Goblin Band: Come Slack Your Horse! review – rowdy, flamboyant folk
Born out of a London musical instruments shop where members worked, the Paul McCartney-approved band’s first EP is eager and theatrical, sometimes to a fault
Jess Ribeiro: Summer of Love review – a balm for anxious times
With expansive, experimental instrumentation, the Melbourne musician’s fourth album records our contemporary chaos – and finds a glimmer of hope
Fran & Flora: Precious Collection review – strings, shimmer and siren song whip up a desirous mood
This spirited adventure in the avant garde is as experimental as it is accessible, delving into hot-blooded Sirba and Transylvanian epics
Julie Abbé: Out of the Ashes review – a beautiful expression of the grieving process
The UK-based French folk singer embellishes her trad leanings with sultry blues and upbeat swing on a poignant and poetic second album
Sam Lee: songdreaming review – a moving tribute to Albion’s troubled soul
Disquiet pervades the folk singer’s self-written fourth album, with romantic love and awe of nature holding out against ecological collapse
Kacey Musgraves: Deeper Well review – folk-pop that’s high on life and pure as mountain air
The crossover star’s sixth album opens with a spectacular one-two of the most beautiful songs you’ll hear all year – but the loved-up mood and back-to-nature wonder becomes twee
Various artists: Africatown, AL: Ancestor Sounds review – music that defies the darkest of pasts
From blues to industrial and rap, these extraordinary recordings showcase the community of descendants of the last slavers’ ship to the US
Hurray for the Riff Raff: The Past Is Still Alive review – a time-shifting personal journey
The US singer-songwriter reminisces about their runaway past and loved ones lost on their folk-inflected ninth album
Daymé Arocena: Alkemi review – propulsive Cuban folk-pop
The singer trades acoustic improvisation for intricate, infectious hooks, with flavours of bossa nova, neo-soul and doo-wop
Milkweed: Folklore 1979 review – tantalisingly strange folk vignettes
The duo’s third release clocks in at 10 minutes but packs in zithers, traditional pipes and a perennial feeling of dread
Katherine Priddy: The Pendulum Swing review – a rich, poised second album
The Birmingham folk artist’s exceptional voice shines through on a confident, expansive second album themed around the pull and push of home
Hirondelle: Hirondelle review – the Brothers Gillespie’s Franco-Scottish adventure
The Northumberland duo team up with Provençal trio Tant Que Li Siam and Trio Mythos for an elegant folk-classical journey
Molly Tuttle review – galloping bluegrass as fun as a campfire jam
The US singer-songwriter is a virtuoso guitarist – with a galvanising charm that electrifies her audience
Muireann Bradley: I Kept These Old Blues review – a playful take on American classics
The teenage Irish singer turned to her guitar during Covid, and this album of traditional blues tracks showcases her dexterity and elegance
Lankum review – more like an exorcism than a gig
The Dublin doom-folk favourites crown a momentous year with a magnificent assault on the senses and a set rich in hypnotic tales of woe