Album review: From traditional folk to original songs spanning continents and centuries, this outstandingly beautiful and emotive album by the American and Italian music and life partners was recorded in lockdown in their adopted Ireland home
Read moreCaoilfhionn Rose: Truly
Caoilfhionn Rose
Album review: Sounding like a sunlit landscape of whispering grasslands, this beautiful mix of folk, jazz, ambient electronica and gentle psychedelia comes with the pure, soft, soaring voice of the Manchester singer-songwriter
Read morePeggy Seeger: First Farewell
Peggy Seeger, still brilliant at 85
Album review: With wonderful clarity of voice, thought, style and wry, worldly perspective, this 24th solo LP from the 85-year-old folk legend exudes grace, charm and humour, showing she has lost none of her magic and poignancy
Read moreBen Howard: Collections From The Whiteout
Ben Howard’s fourth LP Collections From The Whiteout
Album review: After 2018’s Noonday Dream, the British singer-songwriter returns with a collaborative LP with guitarist Aaron Dessner of the National adding other talents that help stretches his styles beyond folk into electronica and beyond
Read moreChad VanGaalen: World's Most Stressed Out Gardener
Ideas constantly sprouting: Chad VanGaalen’s latest album
Album review: An inventively eclectic homegrown release of tasty psychedelia, krautrock and folk by the Calgary songwriter and eccentric animator who uses a huge variety of instruments including his own invented lithophone
Read moreLana Del Rey: Chemtrails Over The Country Club
Ladies of the canyon … the cover of Lana Del Rey’s eighth album
Album review: Evoking big, wide landscapes with a slow, melancholic, wistful, nostalgic and semi-fictional narratives, the New York singer-songwriter’s eighth album is of uniform style and slow pace, but rich in powerfully strong melodies and memorable lines
Read moreIsrael Nash: Topaz
Israel Nash
Album review: The Texas singer-songwriter’s latest LP indeed is a gem – infused with slow country, prog rock, southern gospel-soul, the folk and ‘70s psych-rock, with more than a dash of Neil Young, slide guitar and geographical reference
Read moreValerie June - The Moon And Stars: Prescriptions For Dreamers
Valerie June
Album review: This sublime fifth album by the soul singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Memphis, Tennessee includes a guest appearance by the legendary Carla Thomas
Read moreWilliam The Conqueror: Maverick Thinker
William The Conqueror’s Maverick Thinker, their third album
Album review: The third album by the trio fronted by the Edinburgh-born singer-songwriter Ruarri Joseph is clever, catchy, bluesy, rocking and wry, filled with wistful lines, dry wit and great riffs
Read moreJane Weaver: Flock
Jane Weaver’s 11th album, Flock
Album review: The Liverpool and Widnes-raised artist returns with a mesmeric and uplifting 11th album that takes a variety of elements - electronica, psychedelia and acid folk morphing into fabulous alternative pop record that really takes flight
Read moreKaty Kirby: Cool Dry Place
Katy Kirby’s Cool Dry Place
Album review: Beautiful debut of low-key acoustic simplicity by the singer-songwriter from Texas who is now based in Nashville, with a soft, quiet voice that resonates with understated profundity
Read moreCassandra Jenkins: An Overview on Phenomenal Nature
Casandra Jenkins’s second album An Overview on Phenomenal Nature
Album review: The New York singer-songwriter’s second album is short, but serenely superb – with a soft sheen sound produced by Josh Kaufman, it’s perfectly composed with intelligent lyrics, and profound insights beautifully voiced
Read moreLael Neale: Acquainted With Night
Lael Neale’s Acquainted With Night
Album review: The folk-pop singer’s charming, melancholy LP has a rather beautiful ghostly, disembodied quality, lacking only old ‘78 vinyl crackles, but delicately gorgeous with her clear, distinctive voice, guitar and Omnichord accompaniment
Read moreBlack Country, New Road: For The First Time
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
Read moreThe Weather Station: Ignorance – album review
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
Read moreAnna B Savage: A Common Turn – album review
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
Read moreBuck Meek: Two Saviors – album review
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
Read moreJames Yorkston and The Second Hand Orchestra: Wide, Wide River – album review
Wide, Wide River
Album review: After his previous solo LP, 2019's The Route to the Harmonium, filled with experimental instruments, the Scottish singer-songwriter releases another beautiful LP of intimate, rich, wistful songs with new collaborators
Read moreSkyWay Man: The World Only Ends When You Die – album review
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
Read moreCerys Matthews, Hidden Orchestra and 10 Poets: We Are from the Sun – album review
A landscape of words and sounds: We Come From The Sun
Album review: A refreshing and inspirational release of 10 contemporary poets performing their work set to music and field recordings, including MA.Moyo, Lemn Sissay, and Adam Horovitz in collaboration put together by the singer and radio presenter
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