Albums

Coming on the back of a personally traumatic year, ‘The Fray’ has a grip of iron. John Smith says these are the most honest songs he’s ever written…hard to disagree. Featuring an assemblage of stellar musicians it’s a shoo-in for the best of the year lists.

We owe thanks to a data salvaging company for 3hattrio’s ‘Lost Sessions’. Mike Davies advises “Not one to have you sing along perhaps, but, pour a tumbler of mescal, crush in a few psychotropic salvia leaves and let your inner ghost dog off the leash.”

At the start of her debut album ‘Hands’, Lotta St Joan promised truth, and she delivered, holding nothing back. It’s a melancholic trip through the grieving process of love lost.

Solitary Company, the third album from Joshua Tree-based duo Son of the Velvet Rat, is redolent of the stark beauty of their Mojave home. Their finest yet; an album of the year.

On Ballaké Sissoko’s new album, Djourou, the Malian kora player chose diverse artists, removed from his own musical traditions – and transforms each collaboration into a moving partnership, highlighting the deep ties that bind us – a moving and excellent album.

Welsh collective ‘Hanks Company Band’ deliver some laid back cosmic blues on their new album ‘Big on Easy’, a very fine addition to your collection of homegrown country.

From the opening track to the last, this is an intoxicating album. Edo Funk Explosion Vol. 1 is an essential compilation, illuminating the work of these three groundbreaking artists and their incendiary sound, the likes of which had never been heard before.

Having successfully mined his personal experiences, Jason McNiff has delivered another work of truly great merit. Dust Of Yesterday is a well-crafted and beautifully performed album and provides a compelling argument for the artist to gain even wider recognition.

…somewhere at the heart of these new songs is the realisation that the world has caught up with their pessimistic vision of it. There is a new confidence on show here. It feels like the time is finally right for Arab Strap.

Recorded on St Valentine’s day 1978, there is much to love here – John Renbourn’s earthy charm, Jacqui McShee’s cut-glass clear and peerless vocals and Keshav Sathe’s superb tabla – a band at the peak of their powers.

It was in a world of experimentation and musical fervency that Nick Drake recorded Bryter Layter. 50 years on, we revisit his second album – his most ambitious and coherent – proactively responding to the vibrant musical world around him.

Inspired by a journey through the desert on the Texas-Mexico border, Cameron Knowler and Eli Winter’s new album ‘Anticipation’ is an extraordinary delight. A playful flight, that twists and flows as the duo throw the rulebook out the window, just existing in the moment.