No sooner did we get our post on Kami Thompson's new solo album Love Lies up on DC did we discover her latest work with fellow Londoner and songwriter James Walbourne -- the delightfully monikered Dead Flamingoes. A tour with Josh Rouse in the U.K. has just wrapped, a debut EP Habit is imminent and skittery and shimmering lead track "Hold Your Fire" -- replete with a sinewy guitar break -- is now yours to weigh in on...

Dead Flamingoes - "Hold Your Fire"

Something old -- something new. Something borrowed and, yes, something blue on this week's list of new releases. Covering the both old and borrowed, may we offer you the collection of 30's-era standards from the Macca man himself, Paul McCartney? Valentines Day, as his marketing folks at Hear Music will tell you, is right around the corner. For us -- we'll take the newest from that whip-smart songwriter Jenny Owen Youngs along with the second album from Feist guitarist (and songwriter) Afie Jurvanen (aka Bahamas). We're also fond of the poppyfolk displays of U.K. duo Trevor Moss and Hannah-Lou and, also from across the pond, the fine young neo-soul singer Maverick Sabre. From up north we get the blue -- as in bluesy -- with the countrified folk/rock of Toronto's Emma-Lee. There's more, too -- check out our full DC listing below (and link back to features to stream music and check out a video or two)...

Add us to the list of willing converts to the brightly spangled folk and retro-pop of London singer/songwriting husband and wife duo Trevor Moss and Hannah-Lou. With a nod to the buskery strums of classic British folk, the pair have delivered Quality First, Last and Forever (February 7 Digital, Heavenly/Downtown) a mostly sunny, upbeat album of sing-song melodies that seem lifted from the soundtrack to some lost bell-bottomed Carnaby Street musical of the 60's or as NME put it, "Fairport Conventions's folk with Fleetwood Mac‟s pop sensibilities." Balancing the Shindig stylings of the "da-da-da" heavy "Making It Count" are the more laid back jangle-fests "Big Water" and "The Passing of Time", lovely acoustic melodies using rich vocal harmonies like decadent layers of bittersweet frosting. Videos below...

Trevor Moss & Hannah-Lou - "Feel At Ease" (from Quality First...)

Trevor Moss & Hannah-Lou - "Big Water" (from Quality First...)

"I wanted it to be a diamond" Shin-master James Mercer tells Rolling Stone of this unabashed love song written for his wife and premiering today on the Record Store Day site. "The trouble is that I told Marisa 'This is going to be your song', so I knew the lyrics had to be right on." Taken from the forthcoming March 20 Shins album Port of Morrow -- and b-side to new 7" single "Simple Song" -- "September" is a swaying ode with sweetly laid-back vibe, enhanced with some exquisitely tasteful and retro-tinged touches from producer/multi-instrumentalist Greg Kurstin (Lily Allen, Bird and the Bee).

The Shins - "September" (from Port of Morrow)

With a voice that rises from a slow-smoked, raspy whisper, frontwoman Ellen Smith leads this Leeds band of mellow folk/rockers on All The Crooked Scenes, the promising full-length debut from Ellen and the Escapades arriving April 16 in the U.K. Reminiscent at time of a more low-keyed K.T Tunstall, the melodies are graceful, the moods at turns pensive and briskly no-nonsense as track such as "Coming Back Home" glide by on a luxuriant bed of acoustic picking and dense keyboard layers, initially stripped elements shifting gears with the kick of snare drum. "This Ace I've Burned" follows in a long line of British folk shot through with a low-wattage electric spark, Smith's voice a marvel of husky, unassuming understatement. In-studio videos after the jump...

Ellen and the Escapades - "Coming Back Home"

Ellen and the Escapades - "This Ace I've Burned"

Anais Mitchell - Any doubts that the creative smarts behind 2010's impressive folk "opera" Hadestown -- a mix of Greek mythology and dust-bowl Americana -- might have peaked are easily dispelled with this intelligent, thoughtfully personal new work of storytelling inspired, she says, "by American manhood, British ballads and my father"...producer/musician Todd Sickafoose (Ani DiFranco, Andrew Bird) is once again at the studio helm // Release: Young Man In America (February 28) // Sounds like: Mitchell's distinctive, girlish voice serves as a counterpoint for her weighty themes of social unrest, gender identification, rootlessness and the ties to family and job, lovers and poets...the instrumental backing, touching elements jazz, folk and theatrical orchestration, is equally formidable and brilliantly realized...

Anais Mitchell - "Shepherd" (from Young Man In America)

Anais Mitchell - Young Man In America Sampler (Tailor, Coming Down, Wilderness)

Paul McCartney - Teamed with famed producer and record exec Tommy Lipuma and joined by Diana Krall and her band, Macca -- turning 70 this spring -- digs back to the pure, sugary sweet nostalgia of his parent's generation with this plush, lushly upholstered collection of a dozen mostly romantic standards -- and a couple of new originals, too...Eric Clapton and Stevie Wonder make guest appearances // Release: Kisses On the Bottom (February 7, Hear Music) // Sounds like: for those looking for a syrupy but sincere take on these vintage classics, McCartney's understated versions will most likely fill the bill... the iconic songwriter and ex-Beatle has turned out his own share of standards but this purely sentimental journey, while boasting some genuinely fine moments, comes off more as a calculated Starbucks marketing campaign and marred by McCartney's weak, occasionally warbly vocals...An interesting alternative? Just McCartney on vocals and bass, Krall and piano and Clapton on guitar --- now that would've been something...(Watch the EPK video below)

Paul McCartney - "Only Our Hearts" (from Kisses on the Bottom)

Paul McCartney - "Get Yourself Another Fool" (from Kisses on the Bottom)

Stream the full Kisses On The Bottom (until release) at NPR...

Monster Folk-er as well as the Him of She and Him, M. Ward gets positively cuddly on this Nick Drake-ian song set to a One Eskimo-styled animated charm. For some reason we keep thinking of imbibing some hot chocolate on a cold day (with extra marshmallows) or that episode of Seinfeld when George explores his fantasy of wrapping himself in nothing but velvet. From his forthcoming album A Wasteland Companion, due April 10. More DC here.

After a moving to an increasingly larger production scope on her last two projects, Swedish songwriter Sofia Talvik says she went "back to basics" on her overtly pretty but modest and unpretentious fifth album The Owls Are Not What They Seem, self-released digitally in the U.S. this week. Recorded mostly at her home, Talvik's gentle acoustic songs make up for any loss of sonic power and rhythmic force with a focus on the sweetly nuanced basics: endearing melodies, tasteful arrangements around what Talvik describes as a "live, organic feel" and her own lovely, untrained voice. While songs like "Glow" and "If I Had A Man" flutter by on gauzy gossamer wings, Talvik explores a darker emotional underside on "The Garden", a song imbued with minor chord tension and lyrical edge of "good and evil". "I had no interest in changing the world or inventing something new," reflects Talvik. "I just wanted to make a beautiful acoustic album." Done.

Sofia Talvik - "Nothing Quite So Gentle" (from The Owls Are Not What They Seem)

Sofia Talvik - "The Garden" (from The Owls Are Not Quite What They Seem)

Since his debut in 2003, Danish singer/songwriter Teitur Lassen has quietly made a name for himself throughout Europe, garnering strong reviews, awards and airplay. A tireless and engaging performer, the Faroe Islands native has shared the stage with the likes of Aimee Mann and John Mayer (who called his '03 debut album "one of the best albums to come around in the last five years") and developed a growing cult of American fans. Let the Dog Drive Home, Teitur's fourth English album, confirms his stature as a performer and writer of wry imagination and intelligence, delivering a dozen new songs that skillfully walk the fine line between artful and accessible. Released in Europe in October of 2010, the album finally arrived in the U.S. digitally this week...

Teitur - "Betty Hedges" (from the album Let the Dog Drive)

Teitur - "You Never Leave L.A." (from the album Let the Dog Drive)

We pretty much equate auto-tuned vocals with the black plague but somehow in the hands of Channy Leaneagh and Poliça we're thinking we might be able to take a break from the browbeating and handwringing -- kind of like getting a delightful if temporary sugar buzz from a Krispy Kreme donut, you know you feel guilty but it tastes so good. We liked the song and we love the video, simply shot and sensuous, the trip-hop beat and Leaneagh's elegant, fluid moves forming a rather hypnotic series of images and sounds. From the band's upcoming February 14 album Give You the Ghost, "Lay Your Cards Out" features Mike Noyce of Bon Iver. More DC here.

Poliça - "Lay Your Cards Out" (feat. Mike Noyce) (from Give You The Ghost)

Winterpills - After 2010's "bedroom affair" EP Tuxedo Ashes, New England's fine, woefully unheralded indie pop band returns with a more fully produced full length of finely crafted, lushly harmonied songs embellished with ambient seques and moods both deep and dark..."we were all pushing ourselves here to make something exciting, emotional, fresh and rocking,” says guitarist Dennis Crommet // Release: All My Lovely Goners (February 14, Signature Sounds) // Sounds like: the trademark chamber pop melodies and resplendent, entwined vocals that have been Winterpills' hallmark since ' 2005 debut remain happily intact even as they deliver what is easily their most diverse and ambitious collection of tracks yet...

Winterpills - "Amazing Sky" (from All My Lovely Goners)

Winterpills - All My Lovely Goners Sampler (We Turned Away, Rogue Highway, January Rain, Dying Star)

Co-founders, songwriters and singers Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir and Ragnar “Raggi” Þórhallsson head up Of Monsters and Men, an Icelandic band that has plied bright, smart and tuneful art/pop into something both folksy and larger than life. Combining the solid folk/rock melodies of 10,000 Maniacs and the bright, tambourine-shaking gypsy-inspired choruses of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, the much-buzzed outfit follow up their well-received 2011 EP Into the Woods with the debut full length My Head Is An Animal, due stateside April 3 via Universal/Republic. "Little Talks", a spirited dual-vocal charmer sporting a festive horn section and fist-pumping shout-along represents one playful side of the Monsters/Men ethic while "Love Love Love" and "King and Lionheart" offer up fine-spun folk melodies that still find a way to resonate on a grand chamber pop scale. Videos below.

Of Monsters and Men - "Little Talks" (from My Head Is An Animal)

Of Monsters and Men - "King and Lionheart" (from My Head Is An Animal)

Forty years after her remarkable, groundbreaking debut album, Bonnie Raitt returns with her first new studio recordings in seven years with Slipstream, due April 10. With multiple Grammys under her belt -- most for her multi-platinum Nick of Time and Luck of the Draw success -- Raitt continues to skillfully fuse folk/blues and pop melodies with the greatest of ease. Lead track "Right Down the Line" is simply classic Raitt, a slinky, slightly funky track with a slippery reggae beat and fuzz-tinged slide guitar work. Like the best covers, she gently, inventively bends Gerry Rafferty's 70's chestnut into a version that's distinctively all her own. More DC on Slipstream here.

Bonnie Raitt - "Right Down the Line" (from Slipstream)

A plethora of worthy releases this week, from the iconic Leonard Cohen to acclaimed Nashville tunesmith Gretchen Peters, from the prairie roots music of The Pines to Aussie alt-pop studio wizard Gotye. Houston folk/rockers Buxton have something new as well along with Kami Thompson (daughter of Richard and Linda), rising Brit neo-folkie Rachel Sermanni and New York singer/songwriter Alyssa Graham. You can, if you wish, find out what the fuss is all about with the over-hyped, under-cooked Lana Del Rey, Seal's new collection of classic soul covers, Swedish pop/folk songstress Sofia Talvik and the wonderful live set (with fan questions) from Mike Doughty. See the full listing below and link to features for stream, videos and more.