Cass McCombs: Interior Live Oak review – double album doubles the pleasures of one of indie-rock’s finest

With existential lullabies and ritualistic stomps, tear-jerking odes and ballads worthy of Sinatra, US indie’s steadfast storyteller makes a wonderfully unhurried double album his best yet

The New Eves: The New Eve Is Rising review – imagine if the Velvet Underground scored Midsommar …

Velvets-style drone rock, trad folk, anarcho-punk and hippy whimsy are all discernible in the Brighton quartet’s debut album – all played with white-knuckle intensity

Poor Creature: All Smiles Tonight review – Lankum and Landless members steep tradition in lightness

Masters of atmosphere, Ruth Clinton, Cormac MacDiarmada and John Dermody contrast hauntological synths with robust noise on this playful debut

Duo Ruut: Ilmateade review – Estonian duo’s soulful look to the skies

The pair play with the traditions of Baltic Finnic runo song to explore the connections between the weather and emotion, giving ancient forms crossover potential

Jacob Alon: In Limerence review – dreamy story songs of myth and melancholy

The Scottish songwriter delivers a confident, well-expressed debut even if their songs sometimes stray into overfamiliar indie-folk territory

Quinie: Forefowk, Mind Me review – collecting songs on horseback, this Scottish musician is alive with ideas

With folk songs gathered from a gallop across Argyll, Josie Vallely’s album is a resonant tribute to her ancestral land

Zoé Basha: Gamble review – confident debut of a deft new voice in folk

The Dublin-based French-American singer and guitarist’s heart is in the Appalachian mountains – but her songs swim from country to blues and French chanson

Gigspanner Big Band: Turnstone review – an elegance unmatched in British folk

The multi-talented six-piece soar on their most accomplished album yet, led by the exceptional fiddle-playing of Peter Knight

Savina Yannatou, Primavera en Salonico and Lamia Bedioui: Watersong review – aquatic hymns

Considering water as balm and curse, life and storm: the fabulous Greek singer and collaborators transport us across centuries and countries

Liz Overs: Nightjar review – a shimmering debut rich in folklore

Albion’s mysteries breeze through the Sussex singer’s first album as she salutes the winter solstice with Neill MacColl and more

Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek: Yarın Yoksa review – a feast of woozy Turkish psych

Fuzzy, hypnotic beats, soulful saz-funk and emotive balladry mark Yıldırım’s powerfully imaginative new music, produced by Leon Michels

Ichiko Aoba: Luminescent Creatures review – nurturing music for bleak times

The cult Japanese singer-songwriter’s new album, inspired by the Ryukyu islands, is like a powerfully soothing sound bath

Malmin: Med Åshild Vetrhus review – deliciously diabolical Norwegian folk spells

Anders Hana, Olva Christer Rossebø and Åshild Vetrhus take inspiration from Norway’s rugged Rogaland in these tracks sourced from early-to-mid 20th century recordings

Richard Dawson: End of the Middle review – a unique snapshot of ordinary British life

From allotment highs to Holly and Phil, the Newcastle singer-songwriter mines life’s daily stresses and joys as only he can

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy: The Purple Bird review – Will Oldham goes country, but darkly

Recorded in Nashville, the American outlier’s latest is concerned with the state of the nation and more, though there’s mischief in there too