Guardian goes through the history of cabin-in-the-woods album: Big Thief singer Adrianne Lenker recorded her latest solo album 'Songs' while holed up in a forest in Massachusetts during lockdown; 13 years ago Justin Vernon was going through heartbreak and self-doubt while holed up in a cabin in Wisconsin where he made his debut 'For Emma, Forever Ago'. Similarly, 'Cross Road Blues' by Robert Johnson was cut in 1936 in the blues singer’s hotel room in San Antonio. Daniel Johnston’s 'Songs of Pain' cassette album was recorded in his parents’ basement in West Virginia in 1981. Bruce Springsteen recorded 'Nebraska' at his home on a humble four-track over the course of three days in 1982...

Grayceon play hard-to-define-easy-to-listen-to music on 'Diablo Wind', let's just call it psych-folk post-metal; 'Bloodrush' is an intense electro-rap song with Andrew Broder, Denzel Curry, Dua Saleh, & Haleek Maul on board; Weather Station make a u-turn from folk - 'Robber' is jazzy alter-pop; James Blake releases 'Before', a cold and dancey new song, with haunting strings; an old Elton John song, 'Regimental Sgt. Zippo', very Beatles-sounding, is out now; members of Napalm Death, Converge, Megadeth, and Nasum reactivated the Blood From The Soul project - 'Debris of Dreams'; Ahya Simone takes a harpist angle to R'n'B with 'Frostbite'; new pop-folk band Thunder Dreamer present themselves with 'Of a Million'; Weird Al shares his first non-comedy song, a Portugal. The Man collaboration 'Who's Gonna Stop Me'; Bad Religion release 'What Are We Standing For' in solidarity with athletes taking a knee; Kristeen Young has taken her 2003 David Bowie collaboration 'Savior' and reimagined it as new track 'American Landfill', an unusual song with an unusual video; horn-player CARM shares a Justin Vernon pop-classical collaboration 'Land'; Americana lady Iris DeMent had a lot to say about the world today, so she made 'Going Down To Sing In Texas'; Open Mike Eagle delivers some clever punches on 'Death Parade'.

When Ruth Bader Ginsburg died, Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon made a new song 'Your Honor', which he premiered after talking to a few undecisive voters; Ed Harcourt 'Drowning in Dreams' is a piece of mellow electro classical music, a great morning song; folk-rock queen Joni Mitchell shared the first original demo of her career, 'Day After Day'; Mallrat plays some sort of hard-pop on 'Rockstar'.

"In isolation my imagination has run wild. Picking up a pen was my way of escaping into fantasy, history, and memory" - Taylor Swift writes in the liner notes of 'Folklore', her new album released today, and announced just a few hours earlier. It was written during ther epidemic, and it's far from the big pop sound of her last album, the change being underwritten by her main collaborator - Aaron Dessner of The National, who is a co-writer or producer on 11 of the album's 16 songs. Also, Bon Iver's Justin Vernon crops up for a duet on 'Exile'. Swift has released 16 lyrics videos from the album.