Albums

Featuring Andy Cutting, Ríoghnach Connolly & Ellis Davis, Rosie Hood and more, Locations is the result of the efforts of three Liverpool students who drove across the North of England in a red Corsa filled with audio and film equipment to record six musical combinations in six different locations.

It’s not often that, at first listen, an album almost literally takes your breath away. But Mishra’s ‘Reclaim’ bristles with vibrant energy and has a freshness and lightness of touch that did just that.

It is hard to imagine that there will be a better debut album this year. With ‘The Impossible Wild’, The Last Inklings have shown that they are envelope-pushing visionaries.

A perfect illustration of how even an ad-hoc Findlay Napier album becomes a  captivating, indispensable work, it is what it is and what it is, is magnificent.

dreamcreatures draws its power from enigmatic sources: there is a tension between Webb’s self-confessed lack of confidence and his evident and supreme gifts as a songwriter and singer. It all makes for a raw, quietly uncompromising and thoroughly engrossing listen.

Old-timey acoustic bluesman Mark Harrison makes a welcome return with ‘The Road to Liberty’ that offers up a mirror to our troubles and challenges…while he might not be able to solve them, he still makes us smile as we go through them.

With their incredible debut record, Wyndow capture the contradictory feelings of uncertainty and familiarity of the last 18 months into this experimental time capsule of beautiful melodies, ethereal vocal layers, and powerful lyrics.

Ashley Shadow’s voice seems able to transform the bleak moments on Only the End. She has reached a place of acceptance, where the world is not so overbearing…a woman on a journey.

While Tony Kamel appears to have a healthy sense of respect for traditions, Back Down Home doesn’t kowtow to any particular genre, making it all the richer an experience.

Produced by husband Neilson Hubbard, Neon Dream is Audrey Spillman’s first album since 2016’s Thornbird. To appreciate its nuances, listen to it without other distractions to let its listening pleasures unfold. It will be time well spent.

This is another outstanding example of how the pandemic has resulted in artists reconfiguring the way they approach their craft, finding new pathways while building on their established foundations. Between Us marks a new pinnacle in Ana Egge’s career of consistent highs.

Rewilding is majestic music. Dan Brown, the writer, lead-musician and producer, has a promising future, as do all the contributors here who must share some due credit for the outcome.