Thomas Blake

Maxine Funke’s output over the last few years has been consistently outstanding, and River Said shows her at her best and at her most varied. These are songs that gently demand attention, and longer compositions that are profound and moving and mysterious all at once.

From carefully observed vignettes to widescreen sonic explorations, Scott William Urquhart & Constant Follower’s ‘Even Days Dissolve’ is an immensely rewarding, sensual listen, ripe with understated strength. 

It may have taken a while, but with ‘We Are Only Sound’, Lucy Farrell has given us a bold debut album of rare sophistication, and a moving document of an emotional few years.

Yo La Tengo deliver two mammoth sets at Bristol’s SWX – including music from their new album This Stupid World – from urban kosmische to kraut-rock and all points in between – it’s an exhilarating and unforgettable evening from one of the world’s best live bands.

Amelia Baker, the singer, musician and writer behind Cinder Well, is disarmingly honest. But behind that honesty lies an intriguing depth and complexity. We chat with her about her new album ‘Cadence’; her Southern California roots and living in Ireland; and her influences and tastes, from Joni Mitchell to Lankum and Haruki Murakami.

Brìghde Chaimbeul’s ‘Carry Them with Us’, is an extraordinary experience that has slowly begun to resemble a series of strange, beautiful dream-stories, told with flair, nuance and incredible technical proficiency, but more importantly, with a real sense of ambition and innovation.

Emma Tricca is one of our most valuable and interesting songwriters, capable of strange and beautiful sonic flights of fancy and unexpected lyrical turns. Aspirin Sun is her best yet.

Cinder Well’s ‘Cadence’ is something of a journey. Meandering, non-linear, but full of care and wisdom, it is an astonishingly powerful piece of work that seems to have been conceived in uncertainty but realised with the supreme assurance of one of the most consummate songwriters around.

False Lankum is Lankum’s most uncompromising album to date which highlights their highly individual approach to music-making: a discourse between band and listener that is challenging, raw, brutally honest and always rewarding.

Hack-Poets Guild features three of the finest musical minds that the British folk scene has to offer, and on Blackletter Garland, an album that is more than the sum of its parts, they demonstrate the possible futures of folk music, all of them varied and vibrant.

Folk music has always been inextricably tied up with history, but rarely has the relationship been as mysterious and rewarding as it is here with Milkweed’s ‘The Mound People’.

On Grief in the Kitchen and Mirth in the Hall, Alasdair Roberts’ performances are musically exquisite, while his singing has never sounded so emotionally charged. The quality of Roberts’ music is astoundingly high, and nearly three decades into his career, that shows no sign of letting up.