S.G. Goodman: Planting By The Signs

June 26, 2025 Peter Kimpton

New album: A third album of powerful, simmering, lyrically vivid, stripped-back folk, country and Americana by the singer-songwriter from Hickman, Kentucky, portraying stories and characters from a small town, with themes about the importance of and cycles of the natural world, and summoning a sound somewhere between Lucinda Williams and Cat Power

Jason Isbell: Foxes In The Snow

March 19, 2025 Peter Kimpton

New album: Following four straight albums with his band the 400 Unit, the Nashville-based Grammy-winning Alabama singer-songwriter’s latest LP is a stripped back, heartfelt, candid, beautiful set of new Americana folk with just him and his 1940 Martin acoustic guitar

Sam Evian: Plunge

August 1, 2024 Peter Kimpton

New album: A catch-up on a superb fourth rock, pop and psychedelic album released earlier this year by the US artist, the title after regular winter cold-plunges into a nearby creek at his Catskill Mountains home to create fuzzy, warm, live-feel 60s/70s sound of the era George Harrison or Harry Nilsson

Lupe Fiasco: Samurai

July 4, 2024 Peter Kimpton

New album: A fluid, nimble, articulate playfully smooth ninth short, snappy LP by the American rapper and record producer with a title inspired by the late Amy Winehouse comparing rap battles to Samurai word weapons in a meta release about the joy of his genre

Favourite albums of 2023 Part 2: Anohni to Blur to Mitski, Ren to Sufjan Stevens

December 29, 2023 Peter Kimpton

Welcome once again to the annual tradition of Song Bar’s favourite album releases of 2023. This is Part 2, and Part 1 was yesterday. There’s no such thing as a chart rundown or ‘best of’ here, and these come in no particular order …

Corinne Bailey Rae: Black Rainbows

September 17, 2023 Peter Kimpton

New album: A landmark of powerful storytelling and songwriting in this fourth album by the Leeds-born singer with songs inspired by immersion into a rich collection of art, books and artefacts about Black history organised by Theaster Gates at the Stony Island Arts Bank in Chicago

The Milk Carton Kids - I Only See The Moon

May 31, 2023 Peter Kimpton

New album: The Grammy-nominated vocal harmonising duo of Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan from Eagle Rock, California, release a new collection of beautiful, bittersweet acoustic American folk of moving and vivid narratives

New albums: Mark Lanegan, Moses Sumney, Hayley Williams, Blake Mills, I Break Horses, Watkins Family Hour, Modern Studies, Kavus Torabi, Ecuador various

May 12, 2020 Peter Kimpton

This week’s roundup includes a gritty but musical journey to accompany Mark Lanegan’s memoirs, a solo album the the Paramore singer, and Part Two of Moses Sumney’s extraordinary funk/jazz falsetto album

New albums: Beck, Leonard Cohen, Coldplay, Allison Moorer, Avalanche Party, WaqWaq Kingdom, Slagheap, Davido, Various

November 27, 2019 Peter Kimpton

This week’s roundup includes a cosmic return for Beck, a wonderfully droll posthumous release from Leonard Cohen, deeply powerful tragedy from Allison Moorer, and some quirkily catchy work from Japan’s WaqWaq Kingdom

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New Albums …

Featured

Dec 5, 2025

Ólöf Arnalds: Spíra

Dec 5, 2025

New album: A gorgeous, delicate, ethereal first release in a decade by the Icelandic singer-songwriter, acoustic instruments and her gentle, high, pure voice, all in her native language, caressing this listening experience like pure waters of some slowly trickling glacial stream

Dec 5, 2025

Melody's Echo Chamber: Unclouded

Dec 5, 2025

New album: A fourth album, here full of delicious uplifting, dreamily chic, psychedelic soul pop by the French musician Melody Prochet, with bright, upbeat, optimistic numbers and a title lifted from a quote by the acclaimed Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, about achieving equilibrium

Dec 5, 2025

Devotion & The Black Divine by anaiis.jpeg

Dec 2, 2025

anaiis: Devotion & The Black Divine

Dec 2, 2025

New album: Following a summer Song of the Day - Deus Deus, a review of the autumn release and third LP by the London-based French-Senegalese singer-songwriter of resonantly beautiful, dynamic, sensual soul, gospel, R&B and experimental and chamber pop, with themes of new motherhood, uncertainty, religion, self-love and acceptance

Dec 2, 2025

Nov 26, 2025

De La Soul: Cabin In The Sky

Nov 26, 2025

New album: The hip-hop veterans return with their first without, yet including the voice of, and a tribute to, founding member Trugoy the Dove, AKA Dave Jolicoeur who passed away in 2023, alongside many hip-hop luminary guests, with trademark playful skits, and all themed around the afterlife

Nov 26, 2025

The Mountain Goats: Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan

Nov 26, 2025

New album: An evocative musical journey of a concept album by the indie-folk band from Claremont, California, fronted by singer-songwriter John Darnielle, based on a dream of his in 2023 about a voyage to a fictional island by the titular captain, charting adventure, wonder and tragedy

Nov 26, 2025

Allie X: Happiness Is Going To Get You

Nov 26, 2025

New album: A hugely entertaining, witty, droll, inventive, chamber and synth-pop fourth LP with a goth twist by the charismatic and theatrical Canadian artist Alexandra Hughes, who brings paradox and dark themes through sounds that include string quartet, harpsichord, classical and pure pop piano with killer lyrics

Nov 26, 2025

Nov 25, 2025

Tortoise: Touch

Nov 25, 2025

New album: A welcome return with a cinematic and mesmeric groove-filled first studio LP in nine years, and the eighth over all by the eclectic Chicago post-rock/jazz/krautrock multi-instrumentalists Dan Bitney, John Herndon, Douglas McCombs, John McEntire and Jeff Parker

Nov 25, 2025

What of Our Nature by Haley Heynderickx, Max García Conover.jpeg

Nov 24, 2025

Haley Heynderickx and Max García Conover: What of Our Nature

Nov 24, 2025

New album: Beautiful, precise, poignant and poetic new folk numbers inspired by the life and music style of Woody Guthrie as the Portland, Oregon and New Yorker, now Portland, Maine-based singer-songwriters bring a delicious duet album, alternating and sharing songs covering a variety of forever topical social issues

Nov 24, 2025

Tranquilizer by Oneohtrix Point Never.jpeg

Nov 24, 2025

Oneohtrix Point Never: Tranquilizer

Nov 24, 2025

New album: Ambient, otherworldly, cinematic, mesmeric, and at times very odd, the Brooklyn-based electronic artist and producer Daniel Lopatin returns with a new nostalgia-based concept – constructing tracks from lost-then-refound Y2K CDs of 1990s and early 2000s royalty-free sample electronic sounds

Nov 24, 2025

Iona Zajac: Bang

Nov 24, 2025

New album: A powerful, stirring, passionate and mature debut LP by the 29-year-old Glasgow-based Scottish singer with Polish and Ukrainian heritage who has toured as the new Pogues singer, and whose alternative folk songs capture raw emotions and the experience of modern womanhood, with echoes of PJ Harvey, Patti Smith, Aldous Harding and Lankum

Nov 24, 2025

Nov 19, 2025

Austra: Chin Up Buttercup

Nov 19, 2025

New album: This fifth studio LP as Austra by the Canadian classically trained vocalist and composer Katie Stelmanis brings beautiful electronica-pop and dance music, and has a bittersweet ironic title – a caustically witty reference to societal pressure to keep smiling despite a devastating breakup

Nov 19, 2025

Nov 18, 2025

Mavis Staples: Sad and Beautiful World

Nov 18, 2025

New album: A timelessly classy release by the veteran soul, blues and gospel singer and social activist from the Staples Singers, in a release of wonderfully moving and poignant cover versions, beautifully interpreting works by artists including Tom Waits, Curtis Mayfield, Leonard Cohen, and Gillian Welch

Nov 18, 2025

Stella Donnelly: Love and Fortune

Nov 18, 2025

New album: Finely crafted, stripped back musical simplicity combined with complex melancholic emotions mark out this beautiful, poetic, and deeply personal third folk-pop LP by the Australian singer-songwriter reflecting on the past and present

Nov 18, 2025

Nov 17, 2025

Picture Parlour: The Parlour

Nov 17, 2025

New album: Following last year’s EP Face in the Picture, a fabulously stylish, smart, swaggering glam-rock-pop debut LP by the Manchester-formed, London-based band fronted by the impressively raspy, gritty, vibratro delivery of Liverpudlian vocalist and guitarist Katherine Parlour and distinctive riffs from North Yorkshire-born guitar Ella Risi

Nov 17, 2025

new songs …

Featured

The Lemon Twigs - I've Got A Broken Heart.jpeg

Dec 4, 2025

Song of the Day: The Lemon Twigs - I've Got A Broken Heart

Dec 4, 2025

Song of the Day: Despite the title, this new double-A single (with Friday I’m Gonna Love You) has a wonderfully uplifting guitar-jangling beauty, with echoes of The Byrds and Stone Roses, but is of course the brilliant 60s and 70s retro sound of the Long Island brothers Brian and Michael D'Addario, out on Captured Tracks

Dec 4, 2025

Dec 3, 2025

Song of the Day: Alewya - Night Drive (featuring Dagmawit Ameha)

Dec 3, 2025

Song of the Day: A sensual, stylish, dreamy electro-pop single by the striking British singer-songwriter, producer, multidisciplinary artist and model Alewya Demmisse, musically influenced by her rich Ethiopian-Egyptian heritage and early childhood upbringings in Saudi Arabia and Sudan

Dec 3, 2025

Dec 2, 2025

Song of the Day: Radio Free Alice - Rule 31

Dec 2, 2025

Song of the Day: Stirring, passionate indie postpunk by the band based in Melbourne, Australia, with echoes of The Cure’s core sound, new wave, and 90s indie-rock influences, and out on Double Drummer

Dec 2, 2025

Dec 1, 2025

Song of the Day: Sailor Honeymoon - Armchair

Dec 1, 2025

Song of the Day: Catchy, punchy, fuzz-guitar indie rock with a droll lyrical delivery and some echoes of Wet Leg come in this new single by the trio from Seoul, South Korea, out on Good Good Records

Dec 1, 2025

Nov 30, 2025

Song of the Day: Ellie O'Neill - Bohemia

Nov 30, 2025

Song of the Day: A beautiful, poetic finger-picking debut folk single with a mystical, distantly stormy twist by the Dublin-based Irish singer-songwriter from County Meath, out now on St Itch Records

Nov 30, 2025

Nov 29, 2025

Song of the Day: Danalogue - Sonic Hypnosis

Nov 29, 2025

Song of the Day: A full flavour of future-past with mesmeric, euphoric retro acid house and electronica in this new single by Daniel Leavers, producer and the founding member of The Comet Is Coming and Soccer96, out now on Castles In Space

Nov 29, 2025

Nov 28, 2025

Song of the Day: Cardinals - Barbed Wire

Nov 28, 2025

Song of the Day: Another striking, passionate, punchy, catchy single by the Irish postpunk/indie-folk-rock band from Cork, heralding their upcoming debut album, Masquerade, out on 13 February via So Young Records

Nov 28, 2025

Frank-Popp-Ensemble and Paul Weller.jpeg

Nov 27, 2025

Song of the Day: Frank Popp Ensemble (with Paul Weller) - Right Before My Eyes

Nov 27, 2025

Song of the Day: A strong, soaring, emotive, soulful release by the German artist co-written by British singer and former Jam frontman who here sings and plays guitar, the lyrics about witnessing the increasing injustices and demise of the world, out on Unique Records / Schubert Music Europe

Nov 27, 2025

Tessa Rose Jackson - Fear Bangs The Drum 2.jpeg

Nov 26, 2025

Song of the Day: Tessa Rose Jackson - Fear Bangs The Drum

Nov 26, 2025

Song of the Day: Using a musical metaphor, beautiful, crisply rhythmical, soaring piano and atmospheric indie-pop-folk about facing your fears by the Dutch/British singer-songwriter, heralding her forthcoming new album The Lighthouse, out on 23 January 2026 on Tiny Tiger Records

Nov 26, 2025

Nov 25, 2025

Song of the Day: Melanie Baker - Sad Clown

Nov 25, 2025

Song of the Day: Catchy, candid, cathartic indie-grunge-pop by the British singer-songwriter from Cumbria in a melancholy but oddly uplifting emotional work-through of depression, love and exhaustion, out now on TAMBOURHINOCEROS

Nov 25, 2025

Nov 24, 2025

Song of the Day: Holly Humberstone - Die Happy

Nov 24, 2025

Song of the Day: Luxuriant, breathy, femme-fatale dream pop with a dark, southern gothic, Lana del Rey-inspired, live-fast-die-young theme, and stylish video by the 25-year-old British singer-songwriter from Grantham, out on Polydor/Universal

Nov 24, 2025

Nov 23, 2025

Song of the Day: These New Puritans - The Other Side

Nov 23, 2025

Song of the Day: A delicate, tender, and unusually minimalist single, their first since this year’s acclaimed album Crooked Wing, by the Southend-on-Sea-born Barnett twins, here with Jack on improvised piano and George on drums and a soprano register wordless vocal, out on Domino Records

Nov 23, 2025

Word of the week

Featured

Dec 4, 2025

Word of the week: crapulence

Dec 4, 2025

Word of the week: A term that may apply regularly during Xmas party season, from the from the Latin crapula, in turn from the Greek kraipálē meaning "drunkenness" or "headache" pertains to sickness symptoms caused by excess in eating or drinking, or general intemperance and overindulgence

Dec 4, 2025

Nov 20, 2025

Word of the week: discalceate

Nov 20, 2025

Word of the week: A rarely used, but often practised verb, especially when arriving home, it means to take off your shoes, but is also a slightly more common adjective meaning barefoot or unshod, particularly for certain religious orders that wear sandals instead of shoes. But in what context does this come up in song?

Nov 20, 2025

Nov 6, 2025

Word of the week: erythrophyll

Nov 6, 2025

Word of the week: A seasonally topical word relating to the the red pigment of tree leaves, fruits and flowers, that appears particularly when changing in autumn, as opposed to the green effect of chlorophyll, from the Greek erythros for red, and phyll for leaves. But what of songs about this?

Nov 6, 2025

Oct 22, 2025

Word of the week: fennec

Oct 22, 2025

Word of the week: It’s a small pale-fawn nocturnal fox with unusually large, highly sensitive ears, that inhabits from African and Arab deserts areas from Western Sahara and Mauritania to the Sinai Peninsula. But has it ever been seen in a song?

Oct 22, 2025

Oct 9, 2025

Word of the week: gongoozler

Oct 9, 2025

Word of the week: A fabulous old English slang term for someone who tends to stand or sit for long periods staring at the passing of boats on canals, sometimes with a derogatory or at least ironic use for someone who is useless or lazy. But what of songs about this activity and culture?

Oct 9, 2025