Thomas Blake

Thomas shares his Top 10 Albums of 2016 including Yorkston/Thorne/Khan, Josephine Foster, A Dyjecinski, Richard Moult, Fred Thomas, Seamus Cater, Rusalnaia, The Burning Hell, Lady Maisery & The Furrow Collective.

Flood & Burn is Sean Taylor’s eighth album in just over ten years, and he continues to get better and better. It is a highly accomplished and well-rounded addition to what is already a hugely impressive body of work, and Taylor has quietly become one of our most valuable and unique songwriters.

So Much To Defend wears its heart on its sleeve. Wood’s delivery is unhurried and deliberate, his lyrics are unashamedly earnest, and his concerns are moral and humane. He has created a wise, soulful set of songs that should see him consolidate his place at the top table of British songwriters.

While it’s tempting to situate albums like A Fair Field under the broad ‘hauntology’ banner, this is no dry exercise in pastoral retro-futurism. Rather it is a varied, heartfelt set of tunes that also happens to be a valid and enlightening social document.

Paths To The Foss is a superb piece of work, warm, uncluttered and alive, one that rests in the cradle of Ian Humberstone’s singular voice. The perfect record to accompany you through a dark Scandinavian winter.

Big Machine is an album of unrestrained ambition and masterful execution from a performer at the very top of her game. It has all the hallmarks of a vastly important release, and should cement Eliza Carthy’s place as one of our most valuable musicians.

Jimmy Aldridge & Sid Goldsmith return with their second album, Night Hours. Backed by the members of folk trio Teyr, it is an album that is exhilaratingly diverse and full of impeccably crafted and beautifully realised songs.

These two well-travelled veterans of the folk music scene have still got a great deal to say and can still say it with style. That they have chosen to say it together, for this album at least, is something we should all be grateful for.

Lady Maisery’s live performance banishes thoughts of the cold and a sore throat for our reviewer Thomas as he declares: Lady Maisery have proved themselves one of the most invigorating and talented live acts around. They are a rare tonic in these troubled times.

With Wild Hog, The Furrow Collective have surpassed their excellent debut with a set of songs that is mature, intelligent and experimental. The quartet at the heart of this record, for all their differing styles, have hit upon something that has a rare sparkle to it. A deceptively simple, spell-bindingly beautiful record.

Jon Boden compiles The Ultimate Guide To English Folk, a lavish two-disc primer designed to appeal to experienced folkies and newbies alike. It is not the first such collection, but it is probably the most wide-ranging, lovingly compiled and inventively sequenced. One of the most important messages to take from this compilation is that while folk music in England is something of an extended family, it is by no means …


Cycle is without doubt, an album stuffed full of formidable singing and excellent musicianship. But more than this, it is an album that has something to say about today’s world and is aware of its place in history. Lady Maisery are unafraid to challenge preconceptions about folk music but are aware of its cultural significance and its historical imperative. This album proves that they are worthy custodians and spirited agitators.