If you ever saw Jeff Buckley live, the thing that struck you wasn't the Robert Plant voice or the music itself. It was the looseness of the delivery and the talented musicianship that underpinned it all. He was clearly a musician who could interpret the sounds he heard in his head with some craft and skill. On this album, Andrew Bird has made an album which sounds like Jeff Buckley ten years older - the same fluid voice, gentle and multi-octave, played over lush, challenging music. Having started as a violinist, Bird doesn't rely on the same power chords or structures as everyone else, and the classically-derived hooks used throughout the songs are so incredibly powerful that you'll wake up whistling them. The lyrics are witty and literate, but it is the invention of the music on this unique, beautiful album that astonishes.

ACE rating 9/10

Maria McKee has always been a phenomenon: a diva with a really incredible voice and a rock soul. From her days with cult band Lone Justice to some remarkable solo albums, she has produced some outstanding music. Recently, however, especially on her last, she has inclined towards loopiness a little too strongly - her dotty stage persona featuring too heavily on record. With Peddlin' Dreams, she has rediscovered the art of the song, with the music reminiscent of no-one more than Johnny Cash, on his last, American, series. Maria McKee has always been able to pull off anything put in front of her, but this country-based singer-songwriter material is her core, and no-one else can go from soft to soaring power in the space between two organic notes. Rootsy suits her best, and this is a fine return to form.

ACE rating 8/10

Jeff Buckley gets a second reference this week, and it is here with a nod more to his Van Morrison leanings. Nicolai Dunger is a Swedish singer songwriter, but you should immediately discount his country of origin - it is irrelevant. He sounds like Van Morrison of Astral Weeks era, brought up to date with some Ryan Adams energy and Buckley-like vocals. He caused a huge stir with his album in 2001, Soul Rush, which was simply one of the best albums of the century so far - one to impress your friends with. Here's My Song doesn't quite hit the heights of that piece (he's been given advice by Mercury Rev, which is as far the wrong way around as it is possible to get): it relies a little too much on atmospheric production. But an average-to-good Nicolai Dunger album is on a different plane than anything you'll have heard this year.

ACE rating 8/10