‘You Belong To Me’ (come on, Bryan, it’s 2015, I’m not an object) indulges his classic retro upbeat sound and euphoric lyricism, while ‘Don’t Even Try’ and others are slower and more indulgent. The formulation of his songs remains simple and focuses on the choruses, but this equation still works, and is kept from getting dull by the perfect balance of retro rock-and-roll that flirts with country, together with a more modern electric sound. The inclusion of four of the tracks in acoustic session is also reassuring of his old husky sound, while simultaneously proving that Adams remains a very talented musician. If you’re looking for dozens of bold-new sounding tracks from the artist, it’s not the album for you, but if like me you’re happy to indulge the classic sound of a classic artist, Get Up! is not to be missed.

Finally, completing a week of solo artist discussion is Seinabo Sey. It is truly a travesty that I only know about the Swedish-Gambian singer because Kygo remixed her track ‘Younger’, as her new album Pretend shows that she deserves attention and laudation in her own right. Sey’s sound is so diverse that, even by my standards, to try and typify her would end up with a ridiculous number of pointless attempts at genre neologisms. Tracks such as ‘Still’ are simple, acoustic and beautifully performed, while others like ‘You’ and ‘Pretend’ flirt with Chicago house and electro. Tying the range of influences that the 16-track work throws around is the artist’s incredible voice. It does everything from bringing out the best of some moments of funk to creating a sense of chilling bittersweet in ‘Younger’, as the vocal track repeats “You ain’t getting any younger are you?” accompanied by a rolling drum beat and surprising string instrumental. All of her tracks could bare such a minute dissection of their production and layering, and this is a testament to the enduring diversity of her music. Whatever you do, don’t let your only experience of Seinabo Sey be via Kygo.