Albums

Featuring Lebanese singer Pôl Seif and European instrumentalists, Mòlo Sâyat’s music is both chimeric and celebratory, featuring Arabic, Italian and Romani language and a fusion of musical styles; these are players of the highest order. We look forward to the next chapter.

Analog Africa really is a gift that keeps on giving. Essiebons Special 1973- 1984, celebrating the legendary Ghanaian producer Dick Essilfie-Bondzie, is yet another powerhouse release. Whether you are new to Afrobeat/Afrofunk/ Highlife or already an aficionado, this album is well-worth seeking out.

While Shade perhaps doesn’t quite possess the textural warmth of Paradise Valley or hypnotic pull of Dragging a Dead Deer, its greater clarity and confidence offers a glimmer of hope that is perhaps unprecedented in Harris’ previous music as Grouper.

Elliott is living proof that a well-timed whisper can often be more consequential than a shout, and on December songs he takes that aesthetic to its quietly impressive limit. It is hard to see how this album could have come out any better.

On one song, Love asks “Are you ready to be wonderful?”. “Will You Be There” clearly suggests O’Connell & Love were most certainly well-prepared.

On Just Rain, Jessica’s Brother have created something much larger than the sum of its various parts in which everything is not exactly what it seems.

Belgian trio Tamala return with their second album Lumba (“the big day” in Mandinka) with a message for change and a call to stand against the unfair distribution of wealth in the world today.

With Yonder Green Grove, The Norfolk Broads have produced a collection of greater stature. The vocal accomplishment of all four singers, whether alone or together, is spellbinding.

Introspective, reflective, and, at times, steeped in memories of darkness and despair, but always reaching to take hold of the light, People in Cars is Curse of Lono’s most personal album to date and, while not as urgent as past outings, the accumulative impact is mesmerising.

As you may have gathered from the title, The Man Who Built Christmas is an early musical tinsel treat from Charlie Dore…anyone would be well-pleased to find this EP in their stocking.

Devin Hoff pays tribute to Anne Briggs through a series of dramatic but somehow faithful rearrangements. Featuring a stellar cast of like-minded Briggs fans, Voices From the Empty Moor looks backwards for inspiration but is entirely contemporary in feel.

On his latest album, Minimum Wages, Robb Johnson adds more chapters to his contemporary history of the UK that emphasise the tragic, the desperate and the inequality. Crisp, clear and excellent.