Thomas Blake

Way Out I’ll Wander, the latest offering from Hannah Read, is a fine achievement: listening to each of its songs is like watching the snow settle in an exquisitely crafted snow globe, revealing an image of pristine clarity.        

There are big projects, there are gargantuan labours of love, and then there is this. The Self Preservation Society is an ambitious vinyl collection of songs from the late 1960s and early 1970s performed by the likes Eliza Carthy, Teddy Thompson, Marry Waterson and many others.

What Sam Carter and Jim Moray have created with Harmonograph is fittingly detailed, truly collaborative, varied and often beautiful. It is the work of two modern masters in perfect harmony. In the world of folk and roots music, collaborations don’t get much bigger and better than this.

While it is easy to focus on just how unusual Xylouris White’s latest album sounds, what shouldn’t be overlooked is the overwhelming and unexpected emotional impact it carries. Mother is that rare thing: experimental music with a huge heart.

We Are The Wildlife, the solo debut of Brona McVittie whose name has been cropping up more and more frequently in the more expansive and experimental subsets of the folk music world. This is one of the most distinctive debuts you are likely to hear all year.

Matthew Crampton and Paul Sartin talk to FRUK about the epic folk opera The Transports which is released as a live album this week and embarks on a 14-date UK tour from tomorrow.

There is nothing else quite like The Transports in the world of folk music, and this new version is even more ambitious than the original. The perfect combination of song and story that is a fitting tribute to its hugely talented and much-missed creator.

Thomas Blake shares his Top 10 Albums of 2017 including Richard Dawson, Toby Hay, Lisa Knapp, Cape Snow, Allred & Broderick, Tissø Lake, Julie Byrne, Alasdair Roberts, Alex Rex and more.

Cape Snow’s magnetism is as much in their humanity and warmth as in their stateliness and detachment; in fact, it is the tension between these two elements that give The Last Of The Light its immense and ambiguous appeal. An inspired collaboration.

The beauty and importance of this album lies partly in the fact that O’Hooley and Tidow recognise that an appreciation of this time of year – whether you want to call it Christmastime or not – is based on both personal and universal factors. This is an album of frosted beauty with a heart as warm as a coal fire.

The Burning Hell’s ‘Revival Beach’ is about the end of everything. But it is no less wise, funny or musically assured than its predecessor Public Library (easily one of the best records of 2016). Kom’s writing is a breath of fresh air, and I can think of few songwriters I’d rather spend the apocalypse with.

The Melrose Quartet embody the kind of collaborative spirit and socially aware stance that makes folk music such an interesting, challenging and continually relevant form. As demonstrated on Dominion, they have prospered by seizing the day, by daring to do things that are slightly different…who are able to make old songs sound new, and new ones sound timeless.