We first met them back in August when they released their debut album, Waters So Deep, and now Kings Langley band KARA are celebrating Christmas early with the news that the album has been chosen as one of The Telegraph’s top ten folk albums of the year.

“When we saw ourselves in The Telegraph, we simply couldn’t believe it,“ says lead vocalist Daria Kulesh, 32, who originally hails from Russia.

Waters So Deep is self-released and we are a new and unsigned band, and all we did was send Martin Chilton (The Telegraph’s digital culture editor) our standard album package in the post!“

Daria and her bandmates – Gary Holbrook on accordion, Ben Honey on guitar, and Kate Rouse on hammered dulcimer and vocals – first learned they had made it into the newspaper’s Top Ten Folk Albums of the Autumn list and were delighted with that accolade, before finding out that they had also been selected for the albums of the year list.

“That was surreal,“ continues Daria. “We've been on a high since then and really inspired to work hard on our live set and create new exciting material.“

The band are already noticing the effects of being included in such a prestigious list.

“We have definitely noticed a surge in album sales and online engagement,“ says Daria. “Also, the word-of-mouth is out there. Recently our dulcimer player Kate went to see one of her favourite bands and was shocked to be recognised by them from The Telegraph and other reviews recently. Plus the support we’ve had from our fans.“

With 2014 having been a great first year for KARA, what will 2015 hold?

“We are still a new band and it takes a while to become known, so this will hopefully help us break into the big festivals and generally get noticed,“ says Daria. “We’re already looking forward to 2015 with gigs lined up and a new album in the pipeline, but it would be great to make it to that next level, playing major festivals... maybe even doing a live session for Mark Radcliffe on BBC Radio 2s Folk Show? Or is that a bit greedy?“