“To see a World in a Grain of Sand and a Heaven in a Wild Flower,” William Blake wrote in Auguries of Innocence. “Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand and Eternity in an hour.” That Blakean blend of the earthy and the cosmic is readily apparent throughout Sally Anne Morgan’s solo debut, the excellent Thread. You may know Morgan from her work with House and Land (her duo with Sarah Louise) and the Black Twig Pickers. And Thread doesn’t travel too far afield from those projects, as Morgan homes in on the British/Appalachian folk nexus with a mix of trad-folk covers (the lovely opening “Polly On The Shore”) and originals (the spellbinding “Wintersong”). But there’s room for more, like the rumbling fiddle/drum duet with Nathan Bowles on “Sheep Shaped” or the mystical, almost Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou-esque piano that drifts through “Ellemwood Meditation.” Thread’s overall vibe can be summed by “Garden Song,” in which Morgan welcomes the listener into a natural, healing space, where everything is free and nothing is a weed. It’s about as good an invitation as you’re likely to get this year. | t wilcox
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