Psychedelic folk has always lived at the edge of the forest—half-sunlight, half-shadow. It’s the sound of barefoot mystics, analog ghosts, and whispered revelations around glowing embers. From Britain’s windswept moors to the foggy bedrooms of the Pacific Northwest, the genre has twisted and evolved but never lost its haunted heart.

Here’s a journey through ten albums that define psychedelic folk—not just for their weirdness or beauty, but for how deeply they linger in the soul.

10. Arborea – Arborea (2008)

Imagine a campfire in a snow-covered forest, smoke curling toward an unseen moon. That’s the atmosphere Arborea conjures. Shanti and Buck Curran tap into Celtic echoes and ghost-folk textures with minimalism and grace. It’s contemporary, but timeless—a spectral lullaby for restless spirits.

9. These Trails – These Trails (1973)

Recorded in Hawaii on a shoestring and some stardust, These Trails sounds like it drifted in on sea foam. It’s fragile and fantastical, filled with woodsy acoustics and gently psychotropic vocals from Margaret Morgan. Rare, raw, and resonant—it’s one of the genre’s most beloved lost treasures.

8. H. P. Lovecraft – H. P. Lovecraft (1967)

Yes, the band is named after that Lovecraft. And yes, the music is as eerie as you’d hope. Their debut merges baroque folk, psychedelia, and literary unease into a swirling, surreal brew. “The White Ship” alone is worth the trip—a seafaring, lysergic voyage into myth and melancholy.

7. The 5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion – The Incredible String Band (1967)

Before there was freak-folk, there was the ISB, and this was their technicolor awakening. With sitars, harps, and a whole cupboard of exotic instruments, the album spirals through whimsical storytelling and unfiltered imagination. It’s both playful and profound—like nursery rhymes for druids.

6. On the Shore – Trees (1970)

A thunderstorm in a moss-covered chapel—that’s On the Shore. Trees brought a rock edge to British psych-folk, and Celia Humphris’ vocals float above the electric churn like a ghost in velvet. “Sally Free and Easy” alone will freeze your breath. This is folklore with teeth.

5. Illuminations – Buffy Sainte-Marie (1969)

Buffy didn’t just break boundaries—she melted them. With Illuminations, she fused traditional folk with electronic experimentation and raw poetry. Her voice becomes incantation; the Buchla synthesizer casts spells. It was too far-out for 1969, but today, it sounds like prophecy fulfilled.

4. The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter – The Incredible String Band (1968)

This is where the ISB went full alchemist. Hangman’s is an ornate tapestry of spiritual musings, global textures, and sprawling, psychedelic songcraft. “A Very Cellular Song” weaves amoebas, Bahá’í prayers, and heartbreak into one surreal epic. It’s weird, wonderful, and absolutely essential.

3. Parallelograms – Linda Perhacs (1970)

Linda Perhacs was a dental hygienist who recorded one perfect album and vanished—for a while. Parallelograms is shimmering, whispering, cosmic folk; its beauty lies in its stillness, its impermanence. Listening to it feels like finding a diary half-buried in wildflowers. A quiet revolution.

2. The Glow, Pt. 2 – The Microphones (2001)

Phil Elverum’s masterpiece is a lo-fi fever dream—part diary, part dirge, part natural phenomenon. It creaks, collapses, and soars, all while delivering some of the most honest songwriting of the 2000s. Psychedelic folk never sounded so intimate—or so volatile.

1. It Was Hot, We Stayed in the Water – The Microphones (2000)

If The Glow is the breakthrough, It Was Hot is the baptism. More elemental, more submerged. This is the sound of memory dissolving in waves, of feedback and fingerpicking colliding under the weight of feeling. It’s not just a psychedelic folk album—it’s a haunted photograph you can hear.