Albums

The Decemberists set the bar very high with ‘As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again’, a record packed with highlights, a fully-loaded taste of their essence, pulling in every colour and thread they have touched upon in a long and varied two-decade career.

Their talent as vocalists and harmonists is at the heart of Landless’s immense appeal. Lúireach is a reliquary of rich, dramatic tales and a celebration of resolutely feminist togetherness, yet another triumph for the fantastically productive Irish folk scene.

Marina Allen strikes the perfect balance between clarity and abstraction on Eight Pointed Star, fabricating a beautifully coherent but mysterious collection of songs that combine a gift for songcraft with something approaching lyrical genius.

With Maisha, The Zawose Queens have delivered a debut album that is not only vibrant and spirited but also, at times, electrifying. The traditional sounds of their ancestors, blended with modern-day electronic sounds, signal a new era.

Featuring Agnes Martian, Laraaji, Music for Connection and Hair and Space Museum, Coincidence is a record bursting with the joy of spontaneous creativity. It is both an uncompromising demonstration of free and experimental spiritual jazz and a document attesting to the power of collaboration.

Morning Improvisations / Evening Abstractions, the debut collaboration from Elijah McLaughlin and Caleb Willitz’s, is so packed with creative ideas and endeavours that it defies you to switch off from it for a moment. It’s an ace, energising recording that has something for everyone.

With ‘Days of Shaking,’ M G Boulter takes a deep dive into the darkest corners and the toughest dreams and nightmares that visit during those nocturnal hours. Aiming high, he has taken time to create a full-length work that demands and rewards deep immersion.

Glookies Guit, D.C Cross’s latest offering, encourages deciphering of song titles and deep listening. A musically rich acoustic guitar album of both depth and character, it’s undoubtedly his most accomplished work to date.

“Keep Me On Your Mind/See You Free” eclipses the already high standard of their previous two albums and demonstrates the value of genuine improvisation in popular music and the unique natural chemistry at the heart of Bonny Light Horseman.

With ‘The Wind’, Ann Annie explores the notions of what ambient music can portray, creating wafts of colour that tug and occasionally tear at the fabric of life…finding ways to take you places you might never have found otherwise.

L’Etrangleuse’s Ambiance Argile is a richly hypnotic album filled with raw energy. It touches on folk, DIY punk, postpunk, krautrock, and electric desert blues, and the rapport and connection between musicians belie their relatively short existence as a quartet.

Buck Curran’s ‘One Evening and Other Folk Songs’ is an album of hidden depths. His talent is an alchemical one: seemingly quotidian musical ingredients are turned into rare metals in his hands, and with this eclectic but hugely talented band, the results are doubly impressive.