Album review overview: Jeff Mills, Spacey Jane and more

Dozens of new albums arrive at Maxazine’s editorial staff every week. There are too many to listen to, let alone review them. It ensures that too many albums are left behind. And that’s a shame. That is why today we post an overview of albums that arrive at the editors in short reviews.

Celine Cairo – Panacea

Amsterdam singer-songwriter Celine Cairo, with more than 45 million streams, is no longer an unknown name. With “Panacea”, she releases her third album, recorded over almost two years together with co-producer and partner Benjamin Rheinländer. The result is a coherent and understated collection of indie folk and chamber pop, where fingerpicked guitar, strings by India Bourne and Wurlitzer piano blend seamlessly with Cairo’s fragile yet effective vocals. The title track and “Cycles” immediately set the tone: calm, atmospheric and honest, without drifting into anything inconsequential. “Woman”, featuring a string arrangement by Annelieke Marselje, is a highlight that draws its strength from simplicity and conviction, while “Paris” reveals surprisingly intimate sides. What occasionally works against the album is that a few songs in the middle section are less able to hold the listener’s attention, but this does little to diminish the overall result. “Panacea” is Cairo’s most mature work to date, a record that creates space without becoming dull and moves without exaggeration. (Norman van den Wildenberg) (8/10) (Ivy)

Aaron Blommaert – Oorsprong

Aaron Blommaert releases his debut album “Oorsprong”, featuring fifteen Dutch-language pop songs on Universal Music Belgium. The 23-year-old from Aalst has long since moved beyond being a promising talent in Flanders and has become an established name, and we can simply acknowledge that. The album itself is polished craftsmanship: tightly produced, rarely exceeding three minutes per song, with no rough edges. That is also where its weakness lies. Many tracks are essentially programming work by multi-instrumentalist Adriaan Persons (formerly of Rondé) with Blommaert’s vocals layered over them, and it shows: they function, but they do not truly live. The difference becomes apparent as soon as real musicianship enters the picture. “Zonde”, recorded with a band, breathes. And “Tranen van Goud”, a duet with Zoë Livay, is simply a very enjoyable pop song with a strong hook and a memorable topline. An album without objections, but also without necessity. (Jan Vranken) (7/10) (Universal Music Belgium)

Slift – Fantasia

Slift are a French psychedelic rock band releasing their fourth studio album, “Fantasia”. With “Fantasia”, Slift take a different direction. Whereas the previous three albums, particularly “Ilion” (2024), relied on hypnotic, repetitive soundscapes incorporated into songs averaging ten to thirteen minutes in length, on “Fantasia” the band gets to the point more quickly. The songs are more intense, reach their core faster and abandon the lengthy build-ups. As a result, the tracks on “Fantasia” have a more compact running time of five to seven minutes. The thematic focus has also shifted from science fiction to magical realism. Jean Fossat’s vocal style is different as well, leaning more towards hardcore and intense post-metal. At the time of publication of this review, Slift have just delivered a second successful performance at the Roadburn Festival in Tilburg. Slift do not cling to a successful formula but seek to push boundaries, accepting the associated risk of losing existing fans. (Ad Keepers) (Sub Pop Records) (7/10)

Spacey Jane – Exit Wounds

Australian indie rock band Spacey Jane showed where they stood last year with “If That Makes Sense”: it became the best-selling Australian album of 2025 and dominated Triple J for months. “Exit Wounds” is not a follow-up album but a six-track EP that emerged from the same recording sessions in Los Angeles, produced by Day Wave and mixed by Lars Stalfors. These are not rejects or leftovers, but songs that simply did not fit the atmosphere of the album and have found their place here instead. The tone is darker and more compact, with singer-guitarist Caleb Harper openly singing about relationships slowly falling apart, procrastination, grief and the uncomfortable freedom that follows. “I Never See Her” is the highlight: sunny guitars paired with a melancholic story, precisely the contrast at which Spacey Jane excel. “Do You Really Love Her” leans on an eighties sound with INXS-like breadth and succeeds as well. Six songs, twenty minutes, no excess, no filler. For a band that has just experienced such a remarkable year, this proves the tank is far from empty. (Anton Dupont) (8/10) (Concord)

Jeff Mills – The Trip to Vega

Jeff Mills is no stranger to fans of electronic music. Since his debut album “Waveform Transmission Vol. 1” in 1992, he has released new work regularly. At the age of 62, he now adds “The Trip to Vega”, an ambitious project in which music and imagination are closely intertwined. For vinyl enthusiasts, this expansive journey is released as a triple album. Yet the album may be better suited to listening on CD or via streaming. Its vast cosmic atmosphere comes across more effectively without the listening experience being interrupted every twenty to twenty-five minutes to change sides. At its core, the story revolves around the consequences of an irreversible decision: permanently leaving Earth in search of a new destination. It is a theme that suits Mills perfectly, as the pioneer and founding figure of techno music knows better than anyone how to create an immersive musical environment. Particularly striking is the way he has constructed the percussion. Rather than using traditional drum machines, Mills employed individual sounds that were carefully and intricately positioned. The result is an album that surprises at times, with it ultimately being up to the listener whether they fully surrender to this cosmic journey. (Bart van de Sande) (7/10) (Axis Records)