Folk and indie are genres that are incredibly difficult to define, but you'll know them when you hear them. Whether it's the subtle but impactful songwriting, the acoustic instruments, simple but no less emotive compositions, the inclusion of a banjo or hazy synth, or by just not being part of the mainstream and having a smaller budget and smaller production... however you want to classify it, there's no denying there are some gorgeous songs and talented artists that fit the bill here.
Such is the wide-ranging scope of these two genres that our long list of songs suggested by the What Hi-Fi? team ran to well over 50 tracks; the dozen songs here are only a selection of what these diverse genres represent and are comprised of songs that we love listening to, and therefore regularly use as part of our testing. Good music makes good test tracks, after all. And we didn't even get around to including any Billy Bragg, Iron & Wine, Bon Iver, Boygenius or The Unthanks this time, but we'll update this list regularly with more additions.
