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SG Lewis: Times

February 21, 2021 Peter Kimpton
High time for some the days of disco … SG Lewis

High time for some the days of disco … SG Lewis

Album review: Aiming to capture a full-on mainstream club and disco feel, the British producer’s new LP mixes light funk and soul flavours that very much borrow from the Daft Punk and Chic cookbook

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In albums, dance music, funk, pop, disco Tags SG Lewis, Nile Rodgers, Robyn, albums, new releases, PMR, EMI
Comment

Mogwai: As The Love Continues

February 20, 2021 Peter Kimpton
As The Love Continues, Mogwai’s 10th album

As The Love Continues, Mogwai’s 10th album

Album review: The Glasgow band’s 10th album in a 25-year career is full of their usual dynamic contrasts and soaring cinematic, experimental passages, but strip back to older styles on which they build newer sounds

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In albums, electronica, experimental, psychedelia, rock Tags albums, new releases, Mogwai, Stuart Braithwaite, instrumentals
Comment

Virginia Wing: Private Life

February 17, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Virginia Wing’s fourth album Private Life

Virginia Wing’s fourth album Private Life

Album review: Offbeat, eclectic, meandering electronica with oodles of oddball sax and percussion mark this absorbing and original fourth album by the Manchester trio with commentary addressing issues from consumer capitalism to social media and misogyny

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In albums, electronica, experimental, pop, psychedelia Tags albums, Virginia Wing, new releases, Fire Records
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Django Django: Glowing in the Dark

February 16, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Shopping dilemma: from the video for Free From Gravity

Shopping dilemma: from the video for Free From Gravity

Album review: This fourth LP by the Edinburgh-formed, London-based art-rock quartet contains many of their signature sounds but also contains space-travelling new textures, such as breathy guest vocals by Charlotte Gainsbourg

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In albums, electronica, experimental, dance music, pop, psychedelia Tags albums, new releases, Django Django, Because Music, Ribbon Music
Comment

Mush: Lines Redacted

February 13, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Mush’s second album Lines Redacted

Mush’s second album Lines Redacted

Album review: The second album by the Leeds-based band extends their distinctive, sonically idiosyncratic style of excellent angular art-rock with mind-bendingly alternative guitar riffs and scales, sharp lyrics and the oddly likeable nasal delivery of songwriter Dan Hyndman

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In albums, post-punk, pop, rock Tags Mush, Memphis Industries
Comment

Puma Blue: In Praise of Shadows

February 10, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Laid back: Puma Blue’s In Praise of Shadows

Laid back: Puma Blue’s In Praise of Shadows

Album review: After a strong of singles and EPs, 25-year-old British artist Jacob Allen’s debut LP is a lushly horizontal release that mixes slow electronic beats, dreamy, woozy, soulful vocals, and soft electric guitar sounds

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In albums, trip-hop, soul, jazz Tags Puma Blue, albums, new releases, Blue Flowers Music
Comment

Femi Kuti and Made Kuti: Legacy+

February 10, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Chips off the old block. Made Kuti (left) and father Femi

Chips off the old block. Made Kuti (left) and father Femi

Album review: The son and grandson of the great Fela Kuti join to present a double album of the good stuff, bringing high energy Afrobeat and singing in English with wonderfully strong bursts of universal political and personal affirmation

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In African, albums, dance music Tags albums, new releases, Made Kuti, Femi Kuti, Fela Kuti, Nigeria, African music, politics, Partisan Records
Comment

Black Country, New Road: For The First Time

February 8, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Black Country, New Road.jpg

Album review: Floating somewhere between semi-acoustic prog-rock, jazz, folk, modern classical and spoken word, the seven-piece experimental London band have long been lauded as the next great thing from the Windmill, Brixton

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In albums, experimental, folk, indie, prog-rock Tags Black Country New Road, albums, new releases
Comment

The Besnard Lakes: The Besnard Lakes Are The Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings

February 7, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Stormy power: the cover of The Besnard Lakes new album

Stormy power: the cover of The Besnard Lakes new album

Album review: Elemental, stormy, epic in its scope, the new indie-prog LP from Montreal with soaring guitar textures, falsetto, and strong falling bass lines has echoes of Mogwai and Sigur Rós, and is perfect to take on a winter walk or for a profound fireside evening

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In albums, indie, prog-rock, psychedelia Tags albums, The Besnard Lakes, Mogwai, Sigur Rós, Canada
Comment

The Weather Station: Ignorance – album review

February 6, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Tamara Lindeman of The Weather Station

Tamara Lindeman of The Weather Station

Album review: This majestic LP of superb musical maturity.by the Canadian singer-songwriter Tamara Lindeman has an undercurrent climate change theme, with deft piano, drums, strings, sax, guitar and a sound sometimes reminiscent of mid-80s Talk Talk

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In albums, folk, jazz, indie, pop Tags The Weather Station, Tamara Lindeman, Fat Possum
Comment

Anna B Savage: A Common Turn – album review

February 3, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Ann B Savage: nothing common about this turn

Ann B Savage: nothing common about this turn

Album review: The London singer-songwriter’s cleverly titled, superb debut is bird-themed, exquisitely beautiful and intimate. It exposes her rich, deep, velvety voice, one that gently warbles snd smoothly soars from a nest of various mostly acoustic strings. Utterly gorgeous

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In albums, experimental, folk, indie Tags Anna B Savage, William Doyle, albums, new releases, Anna Calvi, Jeff Buckley, Anohni, Aldous Harding
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Albertine Sarges: The Sticky Fingers – album review

February 2, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Albertine Sarges.jpg

Album review: Liberating, refreshing, eccentric, with a playfully light touch and flourishes of flute and feminist theory garnish this solo debut by the singer who works with Holly Herndon singer and is half of Italian synth new wave duo Itaca

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In albums, indie, pop, post-punk, experimental, electronica Tags Songs, Albertine Sarges, Moshi Moshi, Itaca, Holly Herndon
Comment

Goat Girl: On All Fours – album review

February 1, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Mask

Mask

Album review: The south London quartet’s second album has is double-edged woozily beguiling in music and caustic in lyrics, a mixture of shoegaze, postpunk, and electronica with a distinctive sound produced by the groundbreaking Dan Carey

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In albums, electronica, indie, post-punk, pop Tags Songs, albums, Goat Girl, Dan Carey, Rough Trade
Comment

Arlo Parks: Collapsed In Sunbeams – album review

January 29, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Arlo Parks – Collapsed in Sunbeams

Arlo Parks – Collapsed in Sunbeams

Album review: Timeless, classy, gorgeous, intimate soul decorates this much anticipated debut album from the astonishingly mature 20-year-old British singer-songwriter and poet who truly fulfils all her promise

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In albums, soul Tags Arlo Parks, albums, new releases
Comment

Madlib: Sound Ancestors – album review

January 29, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Madlib, aka Otis Jackson Jr

Madlib, aka Otis Jackson Jr

Album review: A majestic journey into sampled and recreated classic sounds with his own original, eccentric twists, Madlib, aka American rapper, producer and multi-instrumentalist Otis Jackson Jr's newest LP is in turn produced by Four Tet

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In albums, African, funk, gospel, hip hop, jazz, soul, soundtracks, traditional Tags Madlib, Four Tet, J Dilla, The Ethics, Kieran Hebden, MF DOOM, Madlib Invazion
Comment

Kiwi Jr.: Cooler Returns – new album

January 25, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Kiwi Jr.’s second album Cooler Returns, out on Sub Pop

Kiwi Jr.’s second album Cooler Returns, out on Sub Pop

New album: Clever, wry, satirical, topical, inventive upbeat indie by the Toronto quartet with their second album following Soccer Money, who have echoes of Pavement and The Modern Lovers, but with added vim and vigour, keyboards and harmonica

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In albums, indie, pop, post-punk Tags Kiwi Jnr., Sub Pop
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Buck Meek: Two Saviors – album review

January 24, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Buck Meek

Buck Meek

Album review: Perfect for a relaxed Sunday evening listen, this laid back second LP by the guitarist from Big Thief is also wry, melancholic, cathartic, naked candlelight confessions of heartbreak, resiliency, charm and enchantment

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In albums, country, folk, indie Tags Buck Meek, Big Thief, Adrianne Lenker, Keeled Scales, albums, new releases
Comment

Emeka Ogboh: Beyond the Yellow Haze – album review

January 22, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Emeka Ogboh: Beyond the Yellow Haze

Emeka Ogboh: Beyond the Yellow Haze

Album review: The Nigerian sound and installation artist best known for his soundscapes of life in Lagos releases a fascinating LP that combines those sounds with electronica to capture the hustle-and-bustle of that busy city

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In African, albums, ambient, electronica, experimental Tags Emeka Ogboh, soundscapes, field recordings, Lagos, Nigeria, electronica, A-TON
Comment

Bicep: Isles – album review

January 22, 2021 Peter Kimpton
Isles, the second LP, but a long way from the second release by Bicep

Isles, the second LP, but a long way from the second release by Bicep

Album review: After 2017's eponymous album, the London-based but Belfast born electronic/ dance DJ musical magpie duo of Matthew McBriar and Andrew Ferguson return with 90s rave nostalgia filled with eclectic twists

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In albums, ambient, electronica, dance music, experimental Tags albums, new releases, Bicep, Matthew McBriar, Andrew Ferguson, dance, Leftfield, Underworld, Belfast, Ninja Tune
Comment

SkyWay Man: The World Only Ends When You Die – album review

January 20, 2021 Peter Kimpton
A catchy oddball odyssey: SkyWay Man’s new album

A catchy oddball odyssey: SkyWay Man’s new album

Album review: The second full-length project from American rock/cosmic country/psychedelic folk singer, songwriter and producer James Wallace is a catchy, but very easy listen oddball odyssey, a cinematic psych folk opera

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In albums, blues, country, folk, psychedelia, rock Tags Songs, albums, new releases, SkyWay Man, James Wallace
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DRINK OF THE WEEK

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New Albums …

Featured
Favourite Albums of 2025 - Part 3.jpeg
Dec 18, 2025
Favourite albums of 2025 - Part Three
Dec 18, 2025

Welcome to the third and final part of Song Bar favourite albums of 2025. There is also Part One, and Part Two. There is no countdown nor describing these necessarily as “best” albums of the year, but they are chosen by their quality, originality and reader popularity

Dec 18, 2025
Favourite albums of 2025 - Part Two.jpeg
Dec 17, 2025
Favourite albums of 2025 - Part Two
Dec 17, 2025

Welcome to the second part of Song Bar favourite albums of 2025. There is also a first part and a third part this week. There is no countdown nor describing these necessarily as “best” albums of the year, but they are chosen by their quality, originality and reader popularity

Dec 17, 2025
Favourite albums of 2025 - Part 1 updated.jpg
Dec 16, 2025
Favourite albums of 2025 - Part One
Dec 16, 2025

Welcome to the first part of Song Bar favourite albums of 2025. There will also be a second and third part this week. There is no countdown nor describing these necessarily as “best” albums of the year, but they are chosen by their quality, originality and reader popularity

Dec 16, 2025
Juliana Hatfield.jpeg
Dec 16, 2025
Juliana Hatfield: Lightning Might Strike
Dec 16, 2025

New album: Personal upheaval, grief, powerlessness, trauma, sudden change inform the title and colour the lyrics of this latest LP by the seasoned Boston indie artist but her songs are packed with brutally honest, candid, concise reflections and warm, catchy, stirring riffs and melodies

Dec 16, 2025
Dove Ellis - Blizzard.jpeg
Dec 9, 2025
Dove Ellis: Blizzard
Dec 9, 2025

New album: An extraordinarily mature, passionate, poetic, and outstandingly powerful debut by the Manchester-based Galway-born singer-songwriter, whose soaring delivery has instant echoes of Jeff Buckley and lyrics that go above and beyond

Dec 9, 2025
Spíra by Ólöf Arnalds.jpeg
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.jpeg
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
De La Soul - Cabin In The Sky.jpeg
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.jpeg
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.jpeg
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
Tortoise - Touch.jpeg
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

new songs …

Featured
King Hüsky - December95.jpeg
Dec 23, 2025
Song of the Day: King Hüsky - December95
Dec 23, 2025

Song of the Day: Poignant, evocative, beautiful, vivid, alternative mandolin folk-pop about a severe winter at Christmas by Oslo’s Vidar Landa, who in this guise departs from his his usual role as as guitarist of Norwegian heavy metal band Kvelertak and indierock/powerpop band Beachheads, out on Hype City Music

Dec 23, 2025
Yumi Zouma - No Love Lost.jpeg
Dec 22, 2025
Song of the Day: Yumi Zouma - 95
Dec 22, 2025

Song of the Day: A beautiful, gentle, reflective new single by the New Zealand experimental indie-pop band referencing the US east coast Maine to Miami interstate road about homesickness and more, heralding the new album No Love Lost to Kindness, out on 30 January, out on Nettwerk Music

Dec 22, 2025
Deadletter - To The Brim.jpeg
Dec 19, 2025
Song of the Day: DEADLETTER - To The Brim
Dec 19, 2025

Song of the Day: A moody, mysterious minute-long intro with gentle bursts of brass and woodwind veils what becomes a punchy new lead single by the Leeds post-punk band heralding their second LP - Existence is Bliss out on 27 February via SO Recordings

Dec 19, 2025
Greentea Peng - Prisoners Round.jpeg
Dec 18, 2025
Song of the Day: Greentea Peng - Prisoners Round
Dec 18, 2025

Song of the Day: Following March 2025’s acclaimed album, Tell Dem It’s Sunny, the south-east London artist (aka Aria Wells) returns with another smoky, dark, track with hues of blues, dub and soul and Portishead-esque trip-hop, focusing on the trappings and challenges of modern life

Dec 18, 2025
Kaitlyn Aurela Smith - I Miss The Way You Swim.jpg
Dec 17, 2025
Song of the Day: Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - I Miss the Way You Swim
Dec 17, 2025

Song of the Day: Beautiful modular synths and intermingling orchestral sounds ripple in this work by the American composer, performer and producer in a piece shaped by loss of someone loved, taken from an upcoming instrumental album Thoughts On The Future, out on Nettwerk Music

Dec 17, 2025
The Paper Kites - If You Go There.jpeg
Dec 16, 2025
Song of the Day: The Paper Kites - Change Of The Wind
Dec 16, 2025

Song of the Day: A beautiful, reflective number by the alternative folk-rock band from Melbourne fronted by Sam Bentley, heralding their seventh studio album If You Go There, I Hope You Find It, out on 23 January via Nettwerk Music Group

Dec 16, 2025
Courtney Marie Andrews - Valentine.jpeg
Dec 15, 2025
Song of the Day: Courtney Marie Andrews - Little Picture Of A Butterfly
Dec 15, 2025

Song of the Day: Beautiful, delicate, fluttering, eclectic, heartbreak folk and Americana by the singer-songwriter from Phoenix, Arizona, heralding her forthcoming new album, Valentine, out on 16 January via Loose Future

Dec 15, 2025
Peter Perrett - Proud To Be Self-Hating.jpeg
Dec 12, 2025
Song of the Day: Peter Perrett - PROUD TO BE SELF-HATING (irony and provocation)
Dec 12, 2025

Song of the Day: The veteran British artist, originally frontman of The Only Ones, and now with three solo albums, who actually has Jewish heritage, releases a gently powerful, nuanced, pro-Palestine acoustic number as a response to ongoing genocide by the Israeli government, out on Domino Records

Dec 12, 2025
Maddie Ashman - Jaded.jpeg
Dec 11, 2025
Song of the Day: Maddie Ashman - Jaded
Dec 11, 2025

Song of the Day: Magical, delicate, eclectic, intricate, experimental microtonal music by the London musician and singer, released alongside a longer track, In Autumn My Heart Breaks

Dec 11, 2025
Ye Vagabonds.jpeg
Dec 10, 2025
Song of the Day: Ye Vagabonds - The Flood
Dec 10, 2025

Song of the Day: Wonderfully warm, rich, lively fiddle-driven Irish folk by the award-winning band fronted by Carlow brothers Brían and Diarmuid Mac Gloinn with a heartbreaking number about the housing crisis, heralding their upcoming new album, All Tied Together, out on Rough Trade’s River Lea Recordings on 30 January

Dec 10, 2025
DBA! band.jpeg
Dec 9, 2025
Song of the Day: DBA! A Poet And A Clown
Dec 9, 2025

Song of the Day: Catchy fuzz-guitar indie rock with a swagger by the Liverpool-formed trio of Sam Warren, James Lindberg and Joshua Grant in a song described as “a confessional story of desire tangled with religious guilt”

Dec 9, 2025
Puma Blue - Croak Dream.jpeg
Dec 8, 2025
Song of the Day: Puma Blue - Croak Dream
Dec 8, 2025

Song of the Day: A dark, esoteric, mysterious and stylish title track with a hint of Radiohead and playing with the idea of knowing your future death, from the experimental indie/goth/ambient London artist Jacob Allen’s forthcoming album out on 6 February via Play It Again Sam

Dec 8, 2025

Word of the week

Featured
Kaufmann Trumpeter 1950.jpeg
Dec 24, 2025
Word of the week: bellonion (or belloneon)
Dec 24, 2025

Word of the week: It sounds like a bulbous, multi-layered peeling vegetable, but this obscure mechanical musical instrument invented in 1812 in Dresden consisted of 24 trumpets and two kettle drums and, designed to mimic the sound of a marching band, might also make your eyes water

Dec 24, 2025
Hangover.jpeg
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
Running shoes and barefoot.jpeg
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
autumn-red-leaves.jpeg
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
Fennec fox 2.jpeg
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

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