Traditional songs in dub, Irish keening with touches of Yoko Ono and shape-note hymns with sound-processing were among the year’s records renewing an ever elusive genre

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With Welsh traditional music flourishing in experimental arrangements and settings thanks to artists such as Cerys Hafana and Lleuwen, Peiriant’s second album (its title means returning) adds to that thrilling sense of motion. Rose Linn-Pearl’s folk fiddle melodies twist and lock with the post-rock-influenced guitars and drones, played by her bandmate and husband, Dan, conjuring up the sublime, jagged landscapes of their home in the Bannau Brycheiniog of mid-Wales. Mellifluous tracks like Llethr (Slope) and Cân Idris (Idris’s Song) sit side-by-side with the compelling, twitchy textures of Gors (Swamp) and Carreg (Stone). Read the full review