Glenn Kimpton

Featuring three of Chicago’s biggest hitters – Douglas McCombs, Bill MacKay & Charles Rumback – Black Duck is a dynamic, experimental set of instrumentals that oozes the kind of confidence you would hope for from such a power trio.

Damir Imamović’s latest album, The World and all that it Holds, is a beautiful, crystal clear, unpretentious and direct offering. Produced by Joe Boyd and released on Folkways, it is a triumph and delight on so many levels and is performed with the utmost skill and soul.

Migrant Flocks is the third album from Chicago pedal steel player Sam Wagster and percussionist Skyler Rowe and it’s an intriguing and versatile record of real creative endeavour.

For Jump on It, Bill Orcutt pulled a Harmony Sovereign out of the closet and stripped it of two strings, before recording. With a slightly shorter scale and sweeter tone, the Harmony epitomises the sound Bill achieves here – At once complex, clear, direct and primitive.

Xylouris White’s ‘The Forest in Me’ smacks of confidence and creativity and is happy to shift expectations and deliver a sound so different to previous albums. I’ve enjoyed this duo (trio?) since Goats came along in 2014, but this short, sharp and dynamic project is the one I’ve been waiting for.

For their latest album Sølvstrøk, Sarah-Jane Summers & Juhani Silvola created a Chamber Orchestra, adding another dimension to their sound while maintaining the duo’s integrity. It is music that is as wonderfully performed as it is confident and generous; another masterpiece.

Steve Gunn and David Moore’s ‘Let the Moon be a Planet’ feels improvised and free in nature. Still, its natural idiosyncrasies and fine nuances invite and reward deep listening—a quietly rich, contemplative and satisfying experience.

Salt House’s “Riverwoods” feels far more important and pertinent than a regular release. It is an album of stirringly gorgeous music that fully delivers its message about the importance of nature and its inherent beauty in our world, along with how we need to maintain it.

Featuring music from Joseph Allred, Rob Noyes, Jesse Sheppard, Isasa, D.C Cross, Nick Jonah Davis and many more, Buck Curran has curated a stunning tribute to the guitarist Steffen Basho-Junghans. This amount of musical quality and artistic depth is rarely found on one compilation. 

Joined by a number of gifted vocalists, Ben Walker’s ‘Banish Air from Air’ is a beautifully realised project, a fascinating, surprising and multi-faceted album of music, quite unlike anything you are likely to have heard before.

More experimental in character and challenging in places than his last album, Bile Bear’s “Cage Mates” is a sure sign of creative progression from a musician who remains intriguing and quite singular. 

For his solo release ‘While You Were Slumbering’, Joseph Decosimo plays to his strengths, crafting a magical tapestry of old time songs and instrumentals with minimal but effective embellishments from a host of guest players, including Alice Gerrard.