On July, her debut for Sacred Bones, Marissa Nadler strips away the metaphorical language that has been a hallmark in her songwriting–even when it was self referential. She speaks in the first person charting the aftermath of a devastating romantic relationship. These songs are colored in deep, gauzy American Gothic in lyric, melody, and production – the latter provided by Randall Dunn (Earth, Akron/Family, Wolves in the Throne Room). Nadler's lithe vocals and fingerpicked acoustic guitar are, as always, at the forefront of these 11 songs. They are adorned by enough reverb to make them feel as if they were frozen in time.

J. Roddy Walston & the Business are a tough band to pin down, with a sound that is both familiar and then something else again: a mix of Southern rock, and Jerry Lee Lewis with some Big Star tossed in, a whole lot of Led Zeppelin stomp, a Creedence Clearwater Revival kind of bounce to everything, maybe some Motown soul, too, and yet, this is a band that assimilates all of this with ease, and truthfully, it works more often than it doesn't.

Haul Away!, the second album from Manchester singer/songwriter Liz Green, walks a beat similar to her jazzy 2011 debut O, Devotion! It's no surprise then, that she considers it a sort of sea-inspired sequel to her more earthbound debut and in keeping with an intended trilogy of albums. Frequent references to the sea, islands, and water abound, though this is no attempt at shanties or rough-hewn British folk. The torchy, whimsical, and often maudlin tones of her earlier work remain throughout Haul Away!'s 11 songs.

First Mind is an engrossing listen, and not easily defined. It encourages an open-mind (the 'First Mind' perhaps), and a sense of the worldliness that Nick poured into its making. Cucurucu is an interpretation of DH Lawrence's poem, Piano, wrapped within a heady groove.

Plain Spoken includes ten stunningly elegant and soul-searching Americana gems from 'The Voice of the Heartland', John Mellencamp, while celebrating his skill not just as a song craftsman but as a world-class entertainer.

'Annunciations' celebrates Sir James MacMillan's ongoing contributions to sacred music, performed by St Salvator's Chapel Choir. Alongside five of his own pieces, the album includes works by two decisive influences on MacMillan, Benjamin Britten and Kenneth Leighton; two significant contemporaries, John Tavener and Judith Bingham; and six next generation composers mentored by Sir James on the TheoArtistry Composers' Scheme, a collaboration between ITIA (the Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts), the Music Centre, and St Salvator's Chapel Choir, in the University of St Andrews.

After a first CD that was received with critical acclaim (works for organ and harpsichord by the young J. S. Bach at TYX Art), Cécile Mansuy now presents one of the most fashionable dances of the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spagnoletta, alternating partitas and variations on the theme, with dances such as the passacaille or gaillarde and pieces of free inspiration.

It was not until he was twenty-seven years old that Paganini embarked on the concert tours which made him the most talked-about violinist of his time. He gave up his permanent position at the court of Princess Élisa Baciocchi in Lucca in December 1809, and began by giving concerts in various towns in northern Italy. His triumphs in Milan in 1813 established his national reputation, and he finally gained international fame in 1828, on his first tour outside Italy. Of the six concertos he is currently known to have composed, he wrote nos. I and 2 for performance in Italy, the first probably in 1815–16, the second in 1826. …