Fantômas was the creation of French pulp novelists Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre, whose titular criminal genius made his first print appearance in 1911. An amoral sadist with a talent for disguise, Fantômas made his first film appearance two years later in a five-episode crime serial directed by Louis Feuillade. Feuillade’s sober, stripped-back adaptation was hugely influential and the template for subsequent attempts to put Fantômas on screen.

Some albums announce themselves with a roar. Others arrive quietly, kind of casually strolling into your life when you weren’t looking. Returning to Myself did the latter. Brandi Carlile’s most recent record just appeared, like an old friend in the doorway with a bottle of wine and an understanding nod. It is my album of the year not because it is loud or revolutionary, but because it is steady, wise and exactly what I needed.