Successful Swedish musician Sebastian Arnström reprises his role as the brains behind ghostly ambient-electronica creation Simian Ghost, with their latest full length studio album under Heist or Hit Records, entitled Youth, set to be released on March 5th 2012. It’s the first full length album the band have done with this label, and Simian Ghost claim that 2012 looks to be the start of a breakthrough year for them.

Self styled ‘atmospheric dream-pop’ folk artist Jenny Gillespie may well be one of the most unique artists to come out of the USA in recent times. Her newest album, Belita, is a tuneful mix of electro-acoustic folk music and progressive, dreamy sounds, sensuous and atmospheric. Set to be released in 2012, it’s a different, progressive sound that has the potential to capture the attention of many.

After an undeserved two decades in musical purgatory outside their native Canada, Cowboy Junkies who kicked the genre system up the arse in 1986 with ‘Whites Off Earth Now’ and follow up ‘The Trinity Sessions’ are back, having dumped major label Geffen for the indies with a repackaged repertoire. Not only are they releasing new material by the bucketload, but we can expect four albums in the near future under the guise of The Nomad Series, Volume 3 ‘Sing In My Meadow’ being the current LP under review.

Following on from the success of first single ‘Breakfast In Spitalfields’, which achieved Record of the Month at Radio 2, Spaniard Juan Zelada is set to release single ‘The Blues Remain’ on the 31st of October so put the date in your diary folks because it’s pretty damn good. Zelada might be Spanish but he oozes transatlantic pop sensation from every pore.

Montreal-based trio Trips and Falls’ new album is somewhat of a disappointment. In fact – it could even be said that their band name is reflective of their music – it kind of meanders along through the album and never truly achieves momentum.