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.
From intricate, subtle compositions to stunningly unique vocals and emotive storytelling, all the folk and indie songs in this list deserve to be heard through a talented music system or great pair of headphones to truly come to life and make their presence known.
- Listen to our best folk & indie songs on Tidal
Devil's Spoke – Laura Marling
This is a test track throwback for me, as this 2010-released song was on constant replay when I first started reviewing at What Hi-Fi? over 12 years ago. There is a furious sense of urgency and drive in this song, with the twang of acoustic guitar and banjo chords frantically keeping in step with Marling's equally driven singing. Her strong, lilting vocals are a dynamic rollercoaster; unlike the sweet, wispy, breathy nature of her contemporaries in the folk genre, there's grit and determination and just a hint of darkness to her tone.
It's a terrific test of a system's rhythmic ability and detail levels, having to keep apace with the breathless, undulating nature of the track while also clearly relaying the punctuated strums of the strings and the layers of harmonies and backing vocals as the song reaches its crescendo. If your music system or headphones are capable of snappy precision, subtle dynamic shifts and nuanced detail, this wild track will leave an indelible mark.
Words by Kashfia Kabir
Won't Want For Love (Margaret in the Taiga) – The Decemberists
The Hazards Of Love was originally conceived as a musical by indie rockers The Decemberists; this concept album draws on English folklore traditions and 1960s folk revival, telling the story of lovers Margaret and William and the trials they face from villainous foes and the forest queen (of course) against their union.
Becky Stark from LA-based band Lavender Diamond provides the vocals for Margaret in this yearning song, and her high soprano voice is a sharp contrast to the deep, sludgy, grungy, brooding textures of the instruments. Her crisp, sweet singing can sound a tad too high and shrill if heard through bright or lean-sounding products with an excitable treble – you'll need a system that has just a touch of warmth or richness to give her vocals substantial body but is still clear and transparent enough to let her unique tone shine through.
Elsewhere, you'll want a decent amount of solidity and muscle to deliver those crunchy, layered textures of the electric guitars and the intoning thud of drums, as well as getting you wrapped up in the earthy, foreboding tones of this song.
Words by Kashfia Kabir
Rose Eater – Young Jesus
The latest LP by John Rossiter (Young Jesus), The Fool, is quickly becoming my album of the year and, truthfully, falls more naturally under the folk & indie banner than his previous and genre-straying release, Shepherd Head, on which my chosen track Rose Eater appears. But of his eclectic and ever-evolving discography, it's this majestic rock ballad – recorded using a MacBook, GarageBand and an SM57 microphone, no less – that remains my go-to tester of his.
What starts out as a simple melodic dripping of strings alongside an operatic, front-and-centre vocal that demands every last drop of your system's midrange solidity, soon mushrooms into grandiosity ripe for the theatre. The spotlight-stealing drumbeat (which is, of course, followed by an even bigger one) should punch out with the vigour of a whale launching out of the water, while the building cymbals and tinkering pianos around it should sound more controlled than cacophonous. lndeed, there's plenty for your system to chew on here.
Words by Becky Roberts
Motion Sickness – Phoebe Bridgers
From the very opening stum of the grizzled guitar that’s beautifully contrasted by Bridgers’ delicate and sombre vocals, it’s clear that Motion Sickness is an instant indie folk classic. While it may lean a little heavier on the indie side, it also wears a touch of country influence on its sleeve, with its harmonised vocals, plucky strings and a tapping drum beat that is practically infectious – I’m convinced it is scientifically impossible to dislike this song, in fact.
Motion Sickness balances wistfulness, passive aggression and resentment in equal measures, and if your system can balance those alongside the easygoing, toe-tapping rhythm throughout, then you can be sure it's doing its job properly. This song can also test whether your system is dynamically worthy, as that guitar riff requires some oomph without upsetting the balance of the more gentle aspects of the track.
Words by Lewis Empson
The Place Where He Inserted The Blade – Black Country, New Road
After seeing many people on TikTok of all places hype this band up, I finally took the plunge into the group’s critically acclaimed album Ants From Up There. While the album is an absolute triumph as a whole, it's The Place Where He Inserted The Blade that has captivated me ever since I first listened to it.
It’s a cacophony of everything from guitars, pianos, brass and woodwind, to a warm and rich chorus that underpins much of the track. Despite all of those imposing elements, it manages to be gorgeously intricate and graceful. I’ve heard this song on a plethora of different headphones, wireless speakers and even AVRs, and I’ve concluded that it can be presented in two ways. Some devices go for an all-guns-blazing approach, serving this track poorly with a cluttered and messy sound. However, others balance the intensity with the required subtlety to perfectly capture the contrasting aspects of this song.
Words by Lewis Empson
Should Have Known Better – Sufjan Stevens
Sufjan Stevens has an incredibly unique style, and Should Have Known Better is a prime example of a simple yet impactful indie folk track that puts his recognisable vocals at the forefront. As you’ll notice when you listen to this track, the primary vocals have an interesting harmonised effect which is best suited to a system or pair of headphones that can handle low-level dynamics with finesse.
The vocals are joined by a guitar that slowly builds throughout the track and underpins this song nicely, especially when it is paired with a gentle choir-like chorus; however, it’s Stevens’ vocals that are first and foremost on this track. While it may not have big dynamic shifts or particularly tricky arrangements for a system to deal with, the best will deliver this track with clarity, precision and a touch of warmth, allowing it to truly sing.
Words by Lewis Empson
Under the Violet Moon – Blackmore's Night
Richie Blackmore isn’t a name you’d normally associate with gentle, medieval folk music, but that’s exactly what you get with his band, Blackmore’s Night. Founded in 1997 by the legendary co-founder of both Deep Purple and Rainbow and his wife Candice Night (see where the name comes from?), the band has been putting out a steady stream of stellar folk tracks for nearly 25 years.
From its vast lute and harpsichord-filled back catalogue, Under A Violet Moon remains a firm favourite. It is the title track of the band’s second album and a masterpiece from one of the UK’s premier guitarists. The song starts with a wonderful acoustic guitar intro that slowly adds thumping drum parts and Night’s dreamy vocals before changing pace halfway through, adding an upbeat rhythm section and excellent guitar and keyboard solos.
The end result is a song that’s equal parts comforting and terrifying – one staff writer turned pale and asked if we were preparing him for The Wicker Man when we first played it to him. In his defence, it was Bonfire Night…
Words by Alastair Stevenson
Ragamuffin – Michael Hedges
Michael Hedges is famous in musicians’ circles as one of the most iconic forward-thinking players and composers in the acoustic guitar world. On a technical level, this is largely due to his playing style which was atypical of the mid-’80s. It combined percussive tapping with intricate finger-picking techniques to create truly beautiful results and has since been adopted and reverse-engineered by numerous big name acts. But it is also in no small part to the way his mind visualised and composed music.
He famously created unique tunings to match the song he was composing in his head, rather than rely on established “boring” staples like DADGAD. He then took this further, adopting an acoustic harp with extended range to play many of his songs, cementing his reputation as one of avante-folk’s greatest talents, both before and after his untimely death in 1997.
Ragamuffin is a great example of all of the above. From his most famous album, Ariel Boundaries, the song combines rapid fingerpicked and strummed sections with rhythmically complex tapped parts that intertwine to create a folk masterpiece that will have you enthralled from start to finish.
Words by Alastair Stevenson
Through the Echoes – Paolo Nutini
If you’re the sort of person who likes to spend a gloriously misanthropic evening staring out of their window as your radio or speaker cranks out your go-to self-pity playlist, Paolo Nutini’s Last Night In The Bittersweet might be your sort of thing. Packed with all the pathos and introspection you could ever hope for, it’s just one man and his guitar singing songs about love, breakups and the dark recesses of the soul.
Emotional connection and an apt sense of space are vital elements, but what should really stand up to scrutiny is Nutini’s signature vocals, with the best headphones and systems capable of picking apart the various layers hidden within those raspy chords. Lighter nasal tones should hover distinctly at the top, while throatier notes will act as the anchor, complemented by warmth and sweetness sitting in the middle. An enthralling sandwich, albeit one that would probably taste like dope and whisky.
Words by Harry McKerrell
Ballad Of Big Nothing – Elliott Smith
With my favourite Elliott Smith album Between The Bars vetoed for being a little too obvious, I’ve taken the bold step of opting for something… undeniably similar. Ballad of Big Nothing shares the same gentle guitar strums and breathy vocals as much of the melancholy-laden fare found on 1997’s Either/Or, albeit with a little more rhythmic impetus and sonic punch than Smith’s most recognisable tune.
Vocal reproduction remains king, of course; Smith’s singing has a very particular quality in that there’s an airy, almost innocent character that offsets the darkness of his song’s weighty lyrical content, and we usually judge a good system as one that makes the late man’s delivery feel personal and intimate rather than rote and mechanical. There’s a loose, swaying rhythm for your system to hook onto, too, something that will come across with more potency from a set-up that can reveal the differences in weight and volume from each drum hit and guitar strum.
Words by Harry McKerrell
Moment – Timber Timbre
Nowadays the best Canadian indie outfit since Arcade Fire is strictly speaking more musically 'alternative' than 'folk', but their name comes from the fact that they made their first recordings in a timber-framed woodland cabin in the rural Ontario outskirts – can you really get folkier origins than that? – and in the early days they sounded as 'folk' as an English sea shanty.
Their eponymous third album is the perfect introduction for the uninitiated (you might recognise its Magic Arrow track from Breaking Bad), but it's the bluesy electronica of Moment from the surreal and somewhat dystopian 2017 album, Sincerely, Future Pollution, that for me most helpfully shines a light on a hi-fi component's performance. (That, and Bleu Nuit – but I've overplayed it.)
You've got Taylor Kirk's brooding, band-defining, Cohen-conjuring vocal, a vocodered background vocal alongside it adding depth, dawdling keyboard harmonics, stings of high-pitched synths, and finally a berserk guitar solo that wonderfully contrasts the steadfast beat beneath it. This song has sounded flat or disorganised or overly piercing at the top end through many systems I've encountered, so I can only hope, for your sake, it doesn't through yours.
Words by Becky Roberts
I Still Believe – Frank Turner
It's not always about the merits of individual instruments, the precise stereo imaging, or the obsessively pristine recording... Sometimes you just want to have a grand time singing along to a great tune and this folk-punk anthem gives you exactly that.
Frank Turner's I Still Believe is a jubilant, earnest, life-affirming ode to music, or in his own words "an unashamed love song to rock and roll as a concept". (It even has the distinction of being performed at the London 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony pre-show). From its catchy riffs and rousing vocals, interspersed with a mini harmonica solo, to the electrifying, crowd-pleasing chorus of "I still believe", however you listen to this song, there should be enough punch and soaring dynamics to incite joy, to make you want to sing along and profess your love of music, much in the way that John Williams' Jurassic Park Theme makes you excited about dinosaurs.
And that's what really matters here; without getting too sentimental, it's our love of music and the enrichment it brings to our lives, regardless of genre or playback quality, that unites us all. As Turner says, "So just remember, folks / We're not just saving lives / We're saving souls / And we're having fun..."
Words by Kashfia Kabir
MORE:
12 best songs of 2024 (so far) to test-drive your hi-fi system
10 iconic albums celebrating their 30th anniversary this year
11 of the best instrumental test tracks to give your hi-fi a vocal-free workout
