IRON AND WINE - The Shepherd's Dog

It is only now that we can really feel the full resonance of Iron and Wine's collaboration with Calexico, 2005's In The Reins. Prior to that, while there was no arguing Sam Beam's gifts as a songwriter and singer, he didn't exactly make the most exciting or varied music. Reins, however, awakened his songs to a whole new palette of instruments and moods and there was no turning back. The Shepherd's Dog takes these lessons and betters them with a full length album that sheds new light on Beam's tunes without ever blinding their tender beauty. Magnificent.

JOSE GONZALEZ - In Our Nature

Gonzalez's latest album has been a long time coming, but maybe that's because in the interim, his superb 2003 release Veneer just wouldn't stop gaining new admirers. Well, good news for his fans new and old, In Our Nature doesn't mess with the keys to his sound; it's full of drifting, beautifullly plucked acoustic guitar and plantive melodies that hover between the worlds of folk, pop and blues. There's even another cover of an electronic anthem, this time "Teardrop" the standout from Massive Attack's classic Mezzanine. Gonzalez's appeal is simple and timeless, and this strong album affirms that.

DEVENDRA BANHART - Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon

Few recent musicians have generated as enigmatic and prolific a profile as Banhart. As likely to erupt into neo-hippie babble as he is to protest his being one, he is an artist whose mischievous toying with his image (not to mention his seemingly unedited song output) often threatens to usurp the sincerity of his music. The 16-song, wildly eclectic Smokey isn't going to change any of that, but does image really matter? When you close your eyes and just listen, Banhart's strengths are a lot clearer. He is an excellent singer, and an engaging musical chameleon and when he hits the mark, the results are pretty superb. 

AKRON/FAMILY - Love Is Simple (limited w/ DVD)

Leave it to this enigmatic foursome to title their latest in a way that is both succinct and endlessly open to interpretation. At their core, this is a group of extremely proficient neo-hippies with a mandate to "love, love, love everyone" that is hopelessly saccharine. It's the spiraling, shapeshifting creativity and intuitive interplay of these guys that not only kills the gag reflex, it sends your arms wide on a collision course for the nearest hug. With references to free jazz, tribal chants, classic rock, and prog folk, this record is about fifty "eureka!" moments sewn consecutively into an engaging, human tapestry.

ANGELS OF LIGHT - We Are Him

Michael Gira's transformation from avenging noise punk in the Swans to elder neo-folk statesman has been an enthralling one. Now over 50, Gira is making some of the best music of his career, a streak that We Are Him continues. Full of cues taken from gothic Americana, Him lurches with playing that is dry, precise, yet full of sinewy feeling. At the heart of this music is Gira's voice. Like Waits or latter-day Dylan, Gira has long understood that his matter-of-fact baritone gives him a presence that conventional voices cannot attain: a voice that leaks authority, experience and wisdom.

MARISSA NADLER - Song III: Bird on the Water

Possessing a voice that is beautiful and enchanting beyond words, Marissa Nadler has created a work that lays waste to most of her contempories that are lazily lumped into the "New Weird America" bag. Sparingly produced with barely more than just her voice and acoustic guitar, Nadler's third album is bathed in cathedral-sized reverb and maintains an intense mood that Mazzy Star always aimed for. Apparently, she studied "acid illustration" and that influence comes through in the otherworldly sound. One of my favourite new releases so far in 2007.

BOWERBIRDS - Hymns For A Dark Horse

This North Carolina trio make the kind of blissful porch music that is happily stuck between eras. It is equally as indebted to American folk and country traditions as it is to the interpretations of those traditions by current artists such as Iron and Wine, Devendra Banhart and Sufjan Stevens. The scope is decidedly more jolly, sober, and focused than those three artists respectively, creating a record that conveys the joy of singing with friends and family. With instrumentation rarely beyond guitar, accordian and percussion, Hymns For A Dark Horse is indeed imbued with a spiritual quality.

NICK DRAKE - Family Tree

Nick Drake's relative unpopularity during his life, mysterious death, and perfectly-contained trio of studio albums have made for a legacy that is as concise as it is enigmatic. Such musicians are always ripe for posthumous releases: enter Family Tree. Unlike the studio outtake comps Time of No Reply and Made To Love Magic, Family Tree is culled from home recordings and demos made prior to his 1969 debut, Five Leaves Left. Like a superhero's origin story, these 28 tracks provide great insight, in many ways predicting the paths down which Drake would later wander.

TIMBER TIMBRE - Medicinals

The second album from Toronto songwriter Taylor Kirk feels far removed from this part of the world. A near-perfect blend of closing-time New Orleans jazz horns and Appalachian porch-folk suffering from sun-stroke, Medicinals is all haze and the cracks of light which illuminate it. While only a half-hour long, the album is deeply engaging and stays with you long after it ends. Pairing songs about winter, devils, and spells with this sort of music is nothing new, but Kirk takes to it like an old soul. The result is an album which is short, but never rushed: simply lovely.

KAREN DALTON - In My Own Time

Karen Dalton is a folk singer, and banjo player  from the 60s who shared the stage with the likes of Bob Dylan and Fred Neil. Dalton did not write her own songs, but was  unique because of her haunting voice, which was often said to be folk music's answer to Billie  Holiday.  Her bluesy voice has a rare beauty that is both delicate and intense. Her cover of gothic folk classic "Katie Cruel" is haunting,  and "Take Me" has the power to break anyone's heart. If you don't know her already, check her out!