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Landless: Lúireach review – fans of Celtic music should flock to this stunning sound

Four powerful voices weave tender yet disquieting harmonies on a second album that honours bold women

Richard Thompson review – a showcase for decades of exquisite craft

In a sublime concert full of banter, storytelling and guitar virtuosity, the 75-year-old surrenders himself completely to each moment

Kaia Kater: Strange Medicine review – Canadian banjo virtuoso packs a powerful punch

The Canadian-Grenadian singer-songwriter’s phenomenal playing underscores strongly personal and political themes on her superb fourth album

Sean Khan: Sean Khan Presents the Modern Jazz and Folk Ensemble review – classics reinvigorated

A collective of genre-straddling talents give new life to songs by Nick Drake, John Martyn and Sandy Denny

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

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  • St Vincent review – majestic orchestral transformations of jagged art-pop
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  • Mike D review – ex-Beastie Boy’s first UK gig in two decades, in a Tyneside bingo hall, is uproarious fun
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  • Hampson and Sidorova review – style over substance with a whiff of the cruise ship
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  • Violet Grohl: Be Sweet to Me review – alt-rock arriviste aces the part
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  • La Traviata review – gripping and genuinely moving staging opens Garsington’s summer season
  • Colin Matthews: Seascapes album review – the songs teem with detail
  • Iceage: For Love of Grace & the Hereafter review – Danish punks ace sixth stellar album on the trot
  • La Fanciulla del West review – insightful staging reveals the power of Puccini’s maverick masterpiece
  • 125th anniversary gala concert review – back to 1901 as Wigmore celebrates birthday playing to its strengths
  • Sugar review – Bob Mould’s reunited band still in a sweet spot between noise and melody
  • Paul McCartney: The Boys of Dungeon Lane review – at 83, his gift for melody still astounds

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