Bessie Jones: Get in Union review – 60 songs straight from the gut and heart
This remastered set of Jones’s recordings with the Georgia Sea Island Singers richly celebrates a traditional vocalist of key historical importance
Brigid Mae Power: Head Above the Water review – quotidian magic
On her third album, Irish folk singer Brigid Mae Power sees no disconnect between ancient and modern. Neither does her haunting voice, an instrument that raises the everyday to a near-mystical realm. On The Blacksmith, a traditional tune, Power’s protagonist … Continue reading
Daugherty: This Land Sings review – exuberant polyglot Woody Guthrie celebration
Michael Daugherty’s tribute chronicles Guthrie’s life in 17 fluent pieces for soprano, baritone and ensemble, with tints of US music from folk to jazz
Jack Colwell: Swandream review – theatrical, raw songs packed with pain and soaring survival
The Patrick Wolf influence is unmistakeable – but while Colwell’s debut revels in drama and emotions, producer Sarah Blasko lends it a balancing restraint
Jake Blount: Spider Tales review – instant classic reinstates folk’s black, queer roots
This debut album uses limber banjo and fiddle to delve into subversive stories of violence and survival
Watkins Family Hour: Brother Sister review – a model of sibling harmony
Sean and Sara Watkins are back and in reflective mood
Kirsty Merryn: Our Bright Night review – thieves, sailors and nuns mix heady balm
(Self-released)Merryn’s second album is full of pared-back, piano-led mood pieces, her voice a treat for the soul
Laura Marling: Song for Our Daughter review – better than ever
Laura Marling’s seventh album is addressed to an imaginary daughter: it provides succour, perspective and more than a few warnings. “Sometimes the hardest thing to learn is what you get from what you lose,” she muses on Blow by Blow. … Continue reading
James Elkington: Ever-Roving Eye review – a slow-burn delight
(Paradise of Bachelors)
Laura Marling: Song for Our Daughter review – the intimate album we need
Written to an imaginary child about ‘what it is to be a woman in this society’, the singer’s seventh album is alternately intimate, sneering and sad, and lavished with gorgeous melodies
Bob Dylan: Murder Most Foul review – a dark, dense ballad for the end times
Dylan’s first new song in eight years is a fascinating portrait of his obsession with JFK’s assassination, rich with pop cultural detail and apocalyptic dread
Wu Fei and Abigail Washburn: Wu Fei and Abigail Washburn review – transcendent and blissful
The two musicians seamlessly merge folk traditions from China and the US, on an album deserving mainstream recognition
Georgia Ruth: Mai review – lush Welsh pastorals and other odes to spring
(Bubblewrap Collective)
Big Thief review – brawny folk-rockers beguile the big leagues
The New York group play their biggest-ever gig, and captivate thousands with their unshowy, confidently beautiful songcraft
Myrkur: Folkesange review – Danish black metaller makes dense, intense folk
Amalie Bruun goes back to her roots in these new versions of Scandinavian traditional songs, played on mandolas, lyres and a nyckelharpa