Mark Rothko’s colour field paintings invite contemplation, reflection, quietude, association, and in British, Irish and Scottish folk this year, that feeling of an open field, a depth of focus and an appetite to enter arrestingly abstract areas marks out a disparate range of albums of the year.
It’s part of the magic and ambience of fiddle-guitar duo Spafford Campbell’s compelling second set, Tomorrow Held. They explore the quiet end of the open field, the title track a haunting 14-minute centrepiece, expanding that sense of space in their music to cosmic dimensions. On opening track “Cooper” its spookily liminal string-scapes form into primordial figures forming between your ears from a next-to-nothingness. It's an intense, almost subliminal drama you want to turn up to 11.
That open field that lies beyond the tune has fuelled the heavy drone architecture of Lankum’s music – their recent single release of The Specials’ “Ghost Town” is a striking, extended account of a great 20th century urban folk song. And a cross between the lightness of Spafford Campbell and Lankum’s heavy drones features on organist Claire M Singer’s intoxicating evocation of landscape on Gleann Ciùin. Its epic 19-minute opener “Turadh” (Break in the Clouds) was played on organs recorded at Haddo House in Aberdeenshire. The closing “Gleann Ciùin” eases out of a single bass tone, conjuring sympathetic registers, pulses and tones across a constantly shifting soundscape. It’s a deep-seeking aural balm for the conflicted, turbulent times we are in.
Skye small pipes player Brighde Chaimbeul has been touring her latest album on Glitterbeat, Sunwise, through 2025, and I saw her solo performance at The Round Chapel in Clapton earlier this year, mesmerised from the upper gallery, following the trajectory of a massive unwavering single note that slowly, very slowly shimmered, rippled and broke open over an intense 10 or so minutes.
Seán Mac Erlaine & Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh’s Old Segotia united The Gloaming’s hardanger d’amore player with composer and woodwind player Sean Mac Erlaine conjuring more open-field improvisations, with tracks like “Thirdal” following some kind of ghost light, and liminal to the point of evaporation. Killarney’s Ronan Kealy AKA Junior Brother released The End on the Libertines label Strap Originals, drawing from Ireland’s National Folklore Collection to lay the ground for songs that wander innocently into unknown and spectral areas, their unearthly, off-kilter musical settings opening up to a kind of Otherworld.
To come back down to earth, with a bump and grind, the centenary tribute album dedicated to Clifton Chenier, the king of Zydeco, featured some great players and guest stars, and kicked off with the Rolling Stones cutting one of their most raucous rackets in ages, “Zydeco Sont Pas Salés”, Jagger’s harmonica and Richards’ Telecaster (the one he used for “Brown Sugar”) raising hell and playing loose with the norms of the form.
And if you wanted to go under the earth, how better to do it than with Lisa Knapp and Gerry Diver’s brilliant new take on that most dread-full of all murder ballads, "Long Lankin", from their album Hinterland.
Finally, if you wanted a down-to-earth look at the British folk and roots scene from one who truly knows – fRoots’s Ian Anderson – then grab his bulky memoir Alien Water: Six Decades Paddling in Unpopular Music. He is insightful, bitchy, funny and acerbic, and he knows the terrain from the bottom up. Let’s drink to that.
Three More Essential Albums of 2025
Lisa Knapp and Gerry Diver, Hinterland: Innovative, inventive, creative, and with some fantastic ballads.
Brighde Chaimbeul, Sunwise: Barely more than half an hour long, it has the scale of the cosmos embedded in it
Various artists, A Tribute to the King of Zydeco: As well as the Stones there’s Steve Earle, Taj Mahal, Lucinda Willams and more
Musical Experiences of the Year
Josienne Clarke Across the Evening Sky: One of our great 21st century songwriters celebrates the songs and spirit of Sandy Denny
Slade in Flame: Rereleased with a preview screening at the NFT, and glorious in all its grim, grainy, colour-rich, beat-stomping glory
Eva Quartet, St Cyprians, London: stunning Bulgarian voices combiner with their mysteries still intact, in the stunning setting of St Cyprians
Track of the Year
Rolling Stones Zydeco Sont Pas Salés
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