David Kidman

Kate Rusby demonstrates on her 14th studio album that her artistry is constantly evolving. Avoiding the snares of the predictable while springing a few surprises, the expansive musical backdrops on the disc are full of interesting detail, both refreshing and stimulating: not an easy trick to pull off. One that will appeal to existing and new fans alike.

Recorded during Pentangle’s twelve-date 2008 reunion tour, Finale is a magnificent record in all respects. Treasure this set, for we’ll not see the like of Pentangle again. Out this week on Topic Records.

Anyone seeking the kind of feelgood experience that a straight-up album of good honest Irish traditional music can bring, need look no further than this charming disc, for it delivers nothing less than “the reel thing” with The Reel Note.

Richard’s three-years-in-the-making new album, anything but “careless”ly configured and managed, has sure been worth the wait, and contains several individual songs that are, I’m convinced, likely to be regarded as among his best creations.

Light On Our Limbs is the latest offering from 18 Year old Daisy Vaughan whose home is a caravan in a field in Suffolk. The songs on offer will draw you irrevocably into her world leaving you wanting more.

Cillian Vallely, one of the the foremost pipers of his generation releases his first solo album, The Raven’s Rock. He wears his virtuosity very lightly yet still manages to set the hairs prickling at the back of the neck with superbly expressive playing.

Solarference have intuitively constructed a thorny and challenging set of pieces that amply repays any measure of the effort expended in getting to know their music. The ghosts of the past continue to inform the present, which in turn haunts the future.

Brimming with delicate individuality Lucy Roleff’s songs are intimate and carefully considered jewel-like creations that are pitched somewhere between hauntingly intense and beautifully serene.

This is an extraordinary album: exceedingly hypnotic and strongly individual, while at the same time intensely moving, elemental and Powerful. It’s proved all too easy to fall under its spell, and I’m hooked for good, with the disc on pretty constant replay.

Much like the album’s title the songs on Emily Jane White’s latest offering share a special musical and dramatic unity, whose intimacy is sometimes quite overpowering in spite of its pervasive sense of distance and shadowy remove.

Harrington’s music packs a considerable, and quite heady, emotional charge. The Diver’s Curse certainly repays your very closest attention, and its meditative, insightful poetic inventions are destined to haunt you for a long time.

Well attuned to the zeitgeist of that classic early-70s psych-folk era I’m finding myself wishing I’d caught onto Hodmadoddery sooner – I’ve two decades of catching up to do. Get your hands on a copy, you won’t be sorry.