Albums

Aesthesis is the debut release of Thorn Wych, an instrument maker and musician based in the Lancashire town of Bacup, where she creates the most unexpected music on instruments made from native trees, like an earthy and ancient-sounding form of off-grid music.

Released back in November, dessus oben alto up is the first collaborative recording between Andrea Belfi and Jules Reidy. A personal favourite is ‘alto’, which fizzes with a transformative vibrant energy.

Cole Stacey’s debut solo album, Postcards from Lost Places, is an album that repays repeated plays to dig into the weft and weave of his musical textures and discover the pull of these lost places.

The latest Folklore Tapes Ceremonial Counties series features a satanic brew from dbh and The Dark Pool that most contemporary stoner rock bands would sacrifice their grandmothers for and a satisfyingly devilish and wholly fitting companion piece from the Primitive Percussion Youth Orchestra.

Within the meticulous nature of the sound of ‘Onilu’ is a paradoxically careful abandon, and the love of the playing and bouncing off of one another shines through brightly. I’ve not come across anything quite like it.

“Loudon Live in London” was recorded during a residency at Nell’s Jazz and Blues in London in 2024. It finds Loudon Wainwright III in top form, covering favourites, five brand-new songs and working an appreciative crowd in his familiar chatty and self-deprecating form.

Where there’s light, there’s shadow…with Sol Y Sombra, Rose City Band don’t shy away from the journey ahead, charting new directions in both the sun and shade. 

The abiding characteristic of Speilstillevariasjoner is its sense of wholeness. This is music that constantly has its eyes wide open, both in wonder and in anticipation of the next new and interesting path. Stein Urheim has again proved himself to be Norway’s premier musical explorer.

Looking for the Thread offers a captivating meeting of different but kindred musical minds of Julie Fowlis, Karine Polwart, and Mary Chapin Carpenter. All three can be proud of their collaboration; we can but hope for a sequel.

The Weather Station’s ‘Humanhood’ is a sharp-edged bulletin from the 2025 frontline. Within, hope can be found, not just in the human spirit but also in the boundless forward-motion energy that creativity offers us all…there might yet be light at the end of the tunnel.

For all its apparent familiarity, The Purple Bird is a country record that nobody else could have possibly made. Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy is still doing things entirely his own way, and he sounds as good as ever. Long may it continue.

RÓIS’ MO LÉAN is a masterful album with incantatory soundscapes that leave you for dead. “It’s as though Bjork was actually from Fermanagh and got really into ‘keening’.”