Albums

Resonant Rogues, Sparrow and Keith J. Smith, return with a breathtaking album which clocks up the musical air miles from France to Appalachia. Catch them on their UK tour in July.

Cara Luft and JD Edward make a welcome return as The Small Glories as they celebrate a sense of place. On the final track ‘Winnipeg,’ they sing “It’s the music and the vibe where our spirits come alive”, something that seems a pretty good description of the album too.

Erlend Apneseth Trio demonstrate that wildness is still possible in folk music, as is a democratic, inclusive form of experimentalism. You are unlikely to hear a more innovative album all year, or one more in touch with its roots. Salika, Molika is an avant-folk marvel.

Nashville-based couple Scott and Kim Collins, best known as The Smoking Flowers, return with a stripped-down acoustic album, an affirmation of their shared love and the triumph over adversity, it snowballs into your heart.

“The Lost Words” finally reaches us in the form of Spell Songs. Composed by eight of folk’s finest contemporary talents: Karine Polwart, Seckou Keita, Julie Fowlis, Kris Drever, Jim Molyneux, Kerry Andrew, Rachel Newton and Beth Porter, the songs bring us hope for the future.

The quiet magic of I Feel Nothing Most Days is difficult to pin down, but in that essential unknowability, that sense of mystery, lies some of its appeal…like an instant, a snapshot of a rainy afternoon, slightly blurred, mysterious and beautiful.

While on a Hebridean road trip, Johnny decides to stay a little longer on the Isle of Lewis to catch Còig performing at Stornoway’s arts centre, An Lanntair. While the Canadian four-piece from Cape Breton are new to him he’s glad he stuck around.

Liz Conway’s Downhill All The Way serves as a lovingly configured, carefully produced artefact in memory of the incomparable Terry Conway, who still remains comparatively unknown in folk circles and grossly under-represented on record, but whose all-too-infrequent live performances still resound in the memory, years on.

Silver Pin is an excellent first release with a great selection of songs. Sophie Crawford has a lot to offer in both her voice and her rendition. This has gently but firmly fallen into my consciousness and I hope she finds time in her busy schedule to record a follow-up.

Drawn from Deep Water is an assured next step for Scottish four-piece Gnoss – from the poised and deeply moving to the evocative and stirring this marks a clear progression of their sound. Their best yet.

While Geneviève Racette may be a new name to many, this bi-lingual album is sure to change that, a great start for anyone discovering this young talent whose vocals and delivery are sure to enchant on first listen.

Shepherd In A Sheepskin Vest handles the vicissitudes of love and life with inimitable tact and charm as only Callahan can, resulting in a career-high that listeners are sure to return to for sanctum and solace for many years to come.