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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

Soema Montenegro: Círculo Radiante review – an intoxicating journey around South American song

This fifth album by the Argentinian singer, poet and shaman is a passionate celebration of Latin music – and the sun

You Are Wolf: Hare // Hunter // Moth // Ghost review – bursting with spirit

With Sam Lee and Robert Macfarlane guesting, Kerry Andrew shows a knack for experimentation, deploying playground rhymes, birdsong and even their radiator

Harp: Albion review – former Midlake frontman traipses through twilight

Tim Smith’s first album with Kathi Zung takes inspiration from William Blake and the Cure to create a landscape of 80s reverb and ghostly vocals

John Francis Flynn: Look Over the Wall, See the Sky review – a blast of the past

Expect white noise and growling guitars as the Dublin folk singer follows his acclaimed debut with more boundary-pushing takes on tradition

An 80th Birthday Concert for Bert Jansch review – moving homage to 60s folk guitar hero

Pentangle’s Jacqui McShee as well as Robert Plant, Bernard Butler and Sam Lee were among stellar acts celebrating the late musician in impressive style

ØXN: CYRM review – Irish folk debut full of unsettling dark magic

Featuring grisly trad tales, striking vocals, two members of Lankum and shades of PJ Harvey, this is a compelling record from Claddagh’s first signing for nearly two decades

Billy Bragg: The Roaring Forty review – four decades of flying the flag

Austere, melodic, at times heartbreaking – the music of Britain’s foremost protest singer gets an evocative overview in this nuanced compilation

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  • Chelsea Wolfe: The Dark review – existential reflection goes from whisper to gothic scream
  • LA Phil/Dudamel; Fantasia Orchestra / Fetherstonhaugh/Glennie reviews – high-contrast programming
  • Juilliard Orch/Royal Academy Symphony Orch / Salonen/Frang review – student players let rip, eventually
  • The Galloping Cure review – powerful new opera tackles the opioid crisis with bite and black comedy
  • Overmono review – irresistible dance duo swap club intimacy for well-earned spectacle
  • The Drover’s Wife review – operatic version of Leah Purcell’s story is powerfully emotional
  • National Youth Orchestra/Adès review – assured young musicians end their season all guns blazing
  • BBC Symphony Orchestra/Venditti review – a fervent but lithe-limbed Stabat Mater
  • Nas / The Roots review – NY rap legend is in a nostalgic state of mind
  • Olivia Rodrigo review – crushing riffs and infectious hooks at secret New York show
  • Oberon review – part panto, part grand opera, Weber’s final work has charm but doesn’t quite convince
  • Grieg Lyric Pieces album review – Feltsman brings a probing flexibility that transforms this music
  • Strange Loops: Clarinet Quintets album review – drama, imagination and sonic flair
  • Flo: Therapy at the Club review – skirting the dancefloor and overly sweating the small stuff
  • Arun Sood and Angeline Morrison: Donn/Dubh review – British folk giants startlingly transform sacred histories
  • Ravyn Lenae: Blue Island review – from Suicide to Squarepusher, grunge to Janet, a pop one-off plots her unique path
  • Phoebe Bridgers: Lost Weekend review – long-awaited return is a thrilling, daring study in dislocation
  • Ring Cycle review – AI staging dispenses with drama to create banal bric-a-brac
  • BBCSO/Järvi/Kavakos review – virtuosic violinist makes fiendishly light work of Tchaikovsky
  • Aurora Orchestra/ Collon review – Freud analyses Mahler to decipher music from the heart
  • Parsifal review – blood, lust and goth energy fuel Wagner’s Grail quest
  • Ariana Grande: Petal review – calm, controlled anger at exes, fans and the media
  • Tao of Glass review – stage magic as McDermott meditates on the minimalist master
  • Arca: XXXXX review – a wild, brilliant album that taps into our bodies’ most feral frequencies
  • Melodies International presents Ariwa Sounds review – head-spinning classics from dub legend Mad Professor
  • John Tilbury: At Home album review – an eclectic and extraordinary treasure trove
  • BBCSSO/Wigglesworth / Booth review – Brett Dean’s song cycle is rich and strange
  • Die Fledermaus review – Strauss staging has flourish and froth, but not enough fizz
  • Shaboozey: The Outlaw Cherie Lee & Other Western Tales review – a striking addition to the rich canon of country concept albums
  • Giordano: Marina album review – a fascinating resurrection of an unsung early opera

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