Albums

‘Places’ is a variable blend of delicate subtleties that will draw you in, and before you know it, leave you in a daydream-like state while as it plays.

Steve Gunn and John Truscinski are longtime collaborators and their latest release Bay Head evidences a well-developed relationship between the two – a dreamy escape, a series of sounds and atmospheres to get lost in.

Communion is an excellent solo debut by an artist who is bringing the rich tradition of Korean folk music into the modern age. Stark, hypnotic, minimalist, full of rich hidden beauty.

The Turbans create a highly danceable stew of different musical styles from all over the world-“manywhere” as the band call it – played with fire and conviction, and first-rate musicianship.

Molly Drake was a songwriter of vivid vision and an author of strange, calm, ambiguous poems which deserve to be remembered on their own terms. This release will go some way towards making sure that happens.

Connecticut singer-songwriter Jesse Terry returns with his fifth album ‘Natural’. Featuring a collection of duets with his favourite female singers it’s an incredibly soothing album – a natural remedy to ease away the stress at the end of the day.

Thom Ashworth leaves us wanting more on his latest EP ‘Hollow’, but it is one of those rare occasions when, having heard it for the first time, you want to listen to it again and again.

Richard catches Josienne and Ben in Leicester – “there is a new maturity to them – the melancholia is still there, the introspection and self-reflection survive, but the control has shifted and a new path is being explored.”

St. Peter is an album full of shimmering, finely crafted layers. Emma Tricca has employed an enviable array of talented collaborators to help achieve this unique effect, but it is her own approach to music-making that really marks this out as a serious piece of work and her best album to date.

All praise to Fledg’ling for not only rescuing this superb collection from wherever it had been gathering dust but, in the process, bringing West’s name back into the spotlight she deserves as one of the great revivalists of American folk music

Born in London, but raised in Brooklyn, The High Cost of Living Strange is Ben de la Cour’s fourth album. Trading in what he terms Americanoir, this album won’t let you down.

Utopia and Wasteland explores a formidable range of human emotions and political ideas, and one that flits easily between the minuscule detail and the grand statement. An exceptional album from one of the most exciting duos not just in folk but in any genre.