Thomas Blake

Moray is a performer of consummate talent, a musician who plays a whole range of instruments on this album, and a singer of rare emotional depth. That he manages to do all this while forging a bright new path for folk music is admirable. That he has done so over six albums and still seems to be hitting his peak while never doing the same thing twice is remarkable.

Any chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Apple Of My Eye are happily lacking in any such weak links, and as a result, they have produced one of the most exciting folk albums of the year so far.

Buck Curran has been a leading light in the psych-folk scene for so long now that it might come as a surprise to learn that this is his first solo album. With Immortal Light he has successfully tapped into nature’s beauty and created a slice of alt-folk that is as engrossing as anything you’re likely to hear.

Shadows succeeds through the striking humanity of its songs, and by their originality. It’s an album that will hopefully see its creators heralded as one of the most vital – and indeed one of the most experimental – acts on the folk circuit and beyond.

Mathias Kom, along with his band The Burning Hell deliver an album that is easily their best to date. One that proves there is more to this anarchic, self-consciously verbose band than jokes. Public Library is an album of surprising emotional depth and musical variety.

Eight years after their debut we are finally treated to a follow-up from Rusalnaia – Sharron Kraus and Gillian Chadwick… one of the most stunning albums I have heard all year, and one whose power remains long after the songs have faded.

It is the exploratory feel of Mjelva and Rydvall’s playing that makes Vårdroppar something special, something transcends musical fashion. It has an almost jazzy quality to it, seemingly at odds with the traditional nature of the material.

A typically bold, distinctive and refreshing album from Alasdair that also proves he has an unerring ear for a successful collaboration. The importance of the unorthodox sounds added by Green cannot be overstated – they are further evidence that folk can and must adapt to – even embody – change.

Seamus Cater’s latest record, ‘The Three Things You Can Hear’, introduces a unique and singular sound, a truly original record with a cosmopolitan and at times improvisational feel.

The stories contained here might well refer to a well-known period of history, but the angles at which they come at that familiar narrative, the microcosms they create, are truly individual and at times unprecedented. War Stories is a courageous, often demanding and ultimately satisfying project.

The Silver Lake Chorus is one of the most unexpectedly contemporary-sounding records you are likely to hear this year, featuring some truly top drawer songs, made to measure, by some of the finest songwriters around.

Eyeland is like nothing else you are likely to hear, unless you have direct access to the future, but beneath the impressive and immersive layers of meaning and narrative, beneath the squall, the surprise and the silence, exists a spirited set of songs that are clearly the work of one of the best and most confident bands in America.