Albums

On Shorelines, Nuala Kennedy’s cohesive and compelling storytelling shines through, as she explores the representation of women in traditional folk song, while the accompaniment, arrangement and production provide a rich, subtle framework that lets her vocal and flute playing excel.

On ‘To Be A Cloud’, The Saxophones balance their music on a knife edge – a kind of chilled-out, margaritas-at-the-mall apocalyptica versus a combination of widescreen, salt-tinged psychedelia and dusky bar-room jazz, where big skies and big ideas vie with personal heartache and subdued, nostalgic longing.

James & The Giants might just be Toth’s most congenial work yet, veering damn close to all-round family entertainment. He offers sober musings for late-night booze hounds, with a wry literacy that echoes the late David McComb (The Triffids) and David Berman (Silver Jews).

Over many albums, Eliza Gilkyson has consistently proven herself one of the finest voices and writers in contemporary American folk music; Home is the icing on the cake.

Whether Joana Serrat & Riders of the Canyon continues as a collaborative project or simply serves as a launch pad for the band remains to be seen, but either way this is well worth the listen.

On his fourth album Siempre, Ags Connolly fully embraces the border country Tex-Mex sound. His last release was named Album Of The Year at the UK Country Music Awards; they should maybe start engraving the plaque with his name now.

A huge step forward from Bobby Lee, Endless Skyways is a bold, dramatic and sensitive collaboration between the guitarist and his intuitive band. An exciting and fascinating piece of work.

Kate Stables of This is the Kit seems almost to be a force of nature. She bends music to her will, creating and refining contexts almost at will. With Careful of Your Keepers she has created her own magic lantern, ever changeable, ever intriguing.

The talented Dallahan return with their fourth studio album, ‘Speak of the Devil’, a taut and riotous blend of vibrant, energetic, toe-tapping goodness – a stirring, striking, and thoroughly gripping listen.

It’s a sense of connectedness from the diaspora to the ‘motherland’ that makes Subhana such a  triumph – An ocean of sensations, Ahmed Ben Ali’s long-awaited collection radiates energy, peace and spiritual love.

Hannah Aldridge’s ‘Dream of America’ calls on you to listen with both ears, heart and mind, downplaying the vocal power of past releases in favour of an understated honeyed smokiness, it’s her most ambitious and assured work to date.

The canon of African electronic music is significantly enhanced by the release of ‘Synthesized Sudan’, the first ever release of electronic Jaglara, an obscure dance music from an area near the Sudan, Ethiopia, and Eritrea border. Full marks to Ostinato Records for bringing such joyful, uplifting new dance music to our ears.