Bob Fish

The music of Scots trad group Heisk has a sense of electricity both literally and figuratively, creating something totally unique. Heisk is the sound of a band that will not be denied. Their music is irresistible.

One of the most intriguing albums to come out this year, the nine tracks of Wet and Unlucky leave us wanting far more from Tiger Saw and The Reasons Why. Who’d have ever thought that sadcore and country would merge so successfully?

Recording as Chorusing, Matthew O’Connell has created a piece of music that manages to create new language and meaning by meticulously crafting the sounds and lyrics that make Half Mirror something totally unique.

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.

Setting his crisis of confidence to music, Steve Dawson’s At the Bottom of a Canyon in the Branches of a Tree offers a renewal of hope. We’ve never needed that more.

Situations may be dire, and faith may sometimes be in short supply, yet Canyons to Sawdust by Bryan Away announces the arrival of a man whose talent cannot be ignored. He has found ways to create mini-masterpieces that taken as a whole become a truly cathartic experience.

Rather than dealing in musical assimilation, Joe Bourdet takes the work of 70s legends and update them for a new generation of fans. Meadow Rock comes from a time when musicians played because that was the only way they could express what was inside them.

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%.

On One (and Driftless) Left Vessel has found a way to mine two seams simultaneously, providing us with a literate worldview, while melding much of the album within a natural framework that has never been realized before.

Trevor Sensor has been to the edge, he’s peered over and decided that despite all the evidence to the contrary there are still reasons to live. On Account of Exile, Vol. 1 doesn’t offer us a lot of…it’s enough that he finds them for himself.

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.

What Jesse Marchant has done with Antelope Running is nothing short of extraordinary. The soul of a poet, in the guise of a songwriter, creating music that is timeless. This is his moment. Do not miss it.