New sounds for 2018

Plan B – Heaven Before All Hell Breaks Loose: The Rapper and singer Plan B is back soon with his hotly-anticipated third album Heaven Before All Hell Breaks Loose. The record comes a whopping eight years after his critically acclaimed last effort The Defamation Of Strickland Banks, which topped the charts and spawned hits She Said and Stay Too Long. But those expecting rap might be disappointed. He recently told GQ magazine that he left rapping off this time around “because I feel that I’m not being honest with myself if I’m living the high life and I’m trying to rap about the other side of things” but says the album will have a futuristic slant to it. Some of the album is based on the recent social and political changes, and also acts as a conduit for his living in “a perpetual state of heaven on earth”. Due for release in April. Lucy Mapstone

Arctic Monkeys – As yet Untitled: Sheffield rockers Arctic Monkeys will very likely be back this year with their as-yet untitled sixth album after a hiatus. The Alex Turner-fronted band’s previous record was released over four years ago, so their legions of fans will no doubt be chomping at the bit for some new tunes. They’ll have to follow their own glory, though, as 2013’s AM is one of the biggest selling records on vinyl of the decade, and it was nominated for the Mercury Prize.The band’s bassist Nick O’Malley has already hinted that the record is under way. He told motorcycle magazine The Ride that they had joined forces from September at a “secret location” and had already started recording. He added that he hoped a new album would be out in 2018, and that “if it isn’t, we’ve got problems”. Watch this space. Lucy Mapstone

Camila Cabello – Camila: Since Camila Cabello’s shock departure from girl group Fifth Harmony in December 2016, the singer-songwriter’s star has risen immeasurably. She has scored success all over the world, having won several top awards on her own, and her solo career has gone above and beyond that of the group that was originally formed on the US version of The X Factor in 2012.Her self-titled debut solo effort was expected to be released last year and was originally called The Hurting. The Healing. The Loving. The album includes her number one hit Havana - which topped the UK charts for five weeks and made her the longest-running female chart-topper since Adele’s Someone Like You in 2011 - and newly-released Never Be The Same. Camila will be released on January 12. Lucy Mapstone

Damien O’Kane –Avenging & Bright: Coleraine-born, South Yorkshire-based singer songwriter Damien O’Kane brings a similar mix of folk and ethereal electronica to his third solo album as he’s done to the last few records by his wife Kate Rusby. It’s at its prettiest on the likes of Poor Stranger and Lately, a Rusby tune on which she sings backing vocals and O’Kane plays sweetly chiming electric tenor guitar. There’s also a timely rendition of Dave Goulder’s January Man, a song which has been covered by the likes of Christy Moore and Bert Jansch. O’Kane brings contemporary touches with pads, synths and delicately delayed guitar. Dancing in Puddles, in which O’Kane fuses acoustic guitar with Ron Block’s elegant banjo playing, is dedicated to daughter Daisy and her love of children’s cartoon Peppa Pig. Duncan Seaman

Kodaly – Orchestral Works: All four of Zoltan Kodaly’s most popular orchestral works on one well-filled disc makes for a most attractive release. The Peacock Variations is the disc’s most extended work, and, together with the Concerto for Orchestra, the conductor, JoAnn Falletta, uses them to showcase the various outstanding members of the Buffalo Philharmonic, her subtle use of woodwind colours being just as important as the many glittering moments of outgoing virtuosity for the whole orchestra. They are framed by two sets of folk music used to create the Hungarian ‘pop’ classics, the Dances of Galanta and the effervescent Dances of Marosszek. Play the disc a couple of notches above your normal volume setting and the sound is absolutely stunning. David Denton.