Indie Folk Reviews
19 Indie Folk records in the Certified Archive. Every one of them earned five rainbow thumbs-up, because we only publish reviews of records we think are great — so treat this page as a listening list rather than a ranking. Newest first.
Jake Xerxes Fussell's 'The Old Beloved Path' Is a Quietly Radiant Masterpiece of Interpretation
Fussell's sixth album takes nine traditional songs and treats them like living things rather than museum pieces. Produced by Ben Whiteley, recorded at Betty's in Chapel Hill, and gone in about thirty-three minutes — which is exactly long enough.
Julia Jacklin's 'The Gem' Took a Year Instead of Two Weeks and You Can Hear the Patience
Ten songs for 4AD, co-produced by Jacklin and Robert Muinos and recorded across a full year — December 2024 to December 2025 — at Rat Shack in Melbourne. Metacritic has it at 81 with nothing below a 70. The Guardian, Uncut and Slant all gave it four stars; Record Collector's review was two words long.
Kristin Hersh's 'Sugar on Blackstone' Is a Hushed Masterpiece of Cello, Memory and Nerve
The Throwing Muses founder goes quiet and goes deep: eleven songs rooted in Providence, cut at Stable Sound Studios with Pete Harvey's cello out front and Rob Ahlers' drums only where they're needed. Live4ever gave it four stars.
Babehoven's 'I See Them, I See Me' Is a Quietly Devastating Feat of Arrangement
Maya Bon's project returns on Double Double Whammy, co-produced with Phil Weinrobe and Ryan Albert across four studios. Fiddle, slide guitar, banjo and a harmony stack that includes Karly Hartzman. Paste called it a mostly stunning collection of indie-folk tunes.
boycalledcrow's 'the sprawl' Is a Beautifully Haunted Masterpiece of Tape and Bass Weight
Carl M. Knott's twelfth-hour swerve away from folk instrumentation and into distorted textures, hip-hop weight and dub basslines, out on the micro-label Mortality Tables. Backseat Mafia scored it 89 and called it folktronica that 'goes darker and deeper.'
Angela Autumn's 'Believer' Is a Gloriously Overgrown Masterpiece of Stacked Guitars
Twelve songs from the Nashville songwriter's first full-length since 2021's Frontiers Woman, out on Gar Hole Records. Produced by Isaiah Beard at Club Roar, it runs honky-tonk, psych-rock and clawhammer banjo through the same tape and comes out sounding like one thing.
Le Ren's 'Don't Be Funny Without Me' Is a Widescreen Return Worth the Five-Year Wait
Lauren Spear's second album as Le Ren, her first in five years, made in a rural Ontario studio with a full band and no pre-written parts. Out on Royal Mountain. Exclaim! called it a reintroduction with 'a widescreen sound.'
Blaine Todd's 'Angle of Repose' Is a Plainspoken Masterpiece of Roadside Melancholy
Fifth solo record from a Bay Area songwriter, out on the small Chicago label Nudie. Bandcamp Daily's Ben Salmon places him between lo-fi folk, outsider twang and ambling psychedelia, and says the songs stuck around long after the record ended. Ten tracks of acoustic guitar, pedal steel, fiddle and lonesome horns.
Laura Veirs Recorded 'Temple Songs' in a Backyard Shed With Two Mics and Made Her Warmest Album in Years
Veirs' fourteenth album is her first entirely self-recorded one — two microphones and a laptop in a Portland backyard shed, over about three months. Eleven songs in twenty-nine minutes, mixed by Phil Weinrobe, with Veirs herself credited for the artwork and calligraphy.
Squirrel Flower Finds the Cure for Everything on the Open Road
Ella O'Connor Williams' sixth album, cut with producer Alex Farrar at Drop of Sun Studios, treats the open road as both subject and cure. Paste singled out 'Cleveland' as one of the best songs she's ever written, and it's hard to argue.
Phoebe Bridgers' 'Lost Weekend' Is a Gorgeous, Unruly Leap Forward
Phoebe Bridgers trades Punisher's hush for something stranger and more crowded. Pedal steel collides with synth chaos, grief sits next to jokes, and it somehow all holds together. This is the sound of an artist refusing to repeat herself.
Hank Heaven Goes Toe-to-Toe With New York City on 'Welterweight'
Produced by Phil Weinrobe, the Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter's new EP on Nice Life Recording Company turns floating through New York — and staying on guard the whole time — into six tender, twangy, live-tracked songs.
Elijah Wolf's 'track star' Turns Catskills Ennui Into Gorgeous Small-Town Poetry
A surprise-dropped tenth record about upstate New York dive bars and dead-end expectations, recorded with Felix Walworth of Told Slant and Florist. Warm, unhurried, and quietly devastating.
June McDoom's 'Without You' Is a Gorgeous Argument for Staying Present
The lead single from June McDoom's long-awaited debut album 'Follow the Light' is a spacey, patient meditation on gratitude and commitment. Moves slow, lands hard.
Ezra Williams' 'Blight' is a Hushed Masterpiece of Comforting Dissonance
The Irish songwriter formerly known as Smoothboi pairs warm, nostalgic guitar with pedal steel and a set of lyrics about watching something end. Gentle on the surface, unsettled underneath.
Josaleigh Pollett's 'If I Let It Quiet' Is a Long-Distance Fourth Album Worth the Wait
The Salt Lake City songwriter's fourth album was built across continents with producer Jordan Watko while the two were apart, folding lo-fi charm, distorted electronics, and Boards of Canada-tilted synths around songs about sleeplessness and self-reinvention. KLOF Mag called it 'a treasure trove.'
Tremolo Fields Paint Four Perfect Pictures on 'red birds on a branch'
A Portland, Maine professor who came up in Iowa City basement shows, produced by Wild Pink's John Ross. Four songs, thirteen minutes, zero press. The richest small thing you'll hear this month.
Aldous Harding Keeps It Beautifully Strange on Train On The Island
Harding's strangeness endures, and thank goodness for that. Minimalist arrangements, economical lyrics, and a tightrope walk between control and abandon.
Mitski Writes Circles Around Everyone on 'Nothing's About to Happen to Me'
Chamber pop, Americana, slacker rock, and alt-country folded into one seamless indie folk record. Mitski's songwriting precision and emotional control are operating at full strength.