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Mustafa: Dunya
New album: This tenderly delivered debut LP by Sudanese-Canadian performance poet, film-maker, and singer-songwriter is a hushed-voiced, acoustic form of folk, the title translated as “the world in all its flaws” in Arabic, and variously touches on religious devotion, childhood trauma, gang violence to romantic intimacy
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Bright Eyes: Five Dice, All Threes
New album: Equal measures of toe-tapping catchiness, poignantly sharp, intelligent lyrics, intensity, tenderness and moving melancholy come in this excellent new LP by the US indie-folk rockers fronted by singer-songwriter and guitarist Conor Oberst, and featuring guests Cat Power, The National’s Matt Berninger, with co-writing by Alex Orange Drink of New York punk band The So So Glos
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Nilüfer Yanya: My Method Actor
New album: Classy, effortlessly cool, experimental indie-folk-pop in this third LP the London singer-songwriter, again joined by producer and co-writer Wilma Archer in an album about identity, relationships and self-control
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Susanna: Meditations on Love
New album: The experimental Norwegian singer and composer Susanna Wallumrød’s LP is a releases a striking, eccentric, beautifully bewitching collection about relationships, concentrating not on the giddy joy of falling in love, nor breakups, but the oddness in between
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Gillian Welch and David Rawlings: Woodland
New album: Exquisite, folk and country about turbulence and resilience by the singer-songwriter couple, with an album named after their Nashville studio wrecked by a tornado in March 2020, and their first release together for 13 years
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Malice K: AVANTI
New album: Angsty but beautiful, reminiscent of the whispery, intimate style of the late, great Elliott Smith, but also the occasional punk scream eruption, this darkly mesmeric, candid, introspective indie-folk-grunge-punk LP by New York-based visual artist and songwriter Alex Konschuh is a vivid, ghostly, and deeply emotional
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Milton Nascimento and Esperanza Spalding: Milton + Esperanza
New album: An inspired collaboration between the veteran 81-year-old Brazilian singer and the American jazz bassist, singer and arranger, 39, their low and high voices blending beautifully and bringing new life to the former’s old catalogue, plus covers and guests including Paul Simon and Lianne La Havas.
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Orville Peck: Stampede
New album: A hugely enjoyable, mischievous, tuneful and genre-spanning LP by the South African-born openly gay but often masked country singer-songwriter, joined by an impressive array of co-performers doing original numbers and covers, including Beck, Elton John, and Willie Nelson
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Alex Izenberg & The Exiles
New album: Esoteric, sweeping, warm-embracing experimental rock and psychedelia by the Los Angeles artist who takes inspiration from the Beatles, philosopher Alan Watts, the storytelling of King Crimson, and the imagery of Fleet Foxes
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Bizhiki: Unbound
New album: A primal, evocative, soul-stirring release combining Native American powpow chanting and with ambient electronica dulcimer strings and gentle drums by singer-songwriter Joe Rainey, drummer and producer S Carey, and indigenous singer Dylan Bizhikiins Jennings
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Cassandra Jenkins: My Light, My Destroyer
New album: A strong, sensual, astronomy-themed third experimental album by the New York singer-songwriter, mixing gentle indie, dream pop, jazz and field recordings in this alluring contemplation on the heartbreaks and highs, the quarks and quasars that make up her universe
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Clairo: Charm
New album: Deliciously understated, intimate, warm folk-pop with a strong Laurel Canyon flavour by the Boston, Mass. artist Claire Cottrill with songs about different sides of charm, platonically, romantically, but also not knowing how long it will last
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Mike Lindsay: Supershapes Volume 1
New album: A deliciously experimental folk and electronica release by the Margate-based musician and producer from Tunng and the project Lump about home comforts, staying in, dining tables. cucumber salads and more, joined by the warm, intimate voice of the splendid Anna B Savage
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This Is The Kit: Live from the Minack Theatre
New album: Originally a limited release on Record Store Day, a gorgeous live LP capturing the fabulous folk songwriting and feelgood presence of Kate Stables and the rest band on that unique amphitheatre setting overlooking the Cornish coast in May 2023
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Orlando Weeks: LOJA
New album: A beautifully tender, serene and touching new LP by the former Maccabees singer and visual artist, the LP named after his Lisbon art studio, with his high, pure voice complemented by various co-collaborators including William Doyle. Katy J Pearson and Wet Leg’s Rhian Teasdale
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New album: A brilliantly bold, experimental, original third LP by the now south London indie-post-punk trio of Clottie Cream (Lottie Pendlebury), Rosy Bones and Holly Mullineaux, one that bubbles with unusual musical dynamics and lyrics
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Maya Hawke: Chaos Angel
New album: Putting aside the obvious advantages of being the offspring of Hollywood actors Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman, the 25-year-old Stranger Things actress and singer-songwriter’s third album is packed with gems - witty, kooky and original
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Richard Thompson: Ship To Shore
New album: With strong narratives, melodies and fabulous fret work, the veteran singer-songwriter’s 18th solo album is up there with his best– traversing eras, styles and themes from his folk-rock 60s roots, to jazz, blues and country and flavours from Ireland, Scotland and beyond
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Arooj Aftab: Night Reign
New album: An exquisitely dark, lingering fourth LP from the Grammy-winning Pakistani-American singer and composer with a mix of songs in Urdu and English, her resonant, pure voice accompanied by rippling piano, harp, guitar and more in a dark landscape of folk, jazz and traditional music
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Bat For Lashes: The Dream of Delphi
New album: Natasha Khan returns with her sixth studio LP and first for five years, a quirky, swirling experimental release capturing up the early days of her motherhood to daughter Delphi, born in 2020 during the pandemic, and using folkloric, electronica keyboard improvisational approach sometimes with vocals of semi-formed words
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