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Les Amazones d'Afrique: Musow Danse
New album: A joyous, vibrant, powerful, life-affirming third LP by the West African Mali collective female artists, mixing traditional, rich African vocal harmonies with electronica, dance, funk and folk of course no shortage of feminist fervour
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Grandaddy: Blu Wav
New album: This serene, sixth LP from California’s Jason Lytle brings that meltingly beautiful melancholic voice, slow, caressed guitars, country pedal steel (Max Hart) and some Beach Boys echoes with themes of loneliness dotted with droll humour
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William Doyle: Springs Eternal
New album: Superbly crafted, innovative ‘art-pop for the anthropocene’ by the innovative British artist, with landscaped sounds in a whirlpool of clever invention, narratives threading through an existential lifespan of gorgeous turns through this follow-up to 2021’s Great Spans of Muddy Time
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The Miserable Rich: Overcome
New album: The likeable Brighton string-led collective return with their first studio LP in nearly 13 years, a wordplay-rich, drily humorous, catchy, poignant collection of vivid storytelling via chamber pop and indie folk
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Declan McKenna: What Happened To The Beach?
New album: Less overtly political than his previous work, but still satirical and now more personal, this is jaunty, quirky, eccentric, eclectic pop by the 25-year-old LA-based, Enfield-raised singer-songwriter, experimenting like a 1960s psychedelic troubadour.
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Helado Negro: PHASOR
New album: Finding that sweet spot with smooth, mellow Latin rhythms in an experimental mix of folk, jazz and electronica, the American artist of Ecuadorian Roberto Carlos Lange’s eighth studio album one of gentle, melting joy
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Katy Kirby: Blue Raspberry
New album: Following 2021’s strong debut Cool Dry Place, the Texas singer-songwriter returns with another collection of intelligent, sharply observed numbers with beautiful clarity of voice, fine balance of instrumentation, unflinching honesty, great turn of phrase, and powerful melodies
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Nailah Hunter: Lovegaze
New album: Slow, sensual, simmering, lingeringly beautiful numbers in this debut LP of experimental, ambient, will-o'-the-wisp, dream-like quality by the Los Angeles multi-instrumentalist, composer, singer and harpist with Belize ancestry
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Conchúr White: Swirling Violets
New album: Gorgeously sensitive, intimate, uplifting, grounded but dream-like folk-pop debut by the singer-songwriter from County Armagh, with blissful but pointed songs of a mystical, spiritual, existential and relatable nature
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Emma Gatrill: Come Swim
New album: Deliciously gentle, subtle, clever and beautifully original alternative folk by the Brighton-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist on a third LP that includes guests Kate Stables and Rozi Plain from This Is The Kit and Conor O’Brien from Villagers
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Marika Hackman: Big Sigh
New album: This visceral, hypersensitive, alternative folk-pop fourth album by the Hampshire-born singer-songwriter digs deep and dark into the psyche through personal crisis and relationship trauma as one of her best to date
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Favourite LPs of 2023, Part 2.
Welcome once again to the annual tradition of Song Bar’s favourite album releases of 2023. This is Part 2, and Part 1 was yesterday. There’s no such thing as a chart rundown or ‘best of’ here, and these come in no particular order …
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Part 1 selection of 2023 favourite albums
Welcome once again to the annual tradition of Song Bar’s favourite album releases of 2023. This is Part 1, and Part 2 is also out here. There’s no such thing as a chart rundown or ‘best of’ here, and these come in no particular order. This is all about quality and innovation …
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Joanna Sternberg: I've Got Me
New album: Another retrieved treasure from earlier this year, released in June, of gentle, witty, melancholy intimate self-deprecatory folk numbers by the New York singer-songwriter who exudes a old-school charm
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@: Mind Palace Music
New album: A hidden gem released earlier in 2023 by duo Philadelphia guitarist Victoria Rose and Baltimore musician Stone Filipczak brings rich vocal harmonies and beautiful profound folk-pop
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Soema Montenegro: Círculo Radiante
New album: The Argentinian singer, poet-shaman and social activist’s fifth album brings out her powerful, passionate voice with a backdrop of traditional folk alongside electronica in a beautiful, entrancing release radiant with the sun and South American music
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Neil Young
New album: An affecting, intimate and novel release by the veteran Canadian singer-songwriter with a non-stop acoustic rendition of 13 of his own favourite songs spanning his career and comprising the unpredictable and lesser known
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Harp: Albion
New album: Ethereal, evocative, alternative folk, bathed in flutes and acoustic guitars, in this beautiful debut by the former Midlake singer Tim Smith and his wife Kathi Zung, covering a range of emotions, and bucolic, mountain images
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Alex Nicol: Been A Long Year Vol 1 & Vol 2
New album: Two EPs forming one LP, this gorgeously paced, subtle country-inflected alt-folk release by the Montreal singer-songwriter brings his pure, high, haunting voice with poignantly vivid, droll lyrics about the self and the external world
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The Polyphonic Spree: Salvage Enterprise
New album: The Dallas, Texas choral-folk-rock ensemble fronted by Tim DeLaughter return with a first set of originals since 2014’s Psychphonic , here with a bright, uplifting, evocative return that characteristically echoes the gentle psychedelia of Pink Floyd and The Flaming Lips
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