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SERA has an impressive ability to weave together strands from different genres to create songs which allow her individuality to shine through. Little Girl looks set to reach a wide audience and bring Sera the commercial success she so richly deserves.

We talk in-depth to Belinda of O’Hooley & Tidow, our Artists of the Month, about the making of ‘Shadows’. Belinda reveals the inspiration behind the album, personal highlights, challenges, as well as exciting plans for the future.

The musical collaboration of Tanya Brittain and Sam Kelly digs ever deeper into the culture, heritage and traditions of Cornwall – a fresh and compelling display of creative symbiosis, suffused with a wild beauty and offering tantalising insights into the proud heart and soul of this ancient Celtic nation.

Shadows succeeds through the striking humanity of its songs, and by their originality. It’s an album that will hopefully see its creators heralded as one of the most vital – and indeed one of the most experimental – acts on the folk circuit and beyond.

I don’t think any other band has achieved such a convincing and honest adaptation of ceilidh music. Their versatility shines through in the studio, but their hearts are on the dance floor – and it feels like their natural home.

We catch up with those northern folk experimentalist Harp and a Monkey to talk about their latest War Stories project. They also share some of their personal highlights from a tour which saw them perform in some very unusual locations, including bomb craters on moors.

In addition to an impressive natural talent as a singer, musician and song writer, Emily Mae Winters is so steeped in the worlds of literature and music, it’s hard to imagine anyone could be more suited to a career in the arts. Her EP is an arresting, enthralling tantalising introduction to her work that leaves us hungry for more.

JD Edwards and Cara Luft may have been thrown together entirely by accident but it’s a partnership that, in Wondrous Traveler, has produced beautiful, moving, energetic music. I have a feeling ‘The Small Glories’ will continue to do that for some time to come. Don’t miss their UK Tour later this year.

From the quiet, understated splendour of Carry Your Kin, to the sonic majesty of For You; The Breath have achieved a harmonious alliance between contrasting elements that rolls across the senses like clouds caress low hills – always moving, changing, evolving; and utterly fascinating.

The stories contained here might well refer to a well-known period of history, but the angles at which they come at that familiar narrative, the microcosms they create, are truly individual and at times unprecedented. War Stories is a courageous, often demanding and ultimately satisfying project.

Light Up has the multi-faceted appeal of songs that have grown from the Irish folk tradition and reference the life and history of Belfast itself, in an approach that’s refreshing while still retaining an appealing familiarity.

Best known as a member of The Magic Numbers, Michele Stodart’s second solo album ‘Pieces’ is a far more rootsier offering and is, both individually and in sum, a thing of perfection.