Neko Case is a true force of nature. Her voice is among the most confident and controlled in music today. It has been for the past decade as she has continually honed her craft somewhere between country and pop, both as a solo artist and the occasional “soul” behind the super group the New Pornographers. In general my bias for her will always drift towards her pop sensibilities rather than her purer country inclinations, but like Joni Mitchell, who always had a kind of cool groove to her early and middle records, Neko Case carries the songs on her back leading them with her voice, leading the music instead of merely following or conforming to it.

“Middle Cyclone” is another lovely record, but like most of her solo work it is filled with hugely perfect moments (“People Got a Lot of Nerve” and “This Tornado Loves You”) and a few that tend to miss a little. But in the end it is hard for me to name more than a few female vocalists that have combined both the chops and songwriting abilities over the past bunch of years – Beth Orton, Cat Power, PJ Harvey. Neko Case is very much the real deal.

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I love the Scandinavian folkies: Kings of Convenience, Sondra Lerche, Jose Gonzalez and Nicoli Dunger. But Loney, Dear’s latest effort transcends the genre and morphs into something quite different and special. Think The Postal Service, but stronger, much more urgent and less shallow-synth sounding. If the older Loney records were sparer, more acoustic seeming, “Dear John” is a gusher of both optimistic energy, much needed some days, and vocal melodies that just tend to find their groove and travel. With this big sound it is a combination of beats and percussion that lift off quietly and then burst like fireworks.

Perhaps I am getting carried away, but to listen to this record with headphones flying over the melting snowcaps of the Northern Sierra’s you can’t help by feel somehow liberated by the songs “Airport Surroundings” and “Everything Turns To You.” Although Loney, Dear is largely the brainchild of Emil Svanangen this record is a fully realized, impeccably orchestrated pop opera. There is no doubt this is already one of the year’s best, and will remain so.

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Man, the older I get the more I tend to fall for really great folkies. I blame my early fascination with Donovan and Nick Drake for that, but they also helped me understand what a great folk record should be about. Alela Diane, who I had never heard of prior to a Colin Meloy tweet a few months back, has written a great record stitched from the same quilt as modern classics like those by early Elliot Smith, Iron and Wine, M. Ward and others.

Like all good alterna-folk “To Be Still” is steeped in equal parts brooding darkness and gently prodding optimism. Alela’s voice is a solid, smoky driver of a train filled with a nice assortment of strings, steel and acoustic guitars best captured on “Dry Grass & Shadows” and “The Alder Trees.” It is hard to imagine a better springtime record for that day you are blowing through the country with the windows down and music turned up loudly.

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