These are Folk Radio UK’s favourite Top 100 Albums of 2021. They are selected by the Editor from the albums that were reviewed on the website over the past year; this includes Folk, Roots, Alternative and Global Music releases.
It does not include live albums, reissues, EPs or Compilations. There will be a separate list for compilations and EPs shortly, alongside a number of personal Top 10 lists from some of our review team. If you don’t want to miss them then sign up for our newsletter here.
The albums are listed alphabetically, not in order of merit.
Folk Radio turned 17 this year, thanks to everyone who has supported us over the past through generous donations which have helped to keep us afloat. Take the time to dig deeper, listen to the albums, read the reviews written by our excellent team of writers and enjoy. These albums have been a breath of fresh air throughout 2021 and while it’s been another difficult year, it’s so great to see that the independent music scene is as vibrant as ever.
As well as Bandcamp links below there is also an accompanying Spotify Playlist here.
Adrian Crowley: The Watchful Eye of the Stars
A cross between Leonard Cohen, Mark Lanegan and Bill Callahan, Adrian Crowley has a voice that insists you listen and hang on to every word of The Watchful Eye of the Stars. It’s an album that stays with you long after it ends, a testament to the vision of its author.
Aidan O’Rourke: Iorram (Boat Song)
Aidan O’Rourke’s Iorram is a truly magical listening experience, one that, for all its outward quietness, is bursting with ideas…Even without the context of the film it accompanies, this masterful document has a vividness that is almost visual in its own right.
Alasdair Roberts og Völvur: The Old Fabled River
Alasdair Roberts and Völvur’s “The Old Fabled River” is full of subtle mirrors, the dualism and continuity of life, pairs and opposites…a satisfyingly literary accomplishment, but also humane and wild and as vividly detailed as we’ve come to expect from anything Roberts is involved in.
Alex Rex: Paradise
Alex Rex’s aphoristic approach to songwriting means that every line he writes sounds like a defining statement, but on Paradise, those statements come together (albeit in a ragged and even contradictory way) to form perhaps his most rewarding piece of work to date.
Amythyst Kiah – Wary + Strange
Amythyst Kiah is an artist who goes her own way, which is what gives “Wary + Strange” the qualities that make it a truly great album from an artist who refuses to dwell in a world of limitations.
Ballaké Sissoko: Djourou
On Ballaké Sissoko’s new album, Djourou, the Malian kora player chose diverse artists, removed from his own musical traditions – and transforms each collaboration into a moving partnership, highlighting the deep ties that bind us – a moving and excellent album.
Bill Mackay and Nathan Bowles: Keys
Bill Mackay and Nathan Bowles ‘Keys’ was an album we were excited about and it delivers at every turn. An engaging album with a glorious set of instrumentals and sang numbers.
Bobby Lee: Origin Myths
With Origin Myths, there is no way Bobby Lee is from the U.K. It’s clear to me he’s from the American southwest resurrected as an Anasazi shaman…this is truly a homage to the red rock and the sand and the beating, hallucinatory sun.
Brian Finnegan: Hunger of the Skin
Brian Finnegan’s ‘Hunger of the Skin’ is a beautiful collaborative creation, featuring top-class musicians and a rich blend of music and poetry…an album developed in the wee small hours of lockdown nights, we can all now enjoy the fruits of that journey.
Crys Matthews: Changemakers
These days positivity can be in short supply, which is one of the things that makes Crys Matthews new collection Changemakers nothing short of incredible. Matthews puts it all on the line, speaking words of hope at every turn.
C Joynes: Poor Boy On The Wire
Poor Boy on the Wire is as balanced and diverse a set of songs as you would expect from C Joynes, one of our more experimental and musically itinerant guitarists. Beautifully played and delicately handled, it is an album for the discerning listener.
Cots: Disturbing Body
Cots, the new project from Steph Yates, represents a more personal style for the Montreal-based artist and ‘Disturbing Body’, is her most intimate and emotionally complex work to date, that invites the listener to impart their own experiences onto its dream-like vocals and velvety instrumentals.
Charlie Parr: Last of the Better Days Ahead
With blues-playing of the highest virtuosic calibre, Charlie Parr’s “Last Of The Better Days Ahead” is an engrossing, captivating album from a tireless innovator. Indeed, this release marks something emphatically new in his illustrious career.
Comorian: We Are an Island, but We’re Not Alone
Recorded live outdoors on the island of Grande Comore, these 10 snapshots provide the slightest of inklings into a culture significantly different from our own yet their music is still universal in its hopes, fears and dreams. Ian Brennan has captured some incredibly exciting music.
Dana Sipos: The Astral Plane
That Dana Sipos’s ‘The Astral Plane’ feels remarkably intimate and accessible is a tribute to her ability to translate a world of experiences in a way that helps us to understand how we are all connected; examining those bonds makes us all stronger.
Dani Larkin: Notes for a Maiden Warrior
‘Notes for a Maiden Warrior’ is an exciting and confident debut from Dani Larkin. The album has a vitality and irresistible energy which is impossible not to be swept up in. A striking debut, effortlessly succeeding in captivating the heart, as well as the ear.
Daniel Bachman: Axacan
There is so much more to be found throughout Axacan, but the overall result is a sprawling, painstakingly created record by a progressive artist that will take many listens to fully digest. Axacan is Daniel Bachman’s most accomplished work yet.
David John Morris: Monastic Love Songs
While David John Morris’s lyrics have always flowed from a deeply spiritual place, they have never sounded quite like those on ‘Monastic Love Songs’…they stir with transformative promise with the constitution of his inner country, as Cohen would say, vividly evoking his natural surroundings.
David Keenan: WHAT THEN?
David Keenan’s ‘What Then?”, builds on his phenomenal debut in the same way that Finnegan’s Wake was a quantum leap for Joyce, a defining work of visceral genius from a soul aflame with both the poetry of his ancestors and the fire of the future.
Declan O’Rourke: Arrivals
Whether painting small vignettes, looking inward at his own emotions or addressing wider issues, Declan O’Rourke’s “Arrivals” is an intimate listen, one that draws you into its musical and emotional orbit with the brushstrokes of a master craftsman.
Devin Hoff – Voices From the Empty Moor (Songs of Anne Briggs)
Devin Hoff pays tribute to Anne Briggs through a series of dramatic but somehow faithful rearrangements. Featuring a stellar cast of like-minded Briggs fans, Voices From the Empty Moor looks backwards for inspiration but is entirely contemporary in feel.
Dorothea Paas: Anything Can’t Happen
Toronto-based artist Dorothea Paas delivers a stunning debut with ‘Anything Can’t Happen’, a heartfelt result and a consummate triumph.
Eamon O’Leary: The Silver Sun
With The Silver Sun, Eamon O’Leary has created an album that reminds of the things we may have forgotten over the past twelve months. He extends to us the “forgiveness of time.” In these days we need to hold on to that and to each other.
Eli West: A Tapered Point of Stone
Eli West’s A Tapered Point of Stone is a fresh, subtle and captivating collection. With a terrific acoustic backing band and a number of special guests, this is an album that grows on the listener with repeated spins.
Erlend Apneseth Trio: Lokk
It’s rare to hear a band creating genuinely new music with a basis in traditional forms, but Erlend Apneseth Trio have managed it on more than one occasion. Lokk is their most vivid and satisfying reinvention yet.
Field Works: Cedars
Cedars is a beguiling and quietly astonishing piece of work, where Stuart Hyatt’s overarching vision finds its perfect counterweight in an immensely talented and varied array of musicians.
Findlay Napier: It Is What It Is
A perfect illustration of how even an ad-hoc Findlay Napier album becomes a captivating, indispensable work, it is what it is and what it is, is magnificent.
Frankie Armstrong & Friends: Cats of Coven Lawn
Frankie Armstrong’s all-encompassing, compassionate worldview has served her well for over half a century, and Cats Of Coven Lawn is one of her strongest statements yet. It is also a brilliant testament to the essential nature of artistic expression.
Freedom to Roam: The Rhythms Of Migration
The Rhythms of Migration is a migratory musical masterpiece and an outstanding album from our Artists of the Month: Freedom to Roam, featuring Eliza Marshall, Catrin Finch, Jackie Shave, Kuljit Bhamra, Donal Rogers, Robert Irvine, Lydia Lowndes-Northcott & Joby Burgess.
Fruit Bats: The Pet Parade
With The Pet Parade, Eric D. Johnson doesn’t rework the past like Bonny Light Horseman, rather he creates moments filled with the glory of a world where you have an opportunity to find your own place. An album that’s sure to find the kind of audience Eric D. Johnson has only imagined.
Album Review | Interview | Bandcamp
Gnoss: The Light of the Moon
With a refreshing, invigorating sound, and demonstrating a confidence and maturity in their tune and song writing, with ‘The Light of the Moon’, Gnoss have captured a sound dipped in honey that reinforces their formidable presence on the Scots traditional music scene.
Granny’s Attic: The Brickfields
Granny’s Attic’s bold decision to record an all-instrumental album pays off in droves. With The Brickfields, they have secured their place as one of the most exciting and accomplished English folk acts on the scene right now.
Grouper: Shade
While Shade perhaps doesn’t quite possess the textural warmth of Paradise Valley or hypnotic pull of Dragging a Dead Deer, its greater clarity and confidence offers a glimmer of hope that is perhaps unprecedented in Harris’ previous music as Grouper.
Album Review | Bandcamp
Hairetis Harper: Draft
Having listened to ‘Draft’ by duo Hairetis Harper, I know I have missed things: subtleties, hints, conversations. And I shall return, many times. For the listener and for the musicians, this is exploring, extemporising, excellent.
Hannah James and Toby Kuhn: Sleeping Spirals
Throughout Sleeping Spirals, the debut album from Hannah James and Toby Kuhn, distinct threads of travel, place and self-discovery come together to form a complex but unified whole. It is a journey you will want to take again and again.
Hartwin Dhoore Trio: Valge Valgus
“Valge Valgus”, a collaboration between Belgian accordionist Hartwin Dhoore and Estonian musicians Carlos Liiv and Sofia-Liis Kose, is a remarkably perceptive album. Intuitive musicianship effortlessly transports the listener on what is a deeply rewarding album.
Henry Parker: Lammas Fair
Henry Parker’s Lammas Fair is an album full of old wisdom and new beginnings, deeply rooted in the wild landscape of northern England, but ultimately outward-looking and welcoming.
Hiss Golden Messenger: Quietly Blowing It
“Quietly Blowing It” is beautifully played with melodies and hooks that take up instant lodgings in the brain and lyrics that cut to the heart and soul, this may be Hiss Golden Messenger’s best yet.
Jacob & Drinkwater: More Notes From The Field
With “More Notes From The Field”, Jacob & Drinkwater reach the high-water mark of contemporary folk music. It is an exceptional album that digs deep creatively and emotionally but is also beautiful and accessible.
James Yorkston and The Second Hand Orchestra: The Wide, Wide River
That combination of closeness and mystery – a thread that runs through all of his records – is one of the reasons Yorkston is amongst the very best songwriters of his generation; The Wide, Wide River is yet another career highlight.
Jim Ghedi: In the Furrows of Common Place
On ‘In the Furrows of Common Place’, Jim Ghedi brings focus to unrest, land enclosure and austerity. It is a stunning and remarkable album with bags of passion, creativity and precision from the always fascinating Ghedi.
Jinnwoo: dreamcreatures
dreamcreatures draws its power from enigmatic sources: there is a tension between Webb’s self-confessed lack of confidence and his evident and supreme gifts as a songwriter and singer. It all makes for a raw, quietly uncompromising and thoroughly engrossing listen.
John Blek: On Ether & Air
Individually, the four albums that form Blek’s Catharsis Project are each standout works, together forming a heart-swelling conceptual quartet. The finale, On Ether & Air, which is fuelled by and founded on an intermingling of loss and hope, proves a triumphant climax.
John Francis Flynn: I Would Not Live Always
Taking turns both tender and turbulent, John Francis Flynn’s “I Would Not Live Always” is bracing, unpredictable and without a doubt one of the most deeply affecting folk debuts of recent years.
John Smith: The Fray
Coming on the back of a personally traumatic year, ‘The Fray’ has a grip of iron. John Smith says these are the most honest songs he’s ever written…hard to disagree. Featuring an assemblage of stellar musicians it’s a shoo-in for the best of the year lists.
Jon Boden: Last Mile Home
The latest album by Jon Boden marks an elegant, profound, and thoroughly rewarding conclusion to a remarkably prescient series of albums. Last Mile Home is a genuinely heartfelt and beautifully structured listen. An exquisitely moving conclusion to Jon’s trilogy. This one will stay with you.
José González – Local Valley
José González’s “Local Valley” treads the line between the secular and the spiritual – the ideas put forward in this album probe the corners of human consciousness while ultimately being an expression of love, peace and unity.
Josienne Clarke: A Small Unknowable Thing
On Josienne Clarke’s ‘A Small Unknowable Thing’, the songs are so direct, showing an immediacy born of frustration and inspiration. Unshackled creative freedom screams out of every song…ripe with raw artistic expression combined with music of surefire melodic and dramatic purpose.
Karen Matheson: Still Time
Featuring an impressive guest list, Karen Matheson’s ‘Still Time’ is a beautiful album. Mature melodies and heartfelt poetry beautifully sung, it doesn’t get much better than this.
Karine Polwart & Dave Milligan: Still As Your Sleeping
Karine Polwart and Dave Milligan have crafted an elegantly uncomplicated listen. Dreamy yet thought-provoking at just the right moments, Still As Your Sleeping is an earnest and embracing soundtrack. Thoroughly warm-hearted and beautifully life-affirming. A genuinely gorgeous and magical duet.
Katherine Priddy: The Eternal Rocks Beneath
To listen to The Eternal Rocks Beneath is to sink into a reverie. Katherine Priddy puts a contemporary spin on the mythological and with a balletic vocal ability and bent for tender, lush arrangements, this much-anticipated debut is like stumbling upon a diamond mine.
Lady Nade: Willing
What makes Willing so special is the way Lady Nade refuses to take the obvious steps – she also sings beautifully and has a band that understands exactly what she needs and they deliver 100%.
Le Ren: Leftovers
Leftovers, more than bears out the mouthwatering promise dramatically displayed on Le Ren’s Morning & Melancholia EP. In fact, if I may be so bold, I’ll proclaim Leftovers as an instant timeless folk classic.
Lorcan Mac Mathuna: An Bhuatais & The Meaning of Life
An Bhuatais & The Meaning of Life exemplifies the sean nós tradition and beautifully continues it along its path. By all means, dig deeper, read the superb accompanying booklet, but first of all, enter the space and just listen. Excellent.
Lunatraktors: The Missing Star
Lunatraktors ‘The Missing Star’ is a recording that will linger in your thoughts. A powerful comment on the politics of our day, it deserves a wider listen, and I for one, would love to see this performed live. A timely recording. We need this.
M G Boulter: Clifftown
In Clifftown, M G Boulter perfectly captures the poetry of everyday life in a muted, fading town. Stay awhile and let its poignancy flow over you. Its quiet grandeur will gently seep into your soul. A thoroughly intoxicating listen.
Mànran: ÙRAR
Over eleven years of gigs and now four studio albums, Mànran have always shown a healthy appetite for innovation but with Ùrar they’ve taken that to a new level. With a new line-up, they’ve produced an album that sets a fresh benchmark against which to judge contemporary Gaelic music.
Margo Cilker: Pohorylle
Margo Cilker’s taken her time readying this grander entrance onto the Americana stage. Pohorylle is one of the year’s finest debuts, that stage is hers for the taking.
Marina Allen: Candlepower
Marina Allen’s Candlepower is an effortlessly crafted, and luxurious, listen. Charming and challenging in equal measures it is a thoroughly beguiling debut album.
Marisa Anderson & William Tyler: Lost Futures
Marisa Anderson & William Tyler deliver a diverse and shifting set of songs, using repetition, space, peace and alarm. Lost Futures is a finely composed and beautifully performed album from these two highly creative players.
Martyn Joseph: 1960
Featuring a number of special guests, “1960” is one of the most personal albums Martyn Joseph as ever made. Quoting a line from one of the lyrics he describes “1960” as a soul taking stock, of looking inwards and finding acceptance. It’s an album of the year.
Mason Lindahl: Kissing Rosy in the Rain
Every note that Mason Lindahl plays on here counts and can be heard; there is a quiet strength and boldness to the music that makes it so effective. Kissing Rosy in the Rain is fantastic – Lindahl has explored the limitations and boundaries of instrumental guitar music and created something fresh and vital.
Album Review | Interview | Bandcamp
Matt Sweeney & Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy: Superwolves
Last year Dylan sang, “I contain multitudes” quoting Whitman, a sentiment this sophomore tour de force boldly epitomizes. Equal parts glamorous and grotesque, Matt Sweeney & Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy’s Superwolves is a sprawling, bewildering frenzy of ideas and emotions, leaving the listener with plenty to unpick.
Meril Wubslin: Alors Quoi
Alors Quoi is an album that’s soaked in the otherworld as well as the subconscious one. Its themes revel in questions rather than answers. It’s mesmeric sound creeps into your psyche and nestles there; snug with its low-key groove. One that will linger.
Mishra: Reclaim
It’s not often that, at first listen, an album almost literally takes your breath away. But Mishra’s ‘Reclaim’ bristles with vibrant energy and has a freshness and lightness of touch that did just that.
Monsieur Doumani – Pissourin
Monsieur Doumani, the much-acclaimed Cyprus-based trio, return with Pissourin, an enthralling and entertaining fourth album on which the intriguing traditional sounds of the Eastern Mediterranean merge with the contemporary.
Myles Cochran: Unsung
Dense without being heavy, intelligent without being esoteric, this is elegant, nuanced music that has been finely crafted and richly woven. Unsung is a quite remarkable album.
Piers Faccini: Shapes of the Fall
In Shapes Of The Fall Piers Faccini has created a masterpiece – cerebral, thought-provoking, but above all, musically, an intensely enjoyable listening experience.
Reb Fountain: IRIS
A dark and atmospheric experience, ‘IRIS’ elevates the sound of Reb Fountain’s previous record and explores some abstract yet highly relatable concepts. It’s an incredibly focused, deep, and powerful record that won’t be easily forgotten.
Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi: They’re Calling Me Home
Rhiannon Giddens & Francesco Turrisi’s new album is unlike anything else you will experience this year. They’re Calling Me Home is a metaphor for our times. We all need to find our way home. Let this album serve as your guide.
Rónán Ó Snodaigh: Tá Go Maith
Recorded at a countryside retreat in Kildare with Myles O’Reilly, Rónán Ó Snodaig’s Tá Go Maith is an album not to be rushed but instead presents an opportunity to slow down and embrace its evocative gentle mood and positivity.
Rose City Band: Earth Trip
Allowing yourself to get lost in the magic of Rose City Band’s “Earth Trip” you come out in a most unexpected place, refreshed and revived. These are moments that we need to hold on to…take a moment just to breathe.
Ryley Walker: Course In Fable
Course In Fable, self-released on Ryley Walker’s Husky Pants imprint is a bold, batshit masterstroke the likes of which we’ve never seen…the latter-day folkjokeopus we never knew we needed.
Saint Sister: Where I Should End
Saint Sister’s “Where I Should End” amazes. The blending of the acoustic and electronic has seldom come together so seamlessly as it does here. I guarantee it will stick fast in your consciousness.
Sally Anne Morgan: Cups
Cups, the latest offering from Sally Anne Morgan, is a stunner…the music challenges and wonderfully brings to mind the magic and intricacies of nature and rural life. This is a highly creative, rich and detailed piece of work.
Sam Kelly and the Lost Boys: The Wishing Tree
The changing moods of Sam Kelly and the Lost Boys‘ “The Wishing Tree” form a big part of its charm. From the thought-provoking lyrics to the musicianship, you’d be hard pushed to find the merest chink in their armour and here they demonstrate that to perfection.
Sarah Louise: Earth Bow
Earth Bow is diverse, immersive & sometimes intense & powerful, what shines through is Sarah Jane’s unshakable belief in and love for our planet – the lifeblood of all of her music. It should be heard by everyone.
Sarah-Jane Summers & Juhani Silvola: The Smoky Smirr o Rain
It seems Sarah-Jane Summers & Juhani Silvola cannot put a foot wrong and The Smoky Smirr o Rain is a stunning addition to an already impressive catalogue of music. Written and played with skill, flair and feeling, this album is vital and quite wonderful.
Serious Sam Barrett: The Seeds Of Love
One of Serious Sam Barrett’s stated aims was to release “a proper folk record”, he has succeeded admirably. The Seeds Of Love is a top-class release, sincerely delivered with alluring vocals and exemplary music throughout.
Spell Songs II: Let The Light In
Spell Songs II is a timely and beguiling listen. It is a collection to share and reflect upon. So, gather round, cherish the songs, Macfarlane’s words and Morris’s imagery and steep yourself deep in the natural world that surrounds us and prepare to be spellbound.
Spencer Cullum: Spencer Cullum’s Coin Collection
There are rare coins indeed lurking in Spencer Cullum’s Coin Collection, the kind most people dream about but never actually find. He has a gift for merging forms and styles in ways that simply transform the musical landscape.
Spiers & Boden: Fallow Ground
At the heart of Spiers & Boden’s “Fallow Ground” is the utter joy of two friends making music together. It’s a joyful, exciting, and beautifully produced release and it’s so great to have them back.
Album Review | Interview | Bandcamp
Staran: Staran
Staran is both an album and the name adopted by a new collective formed by five of the most exciting young talents on the Glasgow folk scene. It’s a gem and an album truly more than the sum of its parts.
Steve Gunn: Other You
With sympathetic arrangements moving alongside each other fluidly throughout and Steve Gunn’s voice to the fore, ‘Other You’ is his most elegant sounding solo record yet.
Stick in the Wheel: Tonebeds for Poetry
On Tonebeds For Poetry, Stick in the Wheel cast their net wider delivering sounds you might not expect to find on a folk album. They remain one of the most ground-breaking and unpredictable acts in any of the countless genres they move between.
Sunny War: Simple Syrup
Sunny War seems to have lived more in her short life than most people live in a lifetime, those experiences colour her new album, Simple Syrup. She is, quite frankly, a woman of exceptional depth. A remarkable album.
TEYR: Estren
While TEYR’s energetic and wildly entertaining delivery is still there on Estren, the added lyrical depth and musical variety, the moral bite and sensitivity to the world’s problems elevate them to the very top tier of today’s folk music.
The Ciderhouse Rebellion – Genius Loci 1:White Peak
On Genius Loci 1: White Peak, The Ciderhouse Rebellion have taken a step further into the unknown, with an album that marries their flawless musicianship with an ever more experimental outlook. The whole album hangs together like a story and is totally captivating.
The Felice Brothers: From Dreams To Dust
Their most ambitious, densest and experimental work to date, ‘From Dreams To Dust’ may also be The Felice Brothers finest hour.
The Little Unsaid: Lick The Future’s Lips
Their most accessible album yet, The Little Unsaid’s “Lick The Future’s Lips” is an album of variegated musical moods and songs that peer into the gloom but also spark a flicker of light in the potential to change both the world and ourselves.
The Magic Lantern: A Reckoning Bell
The Magic Lantern has created a work that will end up on many end-of-the-year lists. The songs on A Reckoning Bell stand out in their capacity to both communicate and transform expectations. Few albums today do both so well.
The Memory Band: Colours
Based around the one constant figure of Stephen Cracknell, The Memory Band’s sixth album Colours, again features a number of special guests. Existing on the margins of folk and electronica, they manage to bring a touch of the sublime to these liminal states.
The Weather Station: Ignorance
While Ignorance is supposed to be an album filled with planetary concerns, there is much that can also be taken on a personal level. It is an album with heart and soul, two commodities that seem to be in short supply these days.
Toby Hay: Home Recordings – Volume I
Like Toby Hay’s ‘Morning / Evening Raga’ album, Home Recordings Vol 1 is instrumental guitar music at its purest and there is much beauty in its simplicity and control. Outstanding.
Tré Burt: You, Yeah, You
Tré Burt’s You, Yeah, You, is characterised by an honest and compassionate set of tales, rich with stories of humanity, its beauty and faults, of Burt’s American homeland; a philosopher in jeans and a persuasive new presence on the American folk scene.
Trippers & Askers: Acorn
Defying expectations…Jay Hammond’s Trippers & Askers collective has created something groundbreaking and completely unexpected. Acorn is not simply the tale of a new start, through this music it has become an unexpected pathway to new lines of thought and communication.
TRÚ: No Fixed Abode
TRÚ are no ordinary folk band, and No Fixed Abode no ordinary album. Their music is dusted with a hint of magic and while it has all the energy befitting a first offering, it bears the stamp of quality usually reserved for seasoned artists.
Vivian Leva & Riley Calcagno – Vivian Leva & Riley Calcagno
While this may be Vivian Leva & Riley Calcagno’s first album together, it’s another contender for the year best-of lists…It may not stray far from well-trod musical and thematic pathways, but the duo walk them with affection for the footprints in which they step.
Wyndow: Wyndow
With their incredible debut record, Wyndow capture the contradictory feelings of uncertainty and familiarity of the last 18 months into this experimental time capsule of beautiful melodies, ethereal vocal layers, and powerful lyrics.
Yasmin Williams: Urban Driftwood
Yasmin Williams is a guitarist that does uniquely her own thing, free from tradition, geography, and time – Urban Driftwood demonstrates the true universality of musical language – she’s a storyteller that makes the audience lean in to listen.