Albums

It shouldn’t come as a surprise – despite Stick in the Wheel’s fearsome, uncompromising and unashamedly experimental attitude to folk music; the live recordings featured on Endurance Soundly Caged prove that they can still engage with listeners on the most visceral of levels.

While tackling difficult subjects, Jeb Loy Nichols’s ‘The United States Of The Broken Hearted’ is ultimately a soother; he never loses sight of the restorative beauty in music and hope found in basic person-to-person interaction; these are things which still make life worth living.

Like Pissaro’s painting from which ‘Late Afternoon in the Meadow’ takes its name, Joshua Burnside pairs together opposing imagery, offsetting the life-affirming and sacred with the crushingly bleak and mundane.

With ‘It’s Been A While, Buddy’, Ríoghnach Connolly & Honeyfeet continue their unique journey, sharing dollops of theatrical fun amongst more honest, personal, heartfelt lyrics, whilst always inhabiting a sprawling terrain of musical forms.

‘You Will Not Die’ finds Darren Hayman at his most withdrawn and introspective, uncovering new truths hidden in well-worn themes…when a songwriter of Hayman’s skill turns the spotlight back on himself – and in doing so creates a new world in miniature scale – it’s worth taking note.

Sun Ra Arkestra’s ‘Living Sky’ is so sublime, this is music to bathe in and soak it up as the intricacies and delicacies of the many layers of detail slowly unfold and shower the listener in pure interplanetary wonder.

You, Golden, the first duo record from Owen Spafford and Louis Campbell, was always one to look forward to. Uplifting, probing and exciting, as well as wise and patient, it is an album to return to and savour. Excellent stuff.

As beautiful and powerful as an electrical storm, Daniel Bachman’s Almanac Behind hones his new sound into a lean and precise tapestry. It is an extraordinary achievement by a unique artist. My album of the year.

On ‘While I Sit and Watch This Tree Volume 2’, Lizabett Russo takes the listener on a very personal journey. It’s a stunning and passionate album, one that you will be drawn back to repeatedly.

Laura Jean’s ‘Amateurs’ is the work of a sincere professional, one who refuses to be bound by boxes or boundaries. She moves in directions where the weight of her work and the totality of her talent are vast and limitless.

Emboldened by the band’s incredible array of talent, The Magpie Arc’s Glamour In The Grey is an incredibly varied album which shows that there is nothing predictable or pedestrian about folk-rock. It’s a welcome shot in the arm and a wild ride.

With Escape That, Sam Sweeney has made his most personal record to date. His playing has never been more confident or fluid and the accompaniments are also stellar in their subtlety. It is gorgeous, joyous playing, possibly his best yet.