Haar might be Lauren MacColl’s most accomplished and rewarding work to date, an ambitious album of painterly beauty, on which the sadness of experience is offset by the constant awareness of the world’s wonders and complexities.  

Our Song of the Day is from Laura Misch. Her new single ‘Portals’, taken from her forthcoming new debut album, is “about sensing the natural world, feeling connected to the elements from the sky to the snails, and dancing with it…It was made with care and woven together by many friends’ creations…”

Listen to Espresso Martini, the new single from Cavalo55, the musical project of very well-travelled Simone Carugati, a multi-instrumentalist, folk singer-songwriter who grew up in Northern Italy.

First issued in 1969, the Malombo Jazz Makers’ unknown third album ‘Down Lucky’s Way’ is reissued on vinyl. The liner notes include an interview with Lucky Ranku, one of the greatest African guitarists of his generation.

Joost Dijkema’s ‘After Thunder Sun’ is an impressive piece of work, an album unafraid to let hooky, full-band songs sit alongside ragas and American-style solo acoustic instrumentals. Joost’s playing is excellent throughout, and the quality of music is also consistently ace, making this a key listen for fans of high-end guitar music. Bravo.

Jeffrey Silverstein is not your traditional cosmic cowboy, and Western Sky Music plays free and loose with conventional theories of country music. This is one album that will not be heading for the musty lower shelves of the record store.

Watch Antoni O’Breskey & Ultan O’Brien performing ‘Punta Umbria’. The essence of their music is rarefied yet profoundly earthy and fluid and in their upcoming album, they have fused seemingly irreconcilable elements from traditional Irish music, classical and Jazz.

Kicking any second album syndrome fears into touch; Lawside seems certain to figure in year-end best-of lists and launch Roseanne Reid into the wider consciousness of fans on both sides of the Atlantic.

PJ Harvey has shared an animated video for ‘I Inside the Old I Dying’, Directed by Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña – “I love how they have created their own narrative for the song yet still harness all the emotional qualities it inhabits.”

Marvellous and mystifying, the aural landscape of The Far Sound is simply unlike anything ever experienced before, making music that goes in a most unexpected direction, creating a sonic timepiece where worlds meet.

Mississippi Records are to release a reimagined version of Michael Hurley’s 2002 album Sweetkorn which will also feature a totally new recording. The album includes new artwork and has been beautifully remixed, as you can hear on ‘O My Stars’.

Watch the new video from Ellis Paul for ‘Who You Are’, a co-write with (and featuring) Abbie Gardner of Red Molly. It’s a song about freeing yourself of everything that’s holding you back and features on his new album 55, out on June 9 2023, via Rosella Records.