Mike Davies

Produced by Jim Moray and featuring several special guests, Out of the Rain is a glorious, re-energised return from Blair Dunlop that should comfortably reinstate him among folk rock’s upper echelons.

On her long awaited third solo album Wanderer, Ruth Moody’s striking vocals sketch out true life moments with a warm intimacy that stays with you long after the album’s end.

For ‘Anniversary’, Abigail Lapell celebrates commitment and growing old together…with music and songs such as these, let’s hope her albums turn into an annual event.

Josienne Clarke’s ‘Parenthesis, I’ is an affirmation that out of the deepest darkness sometimes comes the brightest light…to paraphrase her lyric, Clarke spins her alchemy, she gives us hope.

Massachusetts duo Mark Mandeville & Raianne Richards return with Making Promises, their fourth studio album, once more steeped in their close harmony folksy Americana with several stripped-back acoustic songs inspired by their marriage in 2021. 

With Ruth Theodore’s meticulously constructed melodies and literate, open-hearted and relatable lyrics, ‘I Am I Am’ is her finest album to date.

Canada’s The Deep Dark Woods return with another fine selection of folk songs – Broadside Ballads Vol III. It’s a quietly intoxicating album featuring the warm-voiced Ryan Boldt, his band, and special guest Erin Rae.

While The Lostines’ eclectic yet familiar musical influences connect with the listener across their debut album, there is far more going on beneath the surface that makes this duo’s lyrical tales all the more alluring. It’s definitely time for more people to meet them.

With an underlying theme of home, and featuring a number of co-writers and guest musicians, Ben Glover’s ‘And The Sun Breaks Through The Sky’ is a top-notch addition to an already outstanding catalogue.

Marlinchen In The Snow, the fourth studio album from Australian sibling duo Charm Of Finches soothes and disturbs in equal measure, whimsical but wise, like the bird in the fairy tale, it rises to sing the truth.

“Already allocated a place in my albums of the year” – Both dark and profoundly moving, a confessional and a prayer, John Moreland’s ‘Visitor’ takes him back to basics, with an emphasis on his voice and his words.

Featuring guests Steven Adams, Polly Paulusma and Boo Hewerdine, “I Thought It Would Be Easier”, Annie Dressner’s fourth studio album, finds her transforming moments of sadness into moments of musical joy.