Albums

Delivered with eloquence, fire and an impressive eye for poetic detail, Lonnie Holley’s ‘Tonky’ is a work of multitudes. It follows unlikely trails, expands on themes other artists would pass over, and invites a depth of thought and engagement rarely found in contemporary music.

Musically, lyrically and thematically, a fire rages through the Brown Horse’s sophomore album, All The Right Weaknesses. It’s a stupendous follow-up that should see it easily featured on many year-end best-of lists.

With lightness and an ear for a concise and cutting phrase, Clara Mann alchemises her experience into a universal emotional reaction on ‘Rift’. In the space of a debut, she has gone from ‘one to watch’ to one of the best songwriters in the country.

‘no floor’ is more eaze & claire rousay’s most organic and free-flowing record to date. With not a wasted note to be heard, it’s full of ideas, using the collage form to its full potential; an impeccably crafted album and highly recommended.

Cameron Knowler’s “CRK” is a pivotal and adventurous album that feels both timeless and forward-looking. With its diverse and engaging character and mature and assured arrangements, he’s crafted a fine and highly recommended album.

Experimental, trippy, fiercely creative and quite mesmerising, Whitney Johnson & Lia Kohl’s ‘For Translucence’ is a tricky album to pin down, but you’ll be glad you gave it the time and space to reveal itself.

On ‘Come Into the Garden’, Natalie Wildgoose conjures a strange world submerged in sweet, subtle sound and rich in the unlearnable language of dream and memory.

Throughout ‘Uncharted’, the new album from Rachael McShane & The Cartographers, the music sounds fresh and vibrant alongside Rachael’s bright vocals. It’s perfect for spring and hugely enjoyable to listen to. And for that, we can be grateful.

The songs on Alex Rex’s ‘The National Trust’ may revel in bitterness and humiliation, but they are real and unflinching and fearsomely clever and often beautiful. Neilson remains an absolute one-off.

Toria Wooff’s sophistically cultivated self-titled debut album is a work of art that demands proper engagement and, in return, promises fruitful payback. The maturity on show points to even more interesting creativity further down the line.

It’s time Jeffrey Lewis was recognised as one of the best lyricists of his generation, The Even More Freewheelin’ should do more than cement that status. All things being fair, it should go down as one of the best albums of his career.

Dylan Golden Aycock’s ‘No New Summers’ is a probing, mercurial piece of art that looks to expand upon the norms of the so-called American Primitive brand of instrumental guitar music…rejoice in the artists daring to challenge the norms and bringing us music to shout about.