Peggy Sue, Mandolin Orange, The Mariner's Children

Peggy Sue's debut album Fossils and other Phantoms won the band acclaim for its subtle but powerful songwriting. The NME called them 'head-over-heels brilliant', The Guardian praised their 'thrilling' musicianship and awarded the album four stars.

This year the band returns with their sophomore album, Acrobats, recorded in a labyrinth of underground cellars with long time PJ Harvey collaborator, John Parish. The cavernous setting seems apt for the thunderous new songs; the lyric-driven post-folk now integrating more clearly than ever their long-term influences such as early Velvet Underground, The Breeders and Sleater-Kinney.

The glorious dual vocals soar above, losing themselves only in each other, whilst beneath them the trio build a brooding foundation. Sometimes intimate, sometimes feuding, Peggy Sue counteract the delicacy of intricate harmonies and evocative lyrics with dynamic, tribal drumming and overdriven guitars.

The result is both furious and beautiful.