10 Essential Chamber Folk Albums

Orchestral, intimate, and deeply poetic music for your ears.

Orchestral, intimate, and deeply poetic. Chamber folk fuses delicate acoustic songwriting with rich, classical textures. These ten albums embody the genre's quiet intensity and emotional resonance.

10. Leonard Cohen, You Want It Darker (2016, Columbia)

A final, haunting statement from the master poet. Sparse, spiritual, and steeped in graceful melancholy.

9. Nico, Desertshore (1970, Reprise)

The left side of chamber folk; avant-garde and starkly beautiful. An eerie blend of harmonium, strings, and mythic lyricism.

8. Joanna Newsom, Ys (2006, Drag City)

Joanna Newsom presents baroque folk at its most intricate. Harp-led storytelling wrapped in sweeping orchestration.

7. Ichiko Aoba, Windswept Adan (2020, Hermine)

Otherworldly and ethereal. Windswept Adan is an oceanic dreamscape of classical guitar, ambient textures, and chamber ensemble grace.

6. Fleet Foxes, Helplessness Blues (2011, Sub Pop)

Fleet Foxes showcase their lush vocal harmonies and pastoral arrangements on a program of folk revivalism with symphonic depth.

5. Fabrizio De André, La Buona Novella (1970, Produttori Associati)

One of Italy's premier singer-songwriters presents a sacred folk opera, with biblical themes, tender melodies, and enriched by cinematic string arrangements.

4. Sufjan Stevens, Javelin (2023, Asthmatic Kitty)

Sufjan Steven's return to lush vulnerability. Javelin has chamber folk textures wrapped in raw, heartfelt songwriting.

3. Natalia Lafourcade, De Todas las Flores (2022, Sony Music Mexico)

A gorgeously orchestrated fusion of folk, bolero, and baroque elements. Natalia Lafourcade at her most elegant, emotive, and timeless.

2. Van Morrison, Astral Weeks (1968, Warner Bros.)

A transcendental classic. Improvised chamber arrangements swirl around Morrison's stream-of-consciousness folk-soul.

1. Nick Drake, Five Leaves Left (1969, Island)

The cornerstone of chamber folk. Lush strings, delicate guitar, and Nick Drake's voice drifting between dream and dusk.