Song of the Day: ‘I’ll get your mother’. A beautiful, melancholy but drily humorous number by the Bristol-based Glaswegian singer-songwriter Paul Tierney about the limits of connection with parents on the habitually awkward telephone call home
Read moreSong of the Day: Billie Marten - Garden of Eden
Billie Marten’s new LP, Flora Fauna
Song of the Day: With intimate, hushed voice and sound, particularly in the verse section that echoes Fiona Apple and Billie Eilish, this beautiful metaphorical single by the British singer-songwriter from Ripon in North Yorkshire comes from her new LP, Flora Fauna
Read moreBob Dylan: My Own Version of You
Song of the Day: This remarkable number from Bob’s 2020 album Rough And Rowdy Ways plays with the idea of the many ways to perceive and be perceived, parodying his various personas with the Frankenstein metaphor
Read moreKama Vardi: Under The Sun
Kama Vardi. Photograph: Goni Riskin
Song of the Day: Sunny but bittersweet, this new folk-pop song infused with French new-wave is by the Tel Aviv-based singer-songwriter, with a theme based on the idea that while you may find love and a home, it could also cause others suffering
Read moreSufjan Stevens: America / My Rajneesh
The cover of Sufjan Stevens’ 12-minute single
Song of the Day: After Janelle Monáe’s democracy-themed Turntables, two extraordinary new songs by the American singer-songwriter from his forthcoming album The Ascension, the first described as "a protest song against the sickness of American culture”
Read moreThis Is The Kit – This Is What You Did
This Is The Kit’s new single, taken from the forthcoming album Off Off On out on Rough Trade
Song of the Day: Wonderfully sprightly acoustic new single by the band fronted by British artist Kate Staples. The finger-picked banjo and clever lyrical structure captures a growing feeling of panic and directionless blame
Read moreAstral Swans: Bird Songs
Astral Swans’ new single
Song of the Day: Fowl play? A bright, beautifully catchy number of darkly humorous self-loathing and paranoia, the Canadian artist imagining being mocked by local birdlife, all inspired by a wintertime walk through Amsterdam’s Vondelpark
Read moreLaura Veirs – I Was A Fool
Laura Veirs - achingly beautiful response to heartbreak
Song of the Day: Following Brigid Dawson’s track, The Fool, a recent, hauntingly beautiful but powerful heartbreak track from the American singer-songwriter about her split from husband and producer Tucker Martine
Read moreJeffrey Lewis – Chillin' In The East Vill
The ever sharp and prolific Jeffrey Lewis
Song of the Day: Who better, and who indeed has written such a nailed-on brilliant song about coronavirus lockdown than the super-sharp lyricist, prolific songwriter and comic book artist from New York’s Lower East Village?
Read moreClémentine March – Le Continent
Cover of Clémentine March’s new album
Song of the Day: Both fresh and yet retro, this beautifully shuffling number by the London-based French singer-songwriter is ‘a personal account of a traveller who is trying to find her way everywhere in an uncertain world’
Read moreNadia Reid – Get The Devil Out
Nadia Reid
Song of the Day: Starkly beautiful new work from the New Zealander singer-songwriter from her forthcoming album, Out of My Province, is a viscerally powerful song about coming out of a troubled relationship and reclaiming her younger self
Read morePictish Trail – Slow Memories / No Turning Back
The Pictish Trail, aka Johnny Lynch, in thumb form
Song of the Day: Following Islet, more from Fire Records with some new work of otherworldly beauty from the artist also known as Johnny Lynch, electronica folk musician and resident on the Inner Hebridean island of Eigg
Read moreMarry Waterson and Emily Barker – Little Hits of Dopamine
Cover of Marry Waterson & Emily Barker’s 2019 album, A Window To Other Ways
Song of the Day: A quirky, beautiful reminder that endless scrolling is secondary to real love, in the form of folky, analogue, acoustic duet between from a member of the Waterson-Knight-Carthy clan and the the Australian singer
Read moreDana Gavanski – Catch / One By One
Dana Gavanski
Song of the Day: Two beautifully paced songs by the Toronto singer-songwriter who has a style that transcends styles and eras, reminiscent of Joan Baez and Cate Le Bon, but with her her own particular maturity and stillness
Read moreDaniel Johnston – The Story Of An Artist / An Idiot's End / True Love Will Find You In The End
Daniel Johnston: 1961 -2019
Song of the Day: A short tribute to the recently departed 58-year-old American singer-songwriter. Eccentric, troubled, mentally fragile, his emotional, vulnerable style helped created songs of lo-fi, acoustic, quirky, rough-edged beauty
Read moreThe Futureheads – Jekyll
The Futureheads release their first album in seven years
Song of the Day: “I remember a fight in school. I was horrified. The evil grins and suffering burnt into my mind. And it left a scar.” Powerful lines about modern masculinity repression and more from the Sunderland band’s first track for seven years
Read moreD-day anniversary song special: Jim Radford, Iron Maiden, Joe Strummer
D-day – 6 June 1944
Song of the Day: To mark the 75th anniversary of the D-day landings in Normandy, three songs of contrasting styles, beginning with one by Hull-born 90-year D-day veteran, old folk singer and peace campaigner
Read moreShana Cleveland – Night Of The Worm Moon / Face Of The Sun
Shana Cleveland
Song of the Day: After John Myrtle’s slug song, a different take on a slimy earth creature, and in a another style, an exquisite title track and first single, by the lead singer of Los Angeles psych band La Luz, from her 2019 solo album
Read moreMichael Chapman – It's Too Late / Rainmaker
Michael Chapman - still going strong with a flawless technique and a no-nonsense tenderness
Song of the Day: A pair of songs that bookend the remarkable and prolific career of the great, influential folk guitarist-singer from Leeds, from his debut album of 1969, Rainmaker, to his latest in 2019, True North
Read moreDavey Graham – Neighbour Neighbour
Davey Graham, originally spelled Davy
Song of the Day: After the ‘fuss and fight’ of the Paragons and later Massive Attack on Man Next Door, and reverse of perspective from the neighbour making the noise, in a powerful version by the great and underrated English folk guitarist and singer
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