I DES is perhaps the most human of King Creosote’s albums yet. As he reflects on love, loss, memory, the passing of time and inevitable demise, perhaps he is saying what, at some point or another, we’re all thinking. He just says it very nicely.

Jack Sharp, in his “post apocalyptic downer folk-rock” side project Large Plants, explores the natural world and his inner thoughts on his prickly sophomore release, The Thorn.

Our Man in the Field’s ‘Gold on the Horizon’ is a ruminative album, steeped in empathetic humanity but also veined with doubts in its contemplation of life. It’s an album to immerse yourself in.

At the confluence of light and dark, Spell Songs’ ‘Gifts of Light’ is characterised by an uplifting vitality which soothes the soul, demonstrating the magic that results from combining live music with art and literature and representing collaborative music-making at its very finest.

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy shares the video/single “Keeping Secrets Will Destroy You”, the title track of his latest album that doesn’t appear on the album…instead it stands marvellously on its own. Watch the accompanying video directed by Adam Laity.

We get an insight into the highly anticipated, revamped theatrical production of Anaïs Mitchell’s Hadestown, which is set to open at the Lyric Theatre in February 2024, five years after its sold-out run at the National Theatre.

Leeds-based folk singer Chris Brain is our latest ‘Off the Shelf‘ guest, in which we ask artists to present objects from a shelf or elsewhere from their home and talk about them. 

Muireann Bradley is a new Celtic soul sister, and with ‘I Kept These Old Blues’, she swings the blues back from the margins. More vitally, she could inspire a fresh generation to investigate the genre.

Harry’s Seagull shows how old songs sung with affection and skill can sparkle like new. Georgia Shackleton’s solo debut is light as a gull’s feather but flush with ideas: it’s one of the freshest and most appealing folk albums of the year.

Taken from Brulée, the second in a triptych of albums from cabane (the collective project conceived by the Belgian musician and photographer thomas jean henri), watch the lyric video for ‘dead song Pt.1’, the beautiful new single featuring Sam Genders.

The alchemy found on ‘hare // hunter // moth // ghost’ is masterful; Kerry Andrew can turn small, rough or difficult things into moments of bright wonder. In You Are Wolf’s hands, transformation is a gift to be celebrated.

It’s often said that lullabies exist in a liminal space, on the ill-defined boundaries between sleep and wakefulness. On this fine album, Abigail Lapell continues to push her own musical boundaries.