Back catalogue: Folk/Americana

Review: Recorded during the final year of her life, this posthumous release finds Marianne Faithfull looking both backwards and forwards - reconciling the weight of legacy with the intimacy of reflection. Across these four new tracks, she honours the dual foundations of her 60-year career: chamber pop and traditional British folk. 'Burning Moonlight', co-produced with long-time collaborator Head, echoes the melancholic grandeur of 'As Tears Go By', while 'Love Is (Head version)', written with her grandson Oscar Dunbar, floats with tender defiance. The flip side turns to lineage and tradition: 'Three Kinsmen Bold' is stark and ancestral, passed down from her father and 'She Moved Thru' The Fair' is sparse, aching, and spectral. Faithfull was born in Hampstead and came of age in 60s London, and here, on what is now her final release, she returns to the very start - not out of nostalgia, but with grace and resolve. It's the completion of a circle, yes, but it still leaves a faint line trailing off into the air.

Review: Fine Glindvad Jensen's Rocky Top Ballads is an album that feels as though it's suspended in time, capturing moments that are both timeless and ephemeral. Fine's lyrics, often vague in their specifics, convey a sense of days slipping by, with an urgency to grasp reality through songwriting. Drawing from the Copenhagen scene, where she's collaborated with Erika de Casier and Astrid Sonne, Fine's music under her solo moniker defies easy categorization. While hints of Mazzy Star and a touch of "countrygaze" permeate the album, her sound is also rooted in the traditional folk music of her upbringing. Rocky Top Ballads is a deeply personal and intuitive collection, blending sample-based production with organic instrumentation. The result is a debut that feels both assured and strangely new. Tracks like "Days Incomplete" capture a yearning that is both fervent and detached, while 'Losing Tennessee' and 'Big Muzzy' explore themes of love, loss, and self-discovery. The album's beauty lies in its ability to evoke emotions and leave lingering questions, keeping listeners entranced.