Thomas Blake

Julie Byrne’s latest album Not Even Happiness contains vast themes of travel and belonging which collide in moments of limpid beauty. Delivered with wisdom, wonder and quiet certainty.

On ‘The Other Side,’ Adaya successfully reimagines folk music through the bright window of intelligent songcraft and genuinely experimental arrangements. It is an intensely varied and often mesmerising release from a unique voice.

Pangs is a collection of songs that are tighter and more incisive than practically anything else in Alasdair Roberts’ massive back catalogue. Yet another cracking instalment from one of the finest recording artists currently working in the folk idiom.

Neil McSweeney’s latest offering ‘A Coat Worth Wearing’ is reminiscent of the romantic poets Wordsworth or Shelley, but like Blake, he has a darker side, a rebellious streak and a decisive need to push for positive change. It is a rare songwriter that can combine these elements over the course of an album or even a career. McSweeney often manages to do it in the space of a single song.

Chris Foster has the uncanny ability to make everything he does appear easy, assembling or arranging songs like an artisan builds a drystone wall. And like drystone walls, Hadelin is sure to stand the test of time. The album features Jim Moray, Jackie Oates, John Kirkpatrick, Jim Causley & more.

Trimdon Grange Explosion are made up of four core members of The Eighteenth Day Of May and for those of us who enjoyed that original LP it is a pleasure to report that the new band have picked up pretty much where the old one left off.

It is ‘Burning The Threshold’s’ tangible atmosphere as much as its songcraft that makes it one of Ben Chasny’s (Six Organs of Admittance) most accomplished and accessible releases to date.

If you are new to Norwegian traditional music, this exquisite album is one of the most startling musical experiences you are ever likely to have. If not, then you will soon realise that the Kjorstad brothers are in the process of taking their country’s folk music in entirely new directions.

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.