The second of our features on new bands who deserve to be heard sooner rather than later.

The Woodlands are married couple Hannah and Samuel Robertson and they share a hometown of Portland, Oregon with the similarly sublime Horse Feathers. Like Horse Feathers they make a fragile sounding folk-pop sound only with Hannah’s whispered vocals being even more delicate.

Earlier this year, they released their self-titled debut album which they recorded in what they call ‘a homemade studio fort of blankets and pillows’.

The album is a beautifully simplistic and intimate autumnal affair, a theme reflected in their video for Can We Stay, directed by James Wilson. Rather than me waffle on at length about how great they sound, you really ought to just click, stick it on full screen mode and listen.

Can We Stay from The Woodlands on Vimeo.

The album is available through iTunes and eMusic and The Woodlands Myspace site is here.

I’m not necessarily claiming that these records are groundbreaking or will go down as classics (well, actually, with the first two, that’s exactly what I’m saying) they are just the records which I have loved the most over the last ten years.

#1 The Department Of Eagles – In Ear Park. A Forever Changes for our time – Largely overlooked since its release in 2008, one day this will be recognised as the classic it undoubtedly is. A spellbinding mix of lo-fi folk and a huge overpowering swell of orchestrated sound which does funny things to me.

#2 Chad VanGaalan – Soft Airplane. Chad VanGaalen pushes eclecticism to its limits and yet still manages to produce an album which flows and has an overall feel to it. Banjo folk sits alongside indie rock sits alongside electronic beats. VanGaalen’s vocals are reminiscent of Neil Young while his lyrics have a surreal and often macabre twist to them. More than anything else, this is a damn exciting record to listen to.

#3 Midlake – The Trials Of Van Occupanther. Rumoured to be written about an antiquated computer game and possessing one of the silliest sleeves of all time, Midlake manage to invoke the spirit of the 1970s and the 1870s simultaneously. Focussing on the twin themes of isolation and the need for human contact, this is an album to obsess about. And believe me, I have.

#4 Dean & Britta – Back Numbers. I spent the entire duration of Dean Wareham’s time in Luna wishing he’ d reform Galaxie 500. Galaxie 500 were the best band I ever saw live and I was desperate to see them again. On hearing Dean & Britta’s debut L’Aventura I started to waver. Back Numbers made me change my mind.  Critics dismiss this as the couple sleepwalking through their songs – that suits me fine.

#5 Jim Noir – Tower of Love. A folk-pop hip-hop song, a Henry Mancini-esque instrumental, a classic slice of late eighties Manchester. This is a joyous pop album with a sense of humour that never strays into silliness. Jim Noir took all of the best records of the 1960s, melted them down and reformed the vat of molten vinyl into this.

#6 Woodpigeon – Treasury Library Canada. Initially this wasn’t going to be a proper album but you can’t keep a good thing down. The songs on this, Woodpigeon’s second album, show a greater self-confidence than debut Songbook but there’s nothing groundbreaking on here, it’s just a collection of heartfelt songs which act as a kind of comfort blanket in much the same way that Nick Drake does.

#7 Badly Drawn Boy – The Hour Of The Bewilderbeast. I only caught up with this about a year after it had been released and remember finding it hard to believe that no one had insisted I listen to it. It’s another eclectic album that has an overall feel to it. In many ways it ushered in the folky chamber-pop which I’ve spent much of the rest of the decade listening to. Badly Drawn Boy is the great uncle of the Leisure Society.

#8 The Hidden Cameras – Mississauga Goddam. Joel Gibb has the perfect voice for pop music and this is a flawless album. It just soars. Admittedly, The Smell of Our Own is probably just as good but this is what I heard first so it has the edge. I would congratulate Gibb on expressing his sexuality in his songs so openly too, only he’s probably think I was a patronising prick!

#9 Deerhunter – Microcastle. Like the Department of Eagles album, this record does funny things to me. I find it a bit overwhelming and for reasons I find it hard to put my finger on. All I can do is turn it up really loud and lose myself in it. This is the album that the shoegaze movement of the early 1990s failed to deliver. It’s got all of the fuzzy wooziness of Slowdive but with an underlying intensity that sets it apart from anything else around at the moment.

#10 Arcade Fire – Funeral. The fourth set of Canadians in this top 10 – for such a tiny country they certainly produce their share of great music. It took me a long time to love this album (I kept hearing snatches of Ian McCulloch in the vocals) but it was well worth the wait. One of the things I love most about this album is that while it’s overall very loud, I hear echoes of it in so many quiet records.

#1 Andrew Morgan – Please Kid, Remember. A staggeringly beautiful album – whispered vocals, hazy melodies and sweeping strings. Frosty Autumn mornings distilled into 39 minutes of glorious pop music.

#2 Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest. A rare thing: an album so keenly anticipated that lived up to all hopes and expectations. Veckatimest will probably fall into the ‘classic’ category in years to come.

#3 Andrew Bird – Noble Beast. Everything about this album is intricate and perfect. Multi-instrumentalist Bird pairs delicate string arrangements with off-kilter loops. Articulate and intelligent, it’s his best yet.

#4 The Leisure Society – The Sleeper. Delicately crafted folk-pop with moments of breathtaking beauty. An Ivor Novello nomination for The Last Of The Melting Snow was richly deserved.

#5 Luxury Pond – Luxury Pond. Dan Goldman’s simple tunes with a wash of strings provided by sometime Arcade Fire member Owen Pallot, and backing vocals from the crystal voice of Daniela Gesundheit. Amazingly, this album was recorded in a single day.

#6 Hildur Gudnadottir – Without Sinking. Brooding, intense debut album from the Icelandic cellist. Minimalist use of droning strings with sparing use of cello on top. This is exactly how modern classical music should sound.

#7 My Robot Friend – Soft-Core. An eclectic mix of bleeps, beats and folky guitars. This album is all over the place, but in a good way. There’s a host of collaborators too, including Dean Wareham, Alison Moyet and Zombie Nation. As I said – eclectic and all over the place.

#8 Fanfarlo – Reservoir. Those who like their folk infused pop to sound a little more muscular would do better to investigate Fanfarlo’s  excellent debut instead of the gruesome bloke-folk of Mumford and Sons.

#9 Here We Go Magic – Here We Go Magic. Mesmerising dream pop that will have your head in a spin. From the dizzying, skittering pop of Fangela to the ghostly rattling drone of Babyohbaby – Ijustcantstanditanymore this is an outstanding debut.

#10 Sufjan Stevens – The B.Q.E. Absurdly adventurous attempt to recreate the Brooklyn Queensway Express in music. God knows if this resembles the road in question but somehow it works as a modern sympohony. Stevens is to be applauded.

No bells, no jingling, definitely no forced jollity and not a scrap of anything glittery on the sleeve – The Last Battle’s Once Upon A Boxing Day could just be the perfect Christmas single.

Being about Boxing Day, there’s an entirely appropriate hung-over feel to the song. Singer Scott Longmuir’s vocals suggest he had one too many the day before, while managing to get across the heartfelt regret detailed in the lyrics with ease. The single’s opening track Whisky probably holds the cause of his troubles. The final track Secret Arcade is a pretty instrumental of gentle strumming and plucked strings.

Keep an eye on The Last Battle in 2010. Relatively newly formed, their music has a lovely sense of space which bodes well for the future. There’s plenty of scope for expanding their sound with strings but it also sounds just fine the way it is at present. Coming from Edinburgh, they sound definitively Scottish – a blend of classic indie-pop jangle, which Scotland does better than anywhere else, and mournful folk, which Scotland does pretty well too.

The finishing touches are currently being put to their debut album, which should surface early next year. Meanwhile, this single, which comes in a numbered hand-made sleeve if you’re quick about it, is available here.

The Last Battle play at Edinburgh’s Trampoline all-dayer at The Wee Red Bar on December 12^th.

Currently touring America where highlights have included being stuck in a snow storm, having their trailer break down, a raid on their van and best of all leaving a member stranded at a truck stop, Fanfarlo have unveiled their advent calendar.

Promising a daily video clip, session track or competition (much better than a slab of synthetic ‘chocolate’) the calendar can be found here.