What is the best indie folk album of all time?

Where indie sensibilities meet acoustic warmth and storytelling depth, indie folk has given us some of music's most timeless records. Which one speaks loudest to you?

In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

Neutral Milk Hotel's 1998 passionate folk-rock epic about Anne Frank, one of the most beloved indie records ever made.

1/16

For Emma, Forever Ago

Bon Iver's 2007 debut, recorded alone in a Wisconsin cabin, a hushed folk record of extraordinary emotional power.

2/16

Illinois

Sufjan Stevens' 2005 sprawling orchestral folk concept album about the American state, a genre high-water mark.

3/16

Fleet Foxes

Fleet Foxes' 2008 debut, a pastoral baroque folk album of gorgeous layered harmonies.

4/16

Ys

Joanna Newsom's 2006 album featuring five long orchestral folk songs of mythic storytelling and harp-driven complexity.

5/16

Carrie & Lowell

Sufjan Stevens' 2015 sparse and devastating album about grief and his late mother, stripped to its emotional core.

6/16

Either/Or

Elliott Smith's 1997 acoustic indie folk-rock album, intimate and devastating in equal measure.

7/16

The Creek Drank the Cradle

Iron & Wine's 2002 debut, whispered home recordings of Southern folk that launched Sam Beam's beloved career.

8/16

I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning

Bright Eyes' 2005 alt-country/folk album, Conor Oberst's most cohesive and emotionally direct statement.

9/16

The Glow Pt. 2

The Microphones' (Mount Eerie) 2001 lo-fi folk epic from Phil Elverum, sprawling and deeply atmospheric.

10/16

Punisher

Phoebe Bridgers' 2020 album, blending indie folk with studio polish for a devastating and nuanced emotional journey.

11/16

A Crow Looked at Me

Mount Eerie's 2017 devastating album about grief, sparsely recorded and almost unbearably direct.

12/16

Black Sheep Boy

Okkervil River's 2005 gothic folk-rock album, narrative and dark, one of the era's finest indie folk records.

13/16

songs

Adrianne Lenker's 2020 intimate solo album recorded in a cabin, pure acoustic folk at its most emotionally bare.

14/16

Rejoicing in the Hands

Devendra Banhart's 2004 freak-folk opus, whimsical and otherworldly acoustic folk.

15/16

Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle

Bill Callahan's 2009 warm and reflective country-folk album, a masterwork of quiet observation.

16/16