Albums

Blair Dunlop’s “What Still Survives” has many standout moments, one of the most impressive is the overall backbone of its sound, or what Bob Dylan described back in 1966 as ‘wild mercury’. It is an expansive, lyrically immersive album from an artist truly commanding and refining his expressive voice.

Mali Obomsawin’s “Automatic” is a stylistic left-turn made on her own terms. She stretches genre until it is practically unrecognisable and uses improvisation to move between tranquillity and chaos. Archival voices highlight the close relationship between her ancestral heritage and her current practice, dissolving the linear notion of time. A moving and masterful album that makes you want to go right back to the start.

Jeffrey Silverstein’s understated elegance comes into full focus on “Doggone”, his fourth LP and first for Full Time Hobby. Recorded in Portland with local musicians and clocking in at just under half an hour, it’s as lean as it gets, and all the better for it. No notes are wasted.

Buck Curran’s “Illuminations” honours the poet Arthur Rimbaud. He plays slowly on a 2009 Stefan Sobell guitar and leaves plenty of space; each note oozes richness and resonance, while family and environment enter the sound, making the album feel like an homage to his Bergamo life and family as well. Stripped back and beautifully inviting, it is the purest, most honest expression of his music to date.

Chuck Roth’s “Texture Songs” is a highly accomplished album that expertly blends experimental guitar playing that Derek Bailey would be proud of with lyrics and singing that feel intrinsic and organic to the sound, adding a pulse, a beating heart. It’s an impressive balance, sounding both effortless and exciting.

With “Everything in Readiness”, Shovel Dance Collective have combined vision and virtuosity, intuitive gristle and scholastic rigour to create the best folk album of the year. This is folk music in its most potent form. By allowing itself to be hybridised and mongrelised by other influences, they are getting closer to what’s most vital and true about the form.

Darren Hayman completed “I’m Your Team” in 2022, and it sat on the shelf for four years. Built on constraint, with a DX7 synth at its centre, it sees him at his most undiluted and emotionally stark, delivering some of the best songs of his career.

claire rousay’s “on holding” pairs dusty piano with field recordings and fleeting sparks of electronic background noise. The mood is free and quietly exploratory. She uses dissonance to interpret daily life in the abstract. We know from past work that every note she commits to tape serves a purpose; here, that feels, at times, self-reflexive, giving us a valuable glimpse into a highly original process that is always sonically rewarding. 

Richard Thompson’s “Hippies, Thugs and Heroes” pushes the envelope much further in studio craft and arrangements than its predecessor. There are startling musical diversions and excursions throughout, with the full band bringing extra textures. Six decades in, this cornerstone of British folk-rock still has the capacity to evolve, and this album stands tall among his recent releases.

Powtes’ “Destroying A Living” is a sonic monument to the common folk dispossessed when the Fens were drained. A six-piece band helmed by Gus Beamish, they bring the ecstasy of group improvisation to the austerity of the drone. It sounds as if they’re all performing live in the same room, responding to the warp and weft of their collective humanity.

Arborist’s “Looking For Love” explores love and its absence, using Belfast as a microcosm for the wider world. It is Mark McCambridge’s first self-produced record, made in his home studio with help from old friends. The record features some beautiful poetry, and McCambridge sets an extraordinarily high bar for composition, songwriting, and arrangement.

It’s been thirty years since the Silver Jews released their landmark second album “The Natural Bridge”. To mark the occasion, Thomas Blake takes a deep dive into David Berman’s complex lyrical world. In this highly personal and wide-ranging essay, Blake makes the case for The Natural Bridge as a masterpiece of alternative music while documenting the effect Berman’s lyrics have had on his life.