Jenny Hval doesn'the call herself a folk singer. Mainly, I would imagine, because she isn't. I don't even think the reviewer is describing her music as folk music. In fact this is the only use of the word "folk" in the entire review. I suspect by using the phrase "a kind of experimental folk music," the reviewer is using the f-word to try to evoke something recognisable for the reader, rather than bluntly describing this as a folk album. Folk ballads are often slower than pop,are irregular and have few hooks or choruses, so it seems quite an apt analogy to make.

If we cleared reviews of descriptors, they wouldn'the tell us anything. And no folk music was harmed in the writing of the review.