On her fourth album, Leva-me aos fados (Take Me to a Fado House), youthful Portuguese fadista Ana Moura reaches new heights of vocal mastery while, as is typical of this gracefully mournful, all-acoustic tradition, plunging to the depths of romantic disillusionment and unfulfilled sexual longing. Interpreting songs by longtime collaborator Jorge Fernando,
who produced and sat in on guitar, plus other noted composers, Moura s rich, exquisitely bittersweet alto is breathtaking in its womanly, aching vulnerability. She negotiates sinuous, Moorish-inflected wails and breathes poignancy into every melody, wringing every possible tear-drop from lyrics where even the occasional faint silver lining can cut to the bone. Whether facing down a triumphant rival ( Caso Arrumado A Settled Affair), dodging doom-inflected omens ( Como uma nuvem no céu Like A Cloud In The Sky), or weeping in solitude at day s end ( A Penumbra Dusk), Moura communicates world-weary, indomitable courage spiced with a risqué tang of dark passion that hurts so good.

Sweden's Lykke Li presents one of the most perfect pop albums you'll hear all year. Just as her music sometimes seems to have arrived from another planet, she's not quite like anyone you've met before.

Gaelic Storm is a "whirwind ruckus" (Village Voice) who tour worldwide for at least two hundred days out of every year. On their new album, 'Cabbage,' the band brings influences from rock, bluegrass, Jamaican, African and Middle Eastern music that may surprise those expecting purely traditional Celtic music. As many tens of thousands of record buyers and festival-goers knows, the quintet play high-energy, foot-stomping, feel-good Celtic music. 'Cabbage' carries on that tradition with Gaelic Storm's signature acoustic sound and a fresh batch of crafted story-songs.

To begin with, this album was meant to focus solely on guitar and vocals. But little by little Yael and David Donatien, who encouraged her to sing in Hebrew, padded out the architecture and formed a team. Xavier Tribolet (drums), Laurent David (bass), Voed Nir (cello) and Julien Feltin (electric guitar) joined them as well as S.Husky Huskolds for the mix (Tom Waits, Fiona Apple, Me’Shell Ndegeocello). The instrumentation is pretty minimalist here yet incredibly colourful with the participation of the brass section, the Mellotron, the cello and some programming. Recorded in the young woman’s flat in Paris the 13 songs contain a part of Yael happy (Endless Song of Happiness) and a melancholic (Paris, Lonely) existence. Some of them, like Yashanti or Lachlom dive into dreams, others like Baboker bathe in the serenity found at the break of day. Shelcha looks at a love with no future. The most outrageous is of course the cover of Britney Spears’ Toxic. Listening to these little marvels could possibly remind us of old friends like Tori Amos or Fiona Apple. Yet the ensemble isn’t witness to excessive borrowing or exaggerated marking, but quite the contrary revealing a sincerity and absolute musical clarity. In fact it is quite astonishing how something that sounds so familiar could seduce our ears with such a nude and original beauty. Perhaps it is due to the dominance of Hebrew, a language so rarely sung in this context, that comes across as universal as Cesaria Evora’s Portuguese Creole? Or is it the simply the very freshness exhaled by the personality of this young woman who discovers in New Soul - sung in English with a contagious optimism – that she is "a new soul, in this foreign world, hoping to learn a little"? "It was when I was really young that I sincerely believed to be an old soul reincarnated and I could even say it gave me a sense of superiority over others. But then as I subsequently did everything the wrong way round I concluded that it was actually my first time on earth and that I should learn to be a more humble." On Far Far, she herself delivers this other perspective, that of a little girl who chases her dreams but who can only achieve them by accepting the "beautiful mess inside". In short both her own personal history and that of this simply magical record.

Irelands Folk Band of the Year, The High Kings, is comprised of Darren Holden (star of the Broadway hit show by Billy Joel, Movin' Out), Finbarr Clancy (of the well-known Clancy family), Martin Furey (son of the "prince of pipers" Finbar Furey) and Brian Dunphy (son of showband legend Sean Dunphy). A quartet of accomplished musical pedigrees, the band first exploded onto the Irish folk music scene in 2008 with their self-titled debut CD and DVD and was introduced to American audiences on Public Television. They have sold out hundreds of shows, in Ireland and the US, made numerous TV appearances and achieved platinum status in Ireland with both albums. On their new album Memory Lane, The High Kings showcase their incredible versatility and skills as multi-instrumentalists, playing 13 instruments between the four of them, bringing a rousing acoustic flavor to brand new songs as well as some old favorites. Memory Lane captures the ensembles energetic sound of 'folk n roll', serving up laughter, good times and even the occasional sing-a-long.

Marketa Irglova, one half of Oscar winning duo the Swell Season, says her solo debut Anar is like a time capsule of her first year in New York, where she moved from Ireland in June 2010. Fame came early to Irglova when the film Once became the breakout independent hit of 2007. On that soundtrack album and the subsequent Swell Season release Strict Joy, Irglova won over audiences with her quiet passion and increasing assurance as a musician and songwriter. Now at the ripe age of 23, her decision to branch out on her own was inspired by a combination of a Swell Season hiatus and relocating to New York. "I started writing the songs when I moved, " she recalls. "I realized if I wanted to continue making music I just had to create the circumstances for myself. So I just started writing more intensely and in a more committed way than I ever had before. " With an upcoming Broadway version of Once reminding fans of the musical magic of the film and the duo, Irglova has a built in audience for her lyrical songs, which display the influence of both her classical piano roots, with touches of Chopin and Liszt, and classic singer songwriters from Joni Mitchell to Kate Bush.