I love when musicians get all adventurous and grow tired of mainstream acceptance and go out and make the biggest follies that only the most unique minds are capable of. The funny thing is that this sometimes result in the biggest hits of their career. Welcome then to the new phase of Ms. Newsom's musical journey.

Losing her voice and rising up from the ashes with a triple-album (no less) is no mean feat. To anyone's standard, I'm sure. But that's just what Joanna Newsom did and she's receiving high praises from both the critics and (most importantly) the buying public. And although it's a daunting work when one begins to analyse it (and listen to it...), it becomes quite clear right from the start that this lady is special. And that she cooks with ingredients sagely brewed from the most mysterious sources.

It's quite a journey to listen to this album from beginning to end and some might want to take it in chunks. Or one record at a time. But it's in cases like these that I remember my muse Tori Amos' cunning words: "Listening to a record is like making love; if you can't endure listening to a long record, maybe you cannot make love for that long, either". Listen to Autumn. See you soon.

Autumn

Now, here's a duo to look out for in the future. Sweden's songbirds FIRST AID KIT have just released this, their debut album - The Big Black & The Blue - and are already causing ripple waves across the music community.

Moving effortlessly between folk with a strong leaning on american traditionals and the roots of celtic musical sensibilities, they have managed to put together a collection of songs that is sure to melt even the most stern of critics. At times it's quite baffling how such tender age can produce songs of such maturity and emotional investment. And herein lies most of their appeal. Oh, and those harmonies are to die for. Rarely have I heard two voices that go so well together.

I leave you with Waltz for Richard, one of the many magical moments to be found in what I hope to be the first of a long discography. I see you soon.

There are very few bands that are able to get such high accolades and recognition with their first album. American debuters Fleet Foxes have done just that. And for once, the praises are completely worthy.

Their self-titled first album is simply that: an instant classic. Perfect songs, beautifully sung, exquisitely performed and lovingly produced. I wonder if they already feel the pressure of the dreaded sophomore album syndrome. I honestly hope not because I can only see them going even bigger from here, actually. Debut single, White Winter Hymnal is one of the most bizarre first singles ever released: barely 2 1/2 minutes long, almost no instrumentation whatsoever, big vocal harmonies and a sound that is everything but hip. Yet it worked wonders and still sounds great after many listenings. Brave little bastards, they are.

The rest of the album continues the trend: not a dud in sight, and although the influences are reasonably obvious (Neil Young, Bob Dylan, etc.), their sound is unique and distinctive. I leave you with the album opener proper: Sun It Rises.

In my view, the best example of New Folk you can find. Following traditions but subversively changing them whilst aurally delighting the listener at the same time, A GARLAND OF SONG, the debut album of The Owl Service combo, is a winner on all fronts.

Released just last year, it has made fans of whoever listens to them. And it's not hard to see why that happens: the songs are all exquisitely arranged and beautifully composed and sung (both by male and female voices). At times, you forget that you're listening to a contemporary record because the blood that runs through this particular sonic vein is anything but new. However, you do sense a particular indie trait here and there that only adds up to its pastoral charm. I'm very curious to see where they will go from here and apparently they have already recorded and E.P. of sorts with Alison O'Donnell, one of the vocalists from Mellow Candle, so I guess they're on the right track, wouldn't you think so too? Listen to Turpin Hero.

A true heir to the kind of magical folk music I mentioned in the post below, Josephine Foster's HAZEL EYES I WILL LEAD YOU is an album that doesn't sound (or look, as you can see by the record cover on your right) that was made in 2005. Quite remarkable. She sings in a voice not of this time and plays instruments in a way as if someone much older and wiser has taught her, almost as she bypassed today's music writing altogether. Truly magical.

This is the kind of artist I don't want to know a lot about, prefering them to be as mysterious and enigmatic as they once were in a time without the internet. But I just couldn't help myself from checking out her wikipedia entry and I'm glad now I did because, as it happens, she used to sing at funerals and weddings as an adolescent and had aspirations to become an opera singer. Well, that's all I needed to know to make her even more fascinating to me. Listen to the title track, Hazel Eyes, I Will Lead You.