100 – 75 | 74 – 50 | 49-25 | 24-01 |
49-25
49. Madalitso Band – Musakayike
Initially, the duo busked the streets of Mtandire, a slum in the country’s capital Lilongwe, between holding down regular jobs as gardener and watchman and were discovered, by chance, by a local producer. Ten years of hard graft followed, during which time recognition of their talents grew exponentially, resulting in appearances outside their native country. Fungo La Nyemba, an album available for purchase only at their live concerts, was produced, and in 2019 Wasala was released on Les Disques Bongo Joe label. It is to this increasingly influential Geneva-based label that the band return for their latest release, Musakayike. Forget The White Stripes and their Seven Nation Army, and lock into the two-man musical army that is the Madalitso Band from Malawi; you will not be disappointed.
48. Abigail Lapell – Stolen Time
As a singer, Lapell is blessed with what should be considered a classic folksinger’s timbre – a sweet amalgam of Natalie Merchant, Frazey Ford, Kacy Lee Anderson, and Jacqui McShee – and as a writer, she upholds folk tradition as an honest and compassionate chronicler of the human condition. On Stolen Time, this is evident from the arrestingly beautiful and sparse opening track, Land of Plenty, which instantly joins the inventory of poignant songs exploring the theme of immigration, particularly in respect of escape from war and persecution. …With each successive release, Lapell has received an increasing level of domestic attention, scooping Canadian Folk Music Awards for Getaway (English Songwriter of the Year) and 2017’s Hide Nor Hair (Contemporary Album of the Year) as her stock has risen. With this latest emotionally potent offering, it seems certain that more praise will be heaped upon Lapell and her music – rightly so – and that a significant international breakthrough is now well within reach.
47. Lady Maisery – tender
It comes as something of a shock to learn that Lady Maisery – the trio of Hazel Askew, Hannah James and Rowan Rheingans – have been around for over a decade now. Their music has always provided the freshest possible take on traditional music, whether through jazzing up the near-forgotten technique of diddling or tune singing, introducing elements of Scandinavian folk to songs from the British tradition, covering Todd Rundgren or writing songs inspired by physics. They bring that lively approach to tender, their fourth studio album and first since 2016’s Cycle. …they get across incredibly powerful messages in the most memorable and distinctive ways. While this may be their first studio album in six years, they have come back with their strongest collection of songs yet and instantly re-established themselves at the forefront of British folk music.
46. Emily Portman & Rob Harbron – Time Was Away
It’s hard to believe that Time Was Away is Emily Portman and Rob Harbron’s debut as a duo; so often have they accompanied each other on various projects through the years, but debut it is and what a beautiful and heartfelt recording it proves to be too. Idiosyncratically graceful, Time Was Away is a gorgeously bittersweet listen, beautifully and atmospherically produced by the master that is Andy Bell. It is that most precious delicacy, capturing two musicians at their very best.
45. Anaïs Mitchell – Anaïs Mitchell
Although Anaïs Mitchell released Bonny Light Horseman, a band album with Eric D. Johnson and Josh Kaufman, in 2020, this is Mitchell’s first solo album of new material in a decade (since 2012’s Young Man in America), the time between, taken up with her Tony and Grammy award-winning Hadestown musical project. As with many artists, however, lockdown gave her time to focus away from other distractions, albeit as a new mother, and reconnect with her own music, resulting in this terrific 10-track collection that, recorded in an old church studio just outside Woodstock, also features contributions from Bon Iver saxophonist Michael Lewis, multi-instrumentalist Kaufman, drummer JT Bates, The National’s Aaron Dessner on guitar and Thomas Bartlett on piano.
44. Alela Diane – Looking Glass
The album was born in a September windstorm as historic wildfires swirled through the America’s west coast. Sitting down at the piano in her backyard, what began as a meditation on the disaster changed into a fever dream on the volatility of contemporary life. Transforming moments from her life into songs that we can all relate to, Alela Diane’s Looking Glass reveals a songwriter whose depth is undeniable and whose performances create unforgettable memories.
43. Su-a Lee – Dialogues
Stepping out of the shadows and making your debut album after a 30-year career as a member of different ensembles and an assortment of collaborations with others is a courageous move, but Scotland-based cellist Su-a Lee can rest assured that with Dialogues, she has made an album that is, in every sense, an unqualified triumph. You can’t listen and not be enveloped and stirred by the magnificently played assemblage of musical partnerships on offer. …Whilst Dialogues locates the cello in a series of folk music contexts, Su-a Lee brings with her, unsurprisingly, a measure of classical sensibility, which undoubtedly adds to the richness of the final offering. You won’t hear a more rewarding album in a long time.
42. Julian Taylor – Beyond The Reservoir
Beyond The Reservoir, the latest offering from Julian Taylor is titled for a place called the St. Clair Reservoir, where he used to hang out as a teenager in Toronto. The album charts a move into adolescence and adulthood with themes of identity. …veined with sadness and joy, anguish and hope, touching on the confessional spirit and resonant emotions of a Springsteen or Browne, it confirms Taylor as one of the finest voices in contemporary American folk music.
41. Bróna McVittie – The Woman in the Moon
Bold and audacious in ways you wouldn’t expect, Bróna McVittie‘s The Woman in the Moon is probably her most progressive folk album to date. Bróna performs on harp and guitar, as well as synthesiser and electronics. She is joined by a number of talented guest musicians, including bassist Oli Hayhurst (Pharoah Sanders), Brazilian drummer Marius Rodrigues, Hutch Demouilpied on trumpet, Richard Curran on strings and Myles Cochran on steel guitars. There are so many unexpected and transcendent moments that, alongside her absolutely gorgeous voice, give this album an attractive progressive feel, inviting you to listen deeper on each return.
40. One Leg One Eye – …And Take The Black Worm With Me
Fans of Lankum will know that Ian Lynch likes to experiment. He has helped introduce elements as disparate as drone, music hall and krautrock to his band’s otherwise folky repertoire. But even knowing this, it is unlikely that the average listener will be quite prepared for Lynch’s new solo album, recorded under the name One Leg One Eye. The lyrics speak of a wish for disconnection, a need to escape from the trappings of money and contemporary life. We can begin to see more clearly Lynch’s motivations: it sounds almost like the extended cathartic outburst of somebody on the very edge of being able to cope with the ever-increasing list of twenty-first-century horrors. This kind of music – these long-form drones, the quiet-loud-quiet narrative arc, the raw vocals – is the natural conduit for angst and redemption. In Lynch’s case, the angst seems to outweigh the redemption, which doesn’t make for easy listening, but sure is compelling. It is not for the faint of heart, it is certainly worth taking the plunge: its immense depths are as emotional as they are musical and conceal a haunting beauty.
39. Dana Gavanski – When It Comes
Dana Gavanski’s talent is curiously enigmatic and difficult to pin down. Her brand of pop music is quietly experimental yet brimful with melodic sweetness. Her vocal delivery is folky, smoky, sometimes jazz-tinged, while the songs swim on winningly wonky waves of synth. After recording her first album, Gavanski’s career was threatened not only by the Covid outbreak but by a more pressing issue: the sporadic loss of her voice. Much of what she has produced over the last two years (including the excellent covers EP Wind Songs) could be seen as part of the healing process. If that is the case, When It Comes may be the endpoint in that process. What is certain is that her singing is more assured than ever: the interaction between her high notes and the stabs of synth on The Reaper are particularly thrilling. On the closing track Knowing To Trust, she acknowledges her insecurities, posing questions to herself (‘Am I howling too loud?’) that could be meant to address the problems she has had with her voice but could equally function as more general existential uncertainty. It is typical of an album where nothing is ever quite what it seems, where unorthodox compositions coax complexity out of deceptively simple songs. When It Comes is triumphant and multifaceted, the sound of an artist finding her voice in some style.
38. Junior Brother – The Great Irish Famine
An idiosyncratic, challenging and richly lyrical singer/ songwriter, Junior Brother is the pseudonym of Co. Kerry, Ireland singer Ronan Kealy. Chosen as The Irish Times’ Best Irish Act of 2019 and nominated for the 2019 Choice Music Prize for Album of the Year, Junior Brother has built a rabid following thanks to unmissable live shows, and music both excitingly forward-looking and anciently evocative. His strange stories unfold with reckless abandon upon a distinctive guitar and foot-tambourine accompaniment, influenced as much by the avant-garde as music from the Middle Ages and his home place in rural Ireland.
Featured throughout the year – Folk Show Ep 124, Folk Show Ep 122, Video – This is My Body.
37. Inni-K – Iníon
Dublin-based singer, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Inni-K (Eithne Ní Chatháin) turns her attention to the rich heritage of Irish traditional sean-nós singing on her new album Iníon. The beauty and control of Inni-K’s voice works effortlessly, as one would expect in sean-nós, to deliver the essence of the words, to allow the tale to unfold. Complementing this, the innovative use of the instruments, particularly the clarinet, adds a texture that, far from distracting the listener, augments the whole feel. Iníon is an album of tremendous understatement, power and beauty.
36. Rachel Taylor-Beales – Out Of This Frame
This is Rachel’s fifth solo album, and whilst it is built around her singular vision, the approach invites room for musical collaborators too. The album packaging is furnished with lavish attention to detail, so much colour and visual stimulation, so much detail and insightful accompanying text. This is, in short, a wholly satisfying release to behold in every way; it is the kind of substantial presentation that a real artist deserves, and the music it is wrapping itself around positively simmers with the depth surrounding it. Not that the music needs any additional fuel, but this album is an accomplished set from a forward-thinking singer-songwriter whose warm acoustic sensibilities and imaginative mind erupt with colour and ideas. It is a wholly satisfying twelve-song collection that can be enjoyed as a lush audio experience, but I would strongly recommend the deep dive approach with all the writing, painting, retrospection and recollection that comes with it; with Out Of This Frame, Taylor-Beales expresses large on a widescreen canvas that allows room for all her artistic faculties to breathe.
35. Peter Knight & John Spiers – Both in a Tune
Following their 2018 collaboration, Well Met, the inimitable Peter Knight and John Spiers return with the magical Both in a Tune. Considering the performers, it is hardly surprising that Both in a Tune is a genuine joy to listen to. Effortlessly impressive, sublimely performed and gloriously invigorating, it is a sheer delight to listen to two masters of their instruments. A beautifully charming duet and a stimulating welcome to a new year. This is innovation, experimentation and improvisation, played between two friends, at its very best. Early days, but come the end of the year, this album will surely still be in the minds of many as one of the best of 2022.
34. Jacken Elswyth – Six Static Scenes
Six Static Scenes works beautifully as an exercise in controlled chaos and hectic minimalism, and also as a modernist interpretation of an antiquated form. But if you look deeper, it represents something perhaps more important: it is a celebration of the other, the road not taken, and as such, it shows just how much scope there is for finding new and unrestricted paths in folk music.
33. Daniel Bachman – Almanac Behind
Virginia native Daniel Bachman’s most recent trio of albums have seen him shift from solo acoustic instrumental guitar whiz to something of an installation artist, pairing his fine guitar playing and acoustic drones with radio recordings and collected sounds. If last year’s Axacan was a more focused record than The Morning Star, then Almanac Behind (a pertinent anagram of Daniel’s name) hones his new sound significantly more into a lean and precise tapestry. Clocking in at just over forty minutes, Almanac Behind is a far shorter album than the above two, and this works in its favour, further lending the record that focus and sharpness. …As beautiful and powerful as an electrical storm, Almanac Behind is an extraordinary achievement by a unique artist. “As beautiful and powerful as an electrical storm, Almanac Behind is an extraordinary achievement by a unique artist. My album of the year.”
32. Anna Tival – Outsiders
‘Outsiders’ is described as “an album about looking more deeply into ourselves and each other, really trying to see and examine the internal and external forces that keep us from connecting in real ways and the forces that draw us together”. It is an understatedly heady and intoxicating affair, both lyrically and sonically. Despite the flawed and honest characters of Tivel’s songs, with their troubling emotions and struggles with mental health, Outsiders is low-key and quietly optimistic. Masterfully crafted and performed, it is Anna Tivel’s finest work yet.
31. Goat – Oh Death
Whoever they are, this band have risen and served notice of their return with the most earth-shakingly punchy album of their career so far. The effect these ten tracks leave on the listener in a short 34-minute burst is head-spinningly wonderful; don’t try too hard to understand this one; just lose yourself in the giddy delight of the experience.
30. Heal & Harrow (Rachel Newton & Lauren MacColl) – Heal & Harrow
It is clear that the Scottish Witch Trials of the 16th and 17th Centuries were one of the darkest periods in the country’s history. Two of the leading lights of Scotland’s traditional music scene, Rachel Newton (The Furrow Collective, The Shee, Spell Songs) and Lauren MacColl (RANT, Salt House), have come together, as the Heal & Harrow duo, to create an album which is a tribute to what are believed to be the 2558 people executed after Scotland’s 1563 Witchcraft Act was introduced, an estimated 80% of whom were women. Heal & Harrow is a refreshingly original and carefully-crafted album, with musicianship and compositions of the highest quality.
29. Shovel Dance Collective – The Water is the Shovel of the Shore
To say that a river has a voice may be true, but it is also a glib and over-simplified notion. The River Thames has its own music, certainly, but that music is composed of countless voices. Some are harmonic, some dissonant. Some are quick and violent, and others speak over ages longer than many human lifespans. Some are man-made, while others are organic or geological. The plash of a moorhen’s feet is one thread of the river’s music, but so too is the insect hum of a police boat and the babble of schoolchildren crossing Tower Bridge. A river, with its sinuous length, has a constant movement that paradoxically can be seen as a stillness, particularly in the heart of a city. Nowhere are these contrasts – old and new, wild and urban, calm and changeable – more apparent than on the Thames in London. It is this idea of a shifting, fluid timelessness that the new album by the Shovel Dance Collective does so well to document. The nine-piece group describe their practice as existing somewhere between folk music, music concrete and acoustic ecology, and on The Water is the Shovel of the Shore, they use this liminal approach to genre to navigate themes both contemporary and historical. The Shovel Dance Collective’s The Water is the Shovel of the Shore is one of the most forward-thinking and original collections of traditional material you’re likely to hear this year, or any year.
28. Dave Miller – Daughter of Experience
You can always rely on Tompkins Square to release music that is ahead of the curve. In this case and in the past, with last year’s release of Mason Lindahl’s Kissing Rosy in the Rain, for example, the character of traditional solo instrumental guitar music is questioned. For Mason’s album, he used electrified nylon string guitar and subtle brushes of organ to create a complex and focused sound around minimalist riffs. For Daughter of Experience, Dave Miller follows his previous amplified and groove-heavy self-titled album with his Nebraska. This stark solo acoustic effort was born during a two-week stay in the Catskill mountains, where Dave wrestled these beautifully disparate pieces from a particularly tricky 60s Stella parlour guitar. …the whole album is incredibly intimate (you can hear Dave’s breathing along with the string buzzes on many songs), the kind of work that uses the most basic of tools to do something new, in this case, challenge many solo instrumental guitar music tropes, while delivering beautiful, quietly powerful music.
27. Iona Lane – Hallival
Driven by awe and wonder, hope and joy, Iona Lane‘s ‘Hallival’ is a masterful debut. Across this album, the Leeds-based folk singer delivers her poetic songs with the utmost care and attention. Subtle musical touches and contemplative warm vocals combine to make this one of the most rewarding albums of the year. … a poetic gift, one to lose yourself in that will continue to reward you with each listen.
26. Darren Hayman – You Will Not Die
With You Will Not Die, Hayman continues the literary, humorous self-examination for which he originally found a kind of fame. But where his previous album, Home Time, was set at a jaunty angle, these new songs are more reflective and a little darker than we are used to. You Will Not Die is a long album – around the ninety-minute mark – but it never strives for the epic, and it doesn’t need to. Instead, it sees Hayman at his most withdrawn and introspective, uncovering new truths hidden in well-worn themes. This is something to be celebrated: when a songwriter of Hayman’s skill turns the spotlight back on himself – and in doing so, creates a new world in miniature scale – it’s worth taking note.
25. Maxine Funke – Pieces of Driftwood
Over a decade and four extraordinary albums, Funke has established herself as New Zealand’s premier purveyor of lightness, of songs whose beauty and mystery are only sharpened by their apparent ephemeral qualities. Hers is a magic akin to that of Sibylle Baier and Vashti Bunyan (recently interviewed here) – mundane objects and routines are effortlessly elevated to the realm of ritual and icon; dreams and seemingly random trains of thought are imbued with a potency that is barely graspable. Pieces of Driftwood, despite or perhaps because of the varied origins of its songs, is a perfect introduction to Funke’s very special work. These are small glimpses into dreamworlds, always invisibly tethered to a uniquely described reality. In that essay on lightness, Calvino quotes the poet Paul Valery: ‘One must be light like the bird, not like the feather.’ It is an appeal to liveliness – or rather to sheer, immediate aliveness with all its questioning potential – and it is something that Funke is innately attuned to.