Lovely. Classical songs by such exemplars as Schubert and Schumann, re-imagined with heart and soul as bare, doleful folk. Just voice and electric guitar.

Terrific — lit-up, reaching and odd — Josephine playing harp, guitar and piano (and singing), with Alex Nielson on drums and Victor Herrero, lead guitar.

Patti Smithed. ‘Lyrically, stylistically and musically, this is a fearless, soon to be classic post-punk rock and roll record that delivers the goods from start to finish.’

Settings of the poetry of Emily Dickinson.

Intimate four-track home recordings from 2001. After years of just writing songs down, without thinking of recording them, the spur was her work as a music teacher to young children.

JF goes to Nashville — a home from home for her song-writing, its odd allure, sex and sorrow lit up by harp and pedal steel, double bass and piano.

‘A maze of spirituals, on four levels. Ritual prayers, blues laments, vestal hymns and jubilant benedictions hearkening back to the esoteric balladry of This Coming Gladness, the native rhythms of Blood Rushing, the somnambulist waltzes of I’m A Dreamer, and the Shaker primitivism of Hazel Eyes, I Will Lead You. Self-accompaniment on guitar, piano, organ, harp and autoharp, with Victor Herrero (lead guitars), Gyða Valtýsdóttir (cello), Chris Scruggs (pedal steel) and Jon Estes (bass), as well as cameos by members of The Cherry Blossoms and others.’
Clear vinyl.

Folk songs from Lorca’s collection Las Canciones Populares Espanolas make rather ruddy, incongruous settings for Foster’s voice. The empty ones are best.

Curator James Blackshaw brings together Espers’ Swedish cellist Helena Espvall, koto virtuoso Chieko Mori, Dutch lute player Josef Van Wissem — along with a track from Blackshaw himself.

Fragile, dignified performances by two of Cajun music’s finest and most unusual artists, originally released on 78 in the late 1920s. French vocals accompanied by guitar or fiddle, or sometimes both. Impeccable ballads and breakdowns. Old school tip-on cover.

‘A startling twist on English folk revivalism. Dynamic and earthy, surreal and dreamlike, lean and direct; cavernously introspective and vividly pastoral. Playful, intricate, story-telling songs, with guitar, violin, and hand-percussion accompaniment. Check it out if you like Davy Graham, The Godz, Smelly Feet, Martin Carthy…’