Albums

On Waterbound, those all-important qualities of spontaneity and togetherness come across brilliantly, and in spades. Also, Alden Patterson & Dashwood have lavished just as much love and care on the package for this live album as they did on its predecessors.

This is an album that owes everything to the interconnectedness of things and is well aware of that fact… It is elemental and challenging music, but such is the skill of Apneseth and his band it feels beautifully simple.

Huam has something of the magic of an untrodden path about it. It rewards deep listening…light and quick, profound and full of care, it is an album of serenely balanced opposites. Also watch their new video for Mountain Of Gold.

To mark his 30th anniversary, Brooks Williams revisits his back catalogue to re-record some of his favourite songs along with an impressive array of guests including John McCusker, Christine Collister, Aaron Catlow and Jim Henry.

This brand new offering from the intensely versatile Swan-Dyer partnership is the product of their latest obsession – contra dance music. Don’t be sidetracked by its primarily dance-based rationale, but treat it as a pure – and purely enjoyable – listening experience.

Amalie Bruun successfully bridges the gap between Death Metal and acoustic folk making Folkesange an album you owe it to yourself to hear again and again.

Pavey Ark’s debut album tugs at the emotions with joy and sorrow in equal measure. Close Your Eyes And Think Of Nothing is, in a sense, a call to arms from a band that demands to be heard. It is a perfect antidote for these uncertain days.

Rattle on the Stovepipe’s “Through The Woods” is possibly even finer than their previous albums while Dave Arthur’s new release is a compilation of sorts, spanning the 15+ years of Dave’s tenure with the band he himself founded back in the early-noughties.

Downhill Uplift is the sort of album that will sound different every time you listen to it, and while it takes inspiration from a cluster of well-worn genres, the way those genres are meshed together seems entirely novel. The work of an extremely proficient musician and his band.

As debuts go, War to the Palaces is very impressive indeed. Recorded, mixed, produced and mastered by Ragged Trousers’ own David Hirst, it’s also a pretty accurate representation of what they offer live. So let’s have more please, lads – and soon!

On Prophecy Playground’s debut ‘Comfort Zone’ – elements of English bucolic poke through, swirl around with the sprites of the guitars, the subtle lush backdrops of strings, and with the lyrics that may mean something or may mean nothing.

There are few folk outfits working today as interesting and unpredictable as Canada’s Aerialists. Their new offering ‘Sienna’ is a masterfully performed collection of intriguing, often haunting material.