Albums

Gog Magog, the highly anticipated follow-up album from The Trials of Cato is an album packed with genre-defying music that will surely be greeted with as much enthusiasm and praise as their debut.

Elise Boeur & Adam Iredale-Gray have been duetting on fiddles since their teens, so ‘Fiddle Tunes’ has been a long time coming; an undiluted return to their folk roots…with their diverse track record, who knows what they may dish up for next…volume 2 would be nice.

First released in 1974, Mick Hanly and Mícheál Ó Domhnaill’s “Celtic Folkweave” slipped under the radar, picking up a cult following in later years. Beautifully presented, re-mastered and including previously unreleased tracks, this folk classic is finally getting the attention it has long deserved.

Elspeth Anne’s ‘Mercy Me’ is her third album, and the subjects of many of its songs come from a series of dreams and nightmares prompted by the covid lockdown. It is an album full of ideas, but more importantly, full of feeling, a raw, moving triumph.

There is an elegance and quiet confidence throughout Hushman that makes it hard to resist. Full of balance, elegance and consideration…Perfectly pitched and performed, Ewan MacPherson’s Hushman is a little masterpiece of confidence and understatement. Wonderful.

For all the care and worry on Richard Dawson’s ‘The Ruby Cord’, there is always the possibility of an upsurge of joy, a moment of release… Wherever he currently sits on his 1000-year timeline, he speaks with unparalleled eloquence and imagination about the concerns and the comforts we all face.

Many will find the music on Bouquet challenging, but there is so much to enjoy here, and it is a high point in Robbie Basho’s career. This version is now the benchmark; beautifully packaged…an extraordinary album and a truly essential purchase.

Bert Jansch at the BBC is a truly glorious collection that has been extensively researched and features radio and TV sessions from 1966 to 2009. It’s an outstanding boxset release.

Lady Maisery deliver compelling messages in the most memorable ways. ‘tender’, their first studio album in six years, finds them delivering their strongest collection of songs yet and instantly re-establishes them at the forefront of British folk music.

A rising star in today’s Americana folk constellation, Jack Schneider’s Best Be On My Way is an engaging, musically understated, but highly accomplished debut that touches on universal emotions, often downcast but glimmering with shafts of light.

Featuring a host of special guests, Mike Vass’s Decemberwell Decade is a tour de force. Don’t wait to add it to your Christmas list, you’d then miss out on the best possible month to be listening to this inescapably December music.

For their latest album ‘Tri’, Welsh trio Plu broadened their soundstage, bringing a beautiful nuanced depth to their music. It’s an understated joy and one of the best albums I’ve heard this year.