Thomas Blake

Alasdair Roberts and Völvur’s “The Old Fabled River” is full of subtle mirrors, the dualism and continuity of life, pairs and opposites…a satisfyingly literary accomplishment, but also humane and wild and as vividly detailed as we’ve come to expect from anything Roberts is involved in.

On David Kitt’s “20”, he has lovingly rerecorded a score of his favourite songs. As demonstrated throughout, Kitt is a master of his craft and while this is essentially a career retrospective, it is a stunning musical document in its own right.

It’s rare to hear a band creating genuinely new music with a basis in traditional forms, but Erlend Apneseth Trio have managed it on more than one occasion. Lokk is their most vivid and satisfying reinvention yet.

Fishclaw’s latest EP, Feil, is part of their wider Ash project which brings listeners closer to the natural world…it’s like the musical equivalent of shinrin-yoku – forest bathing, even listening to it in the comfort of one’s own home is a transportive, strangely moving experience.

TRÚ are no ordinary folk band, and No Fixed Abode no ordinary album. Their music is dusted with a hint of magic and while it has all the energy befitting a first offering, it bears the stamp of quality usually reserved for seasoned artists.

Broken Mirror shares kinship with such great albums of the past that its greatest feat might be how it manages to sound so modern… a testament not only to Holley’s fiercely relevant songs but to White’s impressive showing as a composer… deep, complex & formidable, and intensely rewarding.

While TEYR’s energetic and wildly entertaining delivery is still there on Estren, the added lyrical depth and musical variety, the moral bite and sensitivity to the world’s problems elevate them to the very top tier of today’s folk music.

Mirry skirts the edges of hauntology – there is the definite sense of a lost arcadia, a nostalgia for a past that never existed, or perhaps only existed in Mirry’s own almost hermetic world. Mirabel Lomer’s unique talent is finally given its due.

…somewhere at the heart of these new songs is the realisation that the world has caught up with their pessimistic vision of it. There is a new confidence on show here. It feels like the time is finally right for Arab Strap.

Featuring a host of artists from Second Language, Drifts & Flurries is a sonically varied but thematically coherent album which at every turn is ambitious and surprising, always in tune with the wintry landscape but also with the interior landscapes of the human mind, which can be just as cold and just as beautiful.

Cedars is a beguiling and quietly astonishing piece of work, where Stuart Hyatt’s overarching vision finds its perfect counterweight in an immensely talented and varied array of musicians.

The Magpie Arc’s EP3 is a fitting way to cap a set of EPs whose very existence seems to celebrate the lasting power of musical collaboration at a time when it feels most at threat. It’s just as accomplished as its predecessors, and even more full of musical surprises.