Shangri La by Jake Bugg

Shangri La, Jake Bugg's second album, arrived on Island on 18 November 2013, about a year after his self-titled debut had gone all the way to number one in the UK. This time the English songwriter, still a teenager, decamped to Malibu, California, in the summer of 2013 to record with Rick Rubin, and the album takes its name from Rubin's studio there.

It's a tougher, more restless record than the debut. Bugg still has that nasal, old-soul folk-rock twang, but the fast ones come snarling out of the amps: "What Doesn't Kill You" rattles past in a scuffed-up rockabilly blur, while "Me and You" eases off into something warmer. Fans and critics were split on it, but it's the sound of a young singer refusing to just make the same record twice.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.