First the top 10, in alphabetical order.

The A. Lords – The A. Lords (Rif Mountain) [Our Review]

The LP followup to 2006′s self-titled 3″ is a masterpiece of pastoral, almost ambient, folk. Nicholas Palmer and Michael Tanner‘s blend of many acoustic instruments with field recordings, and quite a few fortuitous guest appearances, makes for a wonderful album that started out as a relaxed summer favourite and turned into a classic for all seasons.

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Bass Communion – Cenotaph (Tonefloat)

Steven Wilson‘s drone project hits bullseye with this CD/LP release on tonefloat. The four massive tracks on this album combine ultra-deep drones with pulsating beats in a flawless production. One of the most hypnotic releases of the year!

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Burial Hex – Book of Delusions (Brave Mysteries) [Our Review]

Aural insanity is one way to describe the utterly original and uncompromising output of Burial Hex the past few years. It appears the project is ending after this year, but Book of Delusions is one of the testaments to its genius, combining drones, samples, organ, piano, demented screams, and hypnotic beats into an unholy musical mixture.

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Momick – Momick (Bladud Flies!) [Our Review]

Richard Moult and Michael Lawrence bring their lysergic piano morphing to a debut full length filled with melancholic melodies and soundscapes, including beautiful guest performances by David Tibet on vocals and Mark Baigent on oboe.

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Obsequiae – Suspended in the Brume of Eos (Bindrune) [Our Review]

This duo’s excellent blend of death/black metal and mediaeval musical inspiration makes for an album steeped in energy, solid riffs, and awesome melodies. Our metal tip of the year!

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Premonition Factory – The Sense of Time (Longstreet) [Our Review]

A flawless ambient album, and a crown on a long tradition. Sjaak Overgaauw‘s live looping technique is marvellous and the mixture of light and dark, soft and harsh on this album marks the coming of age of a most excellent project. This one just keeps on growing and is not only one of our favourite albums of this year, but one of our favourite albums, period.

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Rain Drinkers – Springtide (Reverb Worship)

This project is one of our favourite discoveries of the year, and their blend of organic ambient and cinematic music (for lack of a better description) is consistently excellent. Springtide is their finest work, though, featuring marvellous violin and string work, heavy drones, organ, and tons of atmosphere.

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Sand Snowman – The World’s Not Worth It (Tonefloat) [Our Review]

Sand Snowman’s most recent album is another winner, with a particularly excellent mix of progressive folk and rock songs, as well as soundscape-like episodes. Great use of piano, flutes, clarinet, and a guest appearance by Steven Wilson make this an excellent new full-length.

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Tenhi – Saivo (Prophecy) [Our Review]

Refined as ever, Tenhi’s latest is easily one of the best albums of the year in the neofolk area. Despite staying true to their own style, they’re still quite a distance ahead of most others in this area and Saivo is as much a pleasure to listen as its predecessor from five years ago.

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Maarten van der Vleuten – The Scars Remain (Tonefloat)

Of course we’re quite partial to the Van der Vleuten album we released ourselves in 2010, but this year’s return to vinyl (and to tonefloat) is simply a masterpiece. His original electronic compositions are masterfully fused with influences and themes from martial industrial, but with Maarten’s own critical view on the subject matter.

The following albums, too, are all particularly recommended in their own right as quality releases from 2011:

• Alcest – Le Secret (Prophecy) [Our Review]:
  Rerecording of Alcest’s excellent shoegaze/black metal debut EP.
• Peter Bjärgö – The Architecture of Melancholy (Cyclic Law):
  The Arcana frontman presents seven nice darkwave/gothic tracks.
• Kate Bush – 50 Words for Snow (Fish People):
  Surprising and very fulfilling, Bush’s minimal jazzy piano landscapes delight.
• Circulation of Light – LEDNAH : Seven Meditations On G.F. Handel’s Organ Concertos Op. 4 (Brave Mysteries):
  Acoustic/ambient reinterpretations of a classical piece.
• The Cloisters – Little Winter [Our Review]:
  Yule album combining harp and ambient by Michael Tanner and Aine O’Dwyer.
• Jon DeRosa – Anchored EP (Silber) [Our Review]:
  Four pure and lovely indie pop songs from the man behind Aarktica.
• The Doomed Bird of Providence – Will Ever Pray (Front and Follow) [Our Review]:
  Original and intense nautical neofolk.
• The Driftwood Manor – Shelter EP (Rusted Rail):
  Five lovely Irish folk tracks on this bonus EP to The Same Figure, Leaving.
• Joonatan Elokuu – Earth, Sky, Moon and Sun EP (Utupuu):
  Recorded in Holland, Elokuu presents a wonderful blend of neofolk, ambient, and field recordings.
• Higuma – Pacific Fog Dreams (Root Strata) [Our Review]:
  Gorgeous guitar and vocal drones.
• Andrew King – Deus Ignotus (Epiphany) [Our Review]:
  Powerful traditional balladry, with a touch of industrial aesthetics.
• Machinist – Of What Once Was (Moving Furniture):
  Sophisticated drones from the Netherlands.
• Richard Moult – Celestial King for a Year (Second Language) [Our Review]:
  Experimental compositions for strings and voice.
• Raising Holy Sparks – Beyond the Unnamed Bay (Fort Evil Fruit):
  Agitated Radio Pilot’s David Colohan returns with his new project, blending lovely folk tunes and experimental electronics.
• Rose Croix  – Rose Croix (Brave Mysteries) [Our Review]:
  Ethereal and martial industrial meet on this nostalgic cassette mini-album.
• Ulver – Wars of the Roses (K-Scope) [Our Review]:
  Slightly underwhelming, the Norwegians’ latest is still a quality album, particularly the massive spoken word ending.
• Vidna Obmana – 1987-2007 – Chasing the Odyssey (Tonefloat) [Our Review]:
  Mostly older material, but this 8LP box of ambient glory is too beautiful not to remind you of.
• Vortex – Rockdrill (Cyclic Law):
  Ritual and rhythmic ambient goodness from this Golgatha side project.

The crucial question when a band puts out three releases in one year is whether it’s all any good. Thankfully, the answer so far for The Driftwood Manor is a simple resounding yes. Judging from the nearly twenty tracks on these offerings, the well of songs has not run dry in the least, and I expect we can look forward to more interesting material in the near future.

As a brief introduction, let me return to A Gathering, the first album, which held nine tracks clocking in at about 30 minutes. That album had a slightly poppy folk sound, some rock influences, but also an experimental touch to it and a hefty dose of melancholy, on the whole quite accessible as a modern folk album. The second release, though, 2009′s EP Every Light Goes Out Eventually, was a profoundly sad duo of long mantra-like soundscapes, meditating on death and loss, capped by the brief and beautiful vocal ending of “Before it Is Time”. With this release, which came as a pleasant surprise to me, Keenan and his band showed that they had at least one leg firmly rooted in the experimental music world.

The Same Figure, Leaving

This delightful diversity continues with this year’s albums, starting with the second full-length The Same Figure, Leaving, released in handmade packaging on French label Ruralfaune. The album marks a return to the folk songs of the first one, though with slightly less rock/pop leanings. A bit of an Americana sound is thrown into the mix as well, something which suits the general sound of the band admirably. The focus is once more of Keenan’s voice and guitar, with excellent support by Neil Fitzgibbon on fiddle and Bean Dolan on double bass, among others. “A Coat Against the Winter”, the opener, is a wonderful example of the band’s introspective and melancholic sound and lyrical leanings:

“We can have another whiskey / Before we step into the outside / As a coat against the winter / Like a word against the silence”

Another highlight is the swinging mandolin-based “The Lasting Final Hurt”, featuring perfect support work from Fitzgibbon’s fiddle and Audrey Ryan on backing vocals. A final mention goes to the closing and title track, a wonderful ode to calm acceptance, where most if not all of the players on this album come together, particularly in the layered choruses of Keenan, Anne Marie Hynes, and for this one also Dave Colohan.

Holy Ghost

We move on to Holy Ghost, the second EP, released as part of the 3″ series by Rusted Rail. This time around we get six tracks, pretty much in the same style as The Same Figure, Leaving, but all with a power of their own. Therein lies the strength of Keenan’s songwriting: the ability to come up with quite a number of songs in a coherent style that manage to be good enough in their own right to command the listener’s attention. Particular attention must go to the superb “Bury Me Alive”, a song with a strong dose of ballad and spiritual influence, sounding like it could come straight from some countryside church in the American (or Irish?) outback. But really, all the other stracks are simply strong as well; Holy Ghost is solid until the end.

Found Photographs of Ancestors

The final release is the EP Found Photographs of Ancestors, released in August 2010 by Apollolaan Recordings. This handmade affair, limited to 50 copies, is a sequel to Every Light Goes Out Eventually, again combining drones, folk and some eastern musical influences. Keenan works with Colohan as a duo here, both very skilled by now in creating captivating experimental soundscapes. Apparently, these EPs are going to form a trilogy, with the third instalment still upcoming. I must say I found the first part just a tad more involving than this one, but this is still a fine piece of folky drone, and I eagerly await the final part of the trilogy.

So far, 2010 has brought us three fine releases from this Irish group, so I sincerely recommend them for anyone who is interested in alternative and experimental folk. Some of these might be sold out by now, as they’ve appeared in limited editions, but they might be available through mailorders still.