David Kidman

Moore Moss Rutter show an unfaltering sense of artistic unity on their latest album that sports a clarity and presence that puts many other modern studio productions to shame.

Rachel Taylor-Beales fourth studio album ‘Stone’s Throw, Lament of The Selkie’ takes the form of a kind of song-cycle. Some three years in the making it is masterfully conceived and presented with imagery that is both precise and tantalising in its expression. An exceptional album.

One of the most celebrated of maverick cult roots outfits, Groanbox release their sixth album in celebration of ten years of making music together, a strange but intoxicating brew.

Tender Gold and Gentle Blue is the latest offering from Red River Dialect, a band formed in Falmouth, Cornwall, in 2009. In the words of M.C. Taylor “Theirs is a focused longing, a confusion of soul, a visionary lamentation”.

Trembling Bells’ vivid cacophony rules benignly, combining volume, substance and intoxicating, druggy lyrical beauty in a darkly satisfying, curiously celebratory and often epic aural challenge. Don’t expect an easy ride, and don’t for a moment think of compromise – instead give this literally-stunning music your full attention, and stick it on repeat.

Shirley Inspired is nothing less than a vitally important set, very likely the most important one you’ll consider buying this year. And the best possible tribute to a remarkable, and highly inspirational and influential, lady.

A neatly timed appetite-whetting release in decent advance of a very brief UK tour comes this latest collaboration between the two country legends who’ve been good pals now for close on 40 years.

Following hot on the heels of a brace of seriously landmark live gigs: first at this year’s Celtic Connections, and second and most recently in Dublin where they celebrated two decades of straight-down-the-line high-energy music-making Danú ‘s latest offering ‘Buan’ is in every respect a splendid achievement from a premier Irish band still at the very top of their game.

Danny Schmidt’s work is characterised by a beauty in the simplicity of its expression, a quietly compelling demeanour that draws the listener in immediately. Owls is everything a contemporary troubadour singer-songwriter album should be.

Nothing More is a most valuable set, not least in that it brings together under one roof a host of recordings that together could be argued to represent the best, the bulk of the collected Fotheringay, and impeccably presented in the house style of earlier Island/Universal hardcover box-sets including a new authoritative essay by Mick Houghton, along with a copious selection of rare and previously unseen photographs.

The sheer exuberance of The Sweet Lowdown’s playing is infectious and when they combine in harmony the bar is sure raised. An eminently desirable album that will keep your CD machine well occupied and very likely locked on repeat play.

The stunningly direct, positive live feel of Robb Johnson & The Irregulars latest album commands maximum respect, not least for its driven, joyful spontaneity, and, when played at full volume especially, is fabulously resplendent in its punchy detail and all that glory.