Albums

Forget Me Nots aren’t radical reworks or reinterpretations in any way. Warmly sung and finely played by Jesse Terry, featuring largely laid back and uncluttered arrangements, they are affectionate love letters to his influences.

I Promised You Light seems to mark a turning point for Josienne Clarke, bursting with possibilities of the next steps for one of the most captivating and affecting musical artists around right now.

Drawing on personal grief and hope, on Metal Bird, Eve Adams exposes the flaws that have followed her around and creates a new world that exists in the “blur between fact and fiction”.

Heal & Harrow is a refreshingly original & carefully-crafted album, with musicianship & compositions of the highest quality. It illuminates the injustices inflicted on so many innocent women in the past, as well as drawing parallels to ongoing misogynistic attitudes and behaviour.

Good Morning Bedlam specialise in a highly appealing form of controlled chaos, merging touching and tender passages with jittery jive that can sound like a speed freak on a bender. Lulu is as good as anything you’re likely to hear this year or any year.

Liam Grant’s debut album is a homage of sorts to the music he loves including Son House, Charlie Patton and Jack Rose. However, it’s his original work, such as Aroostook, that is telling me that Liam is a musician to keep an eye on.

Weep The Time Away is a wonderfully atmospheric album with Sofie Livebrandt’s nuanced interpretations perfectly attuned to Emily Brontë’s poetry, its reflections and sentiments. It honours and illuminates its source, prompting more to discover Brontë’s work.

With a line-up of international musicians, The Year of the Rat, the latest offering from Gabriel Moreno, a bilingual Gibraltarian poet and singer songwriter, has indeed given us an album of the times.

Staring At Mountains is a strangely visceral album on which we get to hear Adam Ross at his most open. It provides the richest and most detailed snapshot yet of the songwriting and thought processes…of one of Scotland’s most talented singers and songwriters.

If you are looking for bright, stirring, exceptional fiddle playing and variety, then Aidan Connolly’s “Portland Bow” will make your day. His warm, melodic playing carries the collection, adding just enough ornamentation to put his personal stamp on a great set of tunes.

Peter Knight & John Spiers’ ‘Both in a Tune’ is effortlessly impressive and sublimely performed…innovation, experimentation and improvisation at its very best. By the end this year it will surely still be in the minds of many as one of the best of 2022.

The live performance of Ordinary Giants, Robb Johnson’s highly acclaimed song-suite was exceptional entertainment, captivating, mesmerising, heartening and distressing, constantly assailing the range of human emotions. The musicianship and vocal contributions were top-class.