The Dublin-based duo Lemoncello, Laura Quirke and Claire Kinsella, open up their homes and pick ten objects — a borrowed fiddle, a hand-painted notebook from Mexico, a wood-carved swan, a Simpsons fridge sticker — that tell small stories of places returned to, gifts received, and the things that sustain a creative life between records.

On Emily Portman’s fourth solo album, she weaves a tapestry of complex lyrical themes and intricate musical arrangements. Of all the singers and songwriters in British folk music, few have the ability to encapsulate what it means to be human in the way that Portman does. “Dominion of Spells” is a real and vital piece of work, something to be cherished.

Alex Zhang Hungtai has announced Orion/Mother, a new double album due June 19 on American Dreams. Across the two records, the Taiwanese-Canadian artist alchemises past and present by sampling home recordings made with New York improvisers and composing over them. Lead tracks Sidewinder and the title piece from Mother introduce a project Zhang describes as an exploration of the primordial unconscious.

Arborist, the project of Belfast songwriter Mark McCambridge, has shared a video for new single “Looking 4 Love”. Arpeggio harp and a piano motif borrowed from Jacques Brel’s 1961 song “Marieke” puncture a taut, straight rhythm and droning harmonium. There is menace in the atmosphere, but McCambridge offers a hand to guide the listener through Belfast’s darker corners.

Fly The Ocean In A Silver Plane, Mark Nelson’s latest solo album as Pan•American, plays out like the sensation of crossing cities in a little aeroplane — each track feels like its own journey to a nameless destination, but looking out the window, there is a sense of safety, comfort, and calm. A mesmerising body of work ruminating deep from within.

Jim Ghedi thrusts folk further to its edge on The Hungry Child, drawn from a 19th-century German poem translated by Judith Piepe. A starving child pleads for food and is told to wait until too late — a story Ghedi connects to the oppression of innocent people today. Watch Jordan Carroll’s accompanying sinister video set in the Peak District – out now on Basin Rock.

On Old Spot (II), fiddle player Rowan Piggott and banjoist Joe Danks continue exploring American Old-time traditions with a discernible difference in the sound — a suggestion of minimalism around some songs, and a precise nature to the playing. The duo’s second album is a significant leap forward — a very accomplished set from two players who clearly love their craft.

Emily A. Sprague has shared “Double Moon,” a new single and video via RVNG Intl. The lead track from her forthcoming EP of the same name, it layers incantatory repetitions over translucent washes of modular synth, with V Haddad contributing backing vocals and creating the accompanying video. The Double Moon EP is due May 29th.

Seoul seven-piece Leenalchi announce their Luaka Bop debut EP Here Comes That Crow, out June 12th, alongside a new video for the title track and lead single. Led by bassist and producer Jang Young Gyu, the band draws its material from pansori — the traditional Korean form of musical storytelling — and counts Brian Eno, Robyn, and Tune-Yards’ Merrill Garbus among admirers.

Aaron MF Olson has announced Songs Album II, his debut for Country Thyme Records, alongside the lead single and video “Nobody Can Tell”, Directed by Matt Hewitt. A romantic ballad of innate sweetness and wry wit, the song finds Olson in full command of his pop sensibilities — widescreen, precise and quietly unsettling. The album arrives June 26th.

Baltimore, the second album from North Carolina duo Tacoma Park, finds John Harrison and Ben Felton in more focused and confident form. Formed from lengthy remote sessions and edited with considerable discipline, the album balances acoustic Americana with electronic strangeness — simple melodies blending seamlessly with electronica and dance beats across forty cohesive, deeply enjoyable minutes.

Frog have always been brilliant at exposing the emptiness and hollowness at the heart of things, and filling it up, at least temporarily, with their own brand of heartfelt Americana. Eight albums in, and that continues to be the case. Frog For Sale, with its Beatle-baiting title and condensed, pining, piano-oriented sound, is a welcome hit of literate indie wistfulness from one of America’s most consistently impressive bands.