SOPHIE HUTCHINGS Yonder (1631 Recordings) Way over yonder in a minor key? Pianist and composer (and on this album, in a distant but nonetheless very present way, vocalist) Sophie Hutchings is no Woody Guthrie, nor does she confine herself to minor keys. But you could say she does work in a way that on her newish album – it’s taken me too long to get to review this, and I apologise – looks onward, forward … to yonder, and beyond. Assisted by violinist Jay Kong principally, and

It is a pretty good year when Nick Cave’s intense, deeply emotional – though never easily categorised as “sad” – and wholly satisfying Skeleton Tree has to settle for #11 in the top 20 albums of the year. It’s keeping good company though, with the gentle but persistent piano work of Sophie Hutchings and the anything but gentle reportage of P J Harvey affecting works in their own way, and Rokia Traore, balancing pointed commentary and elegance, a quiet achiever. Weirdly, King