Albums

Ancora picks up where Flook left off with Haven 14 years ago, delighting us, again, with their unique, exciting sound and their ever-inventive arrangements. Expectations more than fully met – simply a brilliant album.

California Feetwarmers will spare nothing to exhume this treasurable heritage for our delectation and have a whale of a time doing so. If you like your early jazz close-to-the-source, boisterous and fun, then they will definitely warm your feet and more.

Changeable Heart’s soul is in the traditions from which Ruth Notman and Sam Kelly draw their inspiration, but at its heart is a series of exquisite vocal duets from two of the finest voices in the land. It’s a marvellous, elegant and finely crafted album that will long be remembered as one of this year’s highlights.

His delicious caressing of the lyrics reminds me of Mike Scott at his most incisive; I can also hear the soulfulness of Ray LaMontagne at times too. Sean Taylor has recorded an album on a par with the strongest work by either of those high-ranking acts and has also written one of the premier topical song albums of our time.

From the artwork to the music, this album is pure joy. Most importantly, for all their infectious joy, this is a band that does not shy away from making poignant statements about the world we live in.

Patty Griffin’s latest offering is an album of quiet grace, determination, survival and self-identity that serves as a reminder of her status among the Americana greats.

Featuring Norwegians Frode Halti and Vegar Vårdal alongside Irish flute player Nuala Kennedy the Snowflake Trio’s debut album Sun Dogs contains a wealth of diverse, nourishing music and is an all-round thing of beauty.

The Social Power of Music is an exhaustive and eclectic 83-song anthology centred on the redemptive and revolutionary power of music. An astonishingly inspirational compilation that celebrates and aims, in its own way, ‘to surround hate and force it to surrender.’

The music on Katie Spencer’s full-length debut album is sensitive, poetic and perfectly judged, and executed with a confidence and skill, and experience, that would seem to belie her 21 years.

On The Reverie Road, Liverpudlian fiddler and multi-instrumentalist Mikey Kenney’s singing and playing displays plenty of distinctive touches that charm and delight throughout. The album also sports his own artwork and photography.

Empathy Moves The Water is a delightful album which migrates from energetic revival songs inspired by early rural gospel blues to haunting fiddle-drenched ballads expressing the isolation and humanity lost in a rapidly changing land.

Whereas Lucy Kitt’s 2012 E.P. could possibly be seen as a cabochon, Stand By is a full-faceted gem of an album. It is difficult to believe that it is not the product of a Laurel Canyon habituée, such is its veracity, especially given the fact that it is a debut.