Anyone catching Archer’s jaw-dropping show at this year’s Manchester Folk Festival will already know that this quietly spoken North Easterner has suddenly vaulted any number of hurdles, re-igniting and re-inventing her bed-sit folktronica into something more stadium sized, with echoes of both Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush in her presentation.

From forthcoming debut full-lengther, The Dance Of Death, due on 5/6/26, The Unquiet Grave, as per previous expectations and delivery, takes its start from an ages old ballad. Over a mildly elevated heartbeat’s beat, Archer’s vocal is the only other sound you hear, drenched in echo and, I imagine, dry ice. Shards and shapes of electronic texture flit in and out, whilst a slow swathe of synth builds slowly in the background. A complex bed of sound then bathes her treated and multi-tracked voice for the chorus. It is utterly eerie and effectively bewitching.

There are any number of songs about death and maidens in the canon of trad.arr., but seldom has there been quite such a transformation. It might help to know of other versions, but, believe me, this is not broadly necessary, I see this appealing equally to those who might run a mile from the f-word, as to those who flock toward it. Outstanding.

Home grown cosmic country is currently in the spotlight, it seems, with a welter of new and established bands piling up the evidence that we need a better word than americana. Arguably leading the charge are relative veterans, The Hanging Stars, who are set to release their 7th album in around a decade, a prodigious work ethic, by any reckoning.

Now slimmed to a 4 piece, with steel player, Joe Harvey-Whyte, peeling off before their last record, a collab with Bonnie Dobson. This in no way diminishes the impact of the Richard Olson/Patrick Ralla frontline, 12 and 6-string respectively, with an always solid scaffold from Paul Milne’s bass and drummer, Paulie Cobra, ahead his leave of absence..

This song goes straight for the jangular, and is a mesh of interconnecting guitars, over which Olson croons like a retro futurist, the sound coming straight from the 1960’s, if then filtered through some 21st century fairy dust, via some 70’s CBGB fug. Less their usual Byrds/Burritos comparisons, here I am hearing an updated Paul Revere & the Raiders schtick, all those groups, landlocked in flyover US states, trying to imitate the Beatles and inventing just this sort of hybrid. Well groovy.

Skye self-defined neo-trad drum and bass duo enter their folk phase, or so they say. You might think, given their mix of fiddles, pipes, whistles and Gaelic song, tautly melded with EDM, that it had never totally been left behind, but I sort of see where they are coming from. Here they hook up with Beluga Lagoon, the musical arm of Scottish film-maker Andrew O’Donnell.

Awaiting the rhythmic pounding gallop that follows, O’Donnell channels the distant keen of a clan chieftain, drifting in and out of a misty echo, a backdrop of synths providing an eerie backdrop. The beats then kick in convincingly, and, as Finn McPherson (Falasgair) adds some small pipes, all is well, and the ghost of the title is riding high in the sky. There is also a banjo beavering away in there too, always welcome here. As the vocals expand into a full choir, for the finale, the small hairs rise and shiver.

Daniel Docherty and Martyn MacDonald get ever more accomplished with their fusions, and the polish here can only boost expectations for their latest album, their 3rd, due in weeks..

We stick with the interface of folk and dance music, for Irish duo, Lemoncello, who take a bold leap forward into electronica, adding and embellishing their already extant acoustic sensibilities.

The Dublin-based duo of Laura Quirke and Claire Kinsella built their name on interweaving vocal harmonies over a bed of cello and guitar. Here, by adding swathes of layered synth and electronic beats to multiple cello tracks, the innate ethereality of the vocals becomes all the more enhanced. The combination of cello drone, lead vocal and echoed distant harmony is perfect, ahead the consoles kicking in. Some muted concertina and bass lurk in the background, with organic drums joining the programmed for the full extra tribal.

It is utterly hypnotising, with repeated listens bedding in for the duration. The album promises to be a belter.

As a prelude to his forthcoming album, Fondness, Austin based Shakey Graves, has released the ambient I Was Once An Ocean.

 “Years ago, I set out to make an entirely instrumental record inspired by Martin Denny’s Exotica, but imagined in Texas, instead of the Pacific islands. This track was the crown jewel of those sessions. At its heart, this record is about the awful grace of change, so thematically, the shoe finally fit.”

He is clearly an artist who thinks deeply about his music. The options are to invest in his profound thoughts to further appreciate his music or merely take the music at its face value to simply chill out to its ethereal vibe.

Taking percussion, guitar and synthesised sounds responsibilities himself this dreamy instrumental is an intimate snapshot of his environmental concerns.

Jones, Cooper, Scott is a trio emanating from Oysterband, and in conjuring up new single, She Wrote Her Name Today, the brand maintains the vitality of Oysterband.

Alas Oysterband have disbanded but the trio still have a lot to offer.

“There are so many songs left to sing.” claims John Jones.

So the void that is left has resulted in Jones, Cooper, Scott forming this trio. It has a powerful drive with the strings pushing it along even in the absence of percussion.

The way during the vocals the instrumentals slowly build is very impressive so the anthemic chorus can be blasted out making it a shoe-in for live performance singalong. The strings are punchy and add energy to the choppy guitar riffs.