Albums

Kiran Leonard’s ‘Real Home’ is spiky, literate and humane, and although it navigates some extraordinarily varied terrain, it never strays too far from its theme or from its ultimately melodic musical core. Real Home is an object lesson in combining experimental substance with accessible style.

Iron and Wine’s ‘Light Verse’ traverses times and tides, spinning a web that irresistibly draws you in. It leaves you wondering how Sam Beam can make such a complex record sound so easy.

Marlinchen In The Snow, the fourth studio album from Australian sibling duo Charm Of Finches soothes and disturbs in equal measure, whimsical but wise, like the bird in the fairy tale, it rises to sing the truth.

On ‘Eternity Mongers’, Michael Feuerstack has deliberately pushed himself out of his comfort zone. There is so much bubbling on the peripheries of these songs that the only thing to do is go back and listen again, an undertaking as rewarding as it is pleasurable.

Leyla McCalla’s ‘Sun Without The Heat’ is a consummate, original album that is Janus-like in its ability to communicate both sorrow and joy. Its shifting moods, musical styles, and influences make for a beautifully varied and rewarding listen.

“Already allocated a place in my albums of the year” – Both dark and profoundly moving, a confessional and a prayer, John Moreland’s ‘Visitor’ takes him back to basics, with an emphasis on his voice and his words.

James Elkington and Nathan Salsburg are known for putting out intelligent, thought-provoking music and All Gist is the finest example of their skills as a duo so far. A wonderfully soothing recording of top-level musicianship.

Daniel Bachman’s 25-minute opus, Quaker Run Wildfire, is one of his most potent and visceral responses to climate change to date. It features field recordings he made near his home during the 2023 drought and the ensuing devastation of the Quaker Run Wildfire.

Repertoire sees Shane Parish flex across fourteen cover songs arranged for acoustic guitar inside thirty-two minutes. Finely nuanced and not without some remarkable moments, it’s a beautifully executed collection and a fitting tribute to the likes of Alice Coltrane, Roland Kirk and John Cage.

On Hardly Working, The Burning Hell’s Ariel Sharratt and Matthias Kom team up with Shotgun Jimmie on a multifaceted and highly satisfying piece of work. They are on tour now in the UK.

Featuring guests Steven Adams, Polly Paulusma and Boo Hewerdine, “I Thought It Would Be Easier”, Annie Dressner’s fourth studio album, finds her transforming moments of sadness into moments of musical joy.

Olivia Chaney’s ‘Circus of Desire’ is an album of great maturity, crystalline beauty and sometimes painful self-knowledge, one that marks her out as one of our finest singers and one of our most valuable and accomplished songwriters.