Albums

Compositions for Guitar Vol. 1 & 2 reveal Will Graefe as an artist not limited to a single form. He creates music that moves the mind and soul, whether using strings and steel or synthesis.

Fred Moten & Brandon Lopez’s ‘Revision’ offers a unique hybrid of voice and double bass, intertwined impossibly as one in a recital that lives, breathes, evolves, explores, changes and expresses as one in an impossibly unrepetitive hour of sonic splendour.

While short, Samantha Whates and M G Boulter’s ‘Flower Days’ wastes no notes. A deeply felt and humane work, full of quiet joy and love of life and nature, this fresh and evocative release is one to savour.

Following their 2012 debut, Màiri Morrison and Alasdair Roberts reunite on ‘Remembered in Exile: Songs and Ballads from Nova Scotia’. It’s a beautiful and glimmering album on which they also demonstrate how to wring intense emotions from the most minimal of ingredients.

When Bitchin Bajas and Natural Information Society get together, a singular kind of magic emerges that epitomises the creative spirit of the Chicago scene but is nevertheless unique. ‘Totality’ is the fullest possible rendering of that magic and an essential piece of work.

All of the tracks on MIIEN feel like journeys, proof that MIEN truly understand the psychedelic assignment. They have the will and the talent to take us into the unknown and do so in unexpected and diverse ways.

With Time Indefinite, William Tyler has hit a new creative peak, seamlessly blending excellent guitar work with a heavy dose of the strange, and it works really well. Dare I suggest it’s his strongest album? Yeah, I do.

Zoé Basha’s impressive debut album, Gamble, contains a wealth of complex emotional layers, but at its heart is the joy of making new and truly exciting music.

It’s over five years since the last Sacred Paws album, but Jump Into Life is well worth the wait. It feels like the most fully realised example of their intriguing vision, tapping into a truly global set of influences to produce something complex and personal.

Dancing the Line is such a confident collection of songs; you can feel the ideas brimming in every sweep of Ultan O’Brien’s bow. Nothing is overdone or superfluous here; it is music in its purest state. I love it.

In the hands of Jonathan Nangle and the Crash Ensemble, something beautiful has emerged from the long gestation of ‘Blue Haze of Deep Time’, which should become a touchstone of the ‘slow music’ movement.

Folklore Tapes deliver one of the strongest and strangest in their Ceremonial County series. The Bohman Brothers provide the perfect primer for creating weird, place-specific atmospheres, while Jennifer Reid represents folk music as a living tradition, as entertaining as it is political.