Welcome to final part of our Best Folk Albums of 2018 (Read part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4). The purpose of this list is not just to highlight what I may consider the best but also to share with you a journey through the year. The albums I’ve chosen range from the experimental through to the traditional and in many ways reflects the breadth of what we cover on Folk Radio UK. This is just a small part of a much bigger journey but it’s one I hope you enjoy us sharing with you. The list below does not run to the end of the year, so some of our most recent reviews in December are not included – I had to stop somewhere and I wanted to get this out to you all before Christmas so be sure to check all our reviews and Featured Albums here. Also, the list does not include live albums, re-issues or compilations.
One last thing…as Editor, I always send albums that I love to our reviewers, so, as far as I’m concerned, the many albums we have reviewed over the past year have already made the cut. OK, that’s enough waffling, here are the next 20 albums in no particular order.
Listen to the accompanying Best Folk Albums of 2018 Spotify Playlist which will grow as we reveal more of this year’s highlights.
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Best Folk Albums of 2018
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Talisk – Beyond (Self-Released)
Having discovered they can be far more than the sum of their parts; the band have found the spaces where textures and atmospheres can weave around the music. This was all hinted at in Abyss, with peaks and troughs of intensity that peppered the album. In Beyond, those have become part of the fabric. It can take years to master the deft use of these techniques, Talisk have found exactly where they fit in their own music and deployed them to full effect. More than tune sets, these are full-on adventures, with themes that rise and fall throughout. The sound is layered and intricate – but in such a way that the music will still shine on the live stage. Whether on the stage or in the studio, Talisk strive to bring ever more craft and excitement to their music; Beyond is the next thrilling step on that journey.
Cinder Well – The Unconscious Echo (Self-Released)
The Unconscious Echo features seven dynamic and original tracks, with moments ranging from Swan Arcade style unaccompanied harmony vocals, to swelling instrumental choruses reminiscent of Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Each piece is a collaborative arrangement of Amelia Baker’s songs, featuring folk and punk veterans of the Pacific Northwest, New Orleans, and Norway.
Track-by-Track | Bandcamp | Spotify
Salt House – Undersong (Self Released)
Music of this quality can’t be rushed; there’s a depth of understanding here that represents a lasting commitment to traditional music from all around the UK. There’s far more to Undersongthan the time Salt House spent recording on the tiny Hebridean island of Berensay, with seasoned producer Andy Bell (Martin Simpson, Songs of Separation, Furrow Collective) at the helm – that could be seen as a flowering. There’s clearly been a period of careful nurturing and refining, both in the studio and before live audiences. The result is Undersong, a highly accomplished album of wonderful music, that singles Salt House out as a trio of exceptional talent.
The Transports – The Transports (Hudson Records)
It is fair to say that there is nothing else quite like The Transports in the world of folk music, and this new version is if anything even more ambitious than the original. Although it speaks of another time, it is firmly rooted in the political climate of the present day, and this is something Peter Bellamy would no doubt have encouraged. He was always acutely aware of the need for music to change, to avoid stagnation and to reflect the injustice and the hope of the period in which it was created. The Transports achieves this superbly, a perfect combination of song and story that is a fitting tribute to its hugely talented and much-missed creator.
Gilmore & Roberts – A Problem Of Our Kind (Self Released)
Music can move you in different ways. It can physically move you – make you want to jump out of your chair, or clench your fists, or curl up against the world. It can move you emotionally, as anyone who has ever cried cathartically at their favourite song can tell you. And it can take you on a less tangible journey too, a journey of, for want of a better phrase, intellectual discovery. We come out at the end of certain songs – and folk songs are particularly good for this – changed by a new knowledge, driven to act by a newfound sense of justice, surprised into a new wisdom by a previously unknown historical detail. It is rare to find new music that can successfully achieve more than one or two of these things, but on A Problem Of Our Kind Katriona Gilmore and Jamie Roberts have produced an album capable of making you dance, cry and think. And what is more, they do it straight from the off.
Marisa Anderson – Cloud Corner (Thrill Jockey)
A once restless traveller and still musical sponge, these ten songs are filled with a range of musical styles and techniques that have been arranged (Marisa is her own engineer) and painstakingly crafted to result in a fluid meditation of an album. Cloud Corner is another example of why Marisa Anderson is one of America’s most interesting and talented guitar players and composers. Like Sarah Louise and Daniel Bachman, she is using the genres she has studied to craft a piece of work that challenges the listener and rewards them further with every listen. Excellent.
Sarah McQuaid – If We Dig Any Deeper It Could Get Dangerous (Shovel and a Spade Records)
The album ends with just her voice and solo electric guitar on The Tug of the Moon, a slow waltz number that uses the moon’s gravitational pull and the gradual slowing of the Earth’s rotation to again treat on mortality and eventual endless night, but with a calm sense of acceptance of the natural cosmic cycle rather than any sense of dread. A consummate artistic triumph that marks a new phase in McQuaid’s career, I regret that it took so long for me to appreciate the depth and textures to the writing and performances contained within. Don’t make the same mistake.
ímar – Avalanche (Big Mann Records)
There’s a widely held perception that the more successful a band’s debut album, the trickier it becomes to get the second album right. Ímar have followed their instincts and produced an album that preserves all that made Afterlight such a welcome breath of fresh air whilst giving Avalanche a character all its own. Following the release of an album of this quality, you wouldn’t bet against yet more awards coming Ímar’s way.
John Doyle, John McCusker and Michael McGoldrick – The Wishing Tree (Under One Sky)
What you get with Doyle, McCusker and McGoldrick’s The Wishing Tree is in one sense something very familiar, or at least as familiar as it can be for a debut studio recording coming after ten years of collaboration. They deliver an album of the very highest quality; unfussy, acoustic music (aside from a sprinkling of gentle electric guitar), that is strongly anchored in Irish and Scottish traditions. You get a mix of tunes: traditional, those composed by others and a slew of convincing originals, most of which, Mike reported, were written spontaneously when they weren’t quite sure what fitted next. You get some upbeat driving reels and the expected intuitive ensemble playing, but also a sense of maturity and overall taking things at a more measured pace which brings even greater subtly than we’ve enjoyed from them before in performance. The Wishing Tree is exceptional and has to be a front-runner for album of the year.
The Poozies – Punch (Schmooz Records)
The first album from the all-female Scottish outfit The Poozies to feature new recruits Tia Files and Sarah McFadyen. Punch comes with a variety of different meanings, but all of them have an underlying sense of drive and energy, of vim, verve and sheer pizzaz, as well as being a potent drink made up of various different flavours and spirits that coalesce into something uniquely its own. Pour yourself a glass and feel the oomph.
Mairearad Green & Anna Massie – Farran (Shouty Records)
With their fourth album Farran, multi-instrumentalists Mairead Green and Anna Massie once again prove that they are one of the most talented musical collaborations in the traditional folk music world. Farran is rooted in an elegant sense of ship-shape simplicity, with not a single note out of place and each tune as uncluttered, clean, fresh and invigorating as a salt wind out to sea or the cold spray from a boat’s prow. Add the obvious tight-knit musical telepathy, and relaxed ease of expression that exists between both musicians as they set sail with their eyes firmly fixed on new musical horizons and what you have is a simply wonderful album from two fine and versatile musicians setting their own course with the clearest sense of direction.
Rachel Newton – West (Shadowside Records)
Rachel Newton’s previous solo albums have provided a rich tapestry of sound that’s incorporated a multitude of instruments, and talented musicians, with her vocal / harp arrangements. In heading to the comparative solitude of Wester Ross, she seems to have been able to draw on her exceptional skills as a solo performer to present her unique mix of Gaelic and English, traditional and contemporary, in a new way. This album never sounds sparse or minimalist (even when it’s almost silent), it’s almost as if the setting has helped Rachel Newton pour more of herself into this album than ever before. West is a significant accomplishment; a rich, deeply moving, and immensely enjoyable album.
Mawkin – Down Among the Dead Men (Goodform Records)
There is muscle aplenty from the off on Down Among the Dead Men, London band Mawkin‘s fourth studio album – an extremely varied and enjoyable set, but one that also reminded me at times of Lankum’s incredible Between the Earth and Sky LP in its ability to pack a punch. It is the sound of a band cementing their sound and having a blast playing these wonderful songs with exciting and enviable energy. This is an album to relish and then savour, a confident set that brings great playing together with splendid tunes to create something rather special.
John Oates – Arkansas (Thirty Tigers)
Music legend John Oates has released a robust new album named for the state, one that does Arkansas proud. He’s put together a solid set, a survey of traditional Americana from deep blues to classic country-western. In fact, Oates designed “Arkansas” around a theme – American pop hits in 1920’s and 30’s, with a special focus on his hero, Mississippi John Hurt, whose songs are widely covered on the album. The project actually started out as a tribute album but expanded to include songs from other artists who were contemporaries of Hurt, along with a couple of Oates originals. This album should expand Oates’ audience and increase the audience for the growing roots genre as well. Listen to it now and look for it again in those ‘Best of’ end-of-the-year lists and award shows.
Rura – In Praise of Home (Self Released)
In Praise of Home represents a new, creative and entirely successful chapter for RURA. There are obvious similarities in the core theme of heritage and home with recent albums by other Scottish musicians such as Calum Stewart and Duncan Chisholm. The use of real stories told by family members from earlier generations strongly adds to the sense of place throughout. The band’s decisions to return to being an instrumental band and to write all the tunes themselves have paid off handsomely. In Praise of Home is a fresh, coherent whole that fully utilises the band’s excellent traditionally rooted musicianship and at the same time never sounds anything less than completely contemporary.
John Prine – The Tree Of Forgiveness (Oh Boy Records)
The Tree of Forgiveness is revered singer, songwriter and performer John Prine‘s first set of original songs since the acclaimed Fair & Square back in 2005, and it is a richly confident and multi-faceted album…brilliant writing and no-frills singing from a veteran of the game and a band of experienced musicians and guests who leave the words and the nuanced experience coming through in the vocals and lyrics to stand in the foreground, while weaving a musical web that keeps the whole thing perfectly cohesive throughout.
Review | Interview | Amazon | Spotify
Michael McGoldrick – ARC (Vertical Records)
ARC is a rich, varied and essential release for anyone who likes traditional music with plenty of thoroughly contemporary reference points and bright tunes that reveal more layers with repeated listening. The overall sense is a little less edgy, maybe less urban than Michael McGoldrick’s last few albums. ARC is more straightforward with a freer, more unified and overall mellower feel that makes for a superlative work that sounds quite unlike anything else you’ll hear any time soon.
Peter Knight & John Spiers – Well Met (Self Released)
When two of the most venerated figures in the recent history of folk music get together, there can be little doubt that the result will be something special. Despite the tunes and the instruments on Well Met being almost entirely folk-based, there is something more akin to jazz in the way they are handled. Improvisation and invention meet the listener at every turn. Knight and Spiers have created a musical document that resonates with history, but also something that should inspire future generations of musicians to engage with Britain’s folk dancing heritage, and the beautiful, mysterious tunes that can be found within that heritage.
Julie Fowlis / Éamon Doorley / Zoë Conway / John Mc Intyre – Allt
Allt could well become a modern classic, and will undoubtedly lead to further collaboration between these four artists. And hopefully so. Here we see a group of people at the top of their game showing what is capable when you go the opposite direction of most of today’s music. There are no frills, no smoke and mirrors that makes it so engaging. I can’t wait to hear what comes next. That these four people, all very highly regarded in their own right, could gel so well musically, and allow each other the space to explore new ground. I believe it says an awful lot for the selfless ethos in both traditional music, and the musicians themselves.
Seth Lakeman – The Well Worn Path (Cooking Vinyl)
Recorded in a break from touring with Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters earlier this year, The Well Worn Path is yet another stunning piece of work and, as ever, rooted in Lakeman’s native Dartmoor. Produced by Ben Hillier and featuring his new four-piece band of veteran collaborator Ben Nicholls on bass, drummer Evan Jenkins, Kit Hawes on guitars and sister-in-law Kathryn Roberts providing backing vocals, it marks what he describes as more of a prog-rock approach to his formative sound. The power and intensity are in evidence from the start (as are Plant influences) with the steadily building, ominous and brooding rhythms of Bright Smile, a nautically-set bittersweet song about a sailor haunted by memories of lost love.