folk albums
Album Review: Kate Rusby – The Frost Is All Over
Kate Rusby is undoubtedly one of the big names in the recent revival of British folk helping rescue the genre from silver tankard wielding traditionalists to create a more contemporary sound and this is her third Christmas album. This time Rusby has just not delved in the songs of her South Yorkshire festive roots, but …
Album Review: Tracey Thorn – SOLO: Songs and Collaborations 1982 – 2015
Tracey Thorn has always been a part of my life, although I was a little late to the party. As a teenager I fell in love with Everything But The Girl’s huge club anthem ‘Missing’ and her Massive Attack collaboration ‘Protection’. Throughout the next few months I went to buying up their back catalogue, and …
Album Review: Richard Thompson – Still
Good grief. I’ve had this album forever and I’ve been totally unprofessional and sat on it, and sat on it, and sat on it. Why? Well firstly, because I had been hoping that it would be as good as ‘Semi-Detached Mock Tudor’, which is the best of the, er, two Richard Thompson albums that I own. …
Album Review: United Bible Studies – ‘So As To Preserve The Mystery’
In an effort to maintain a balanced sense of perspective, it is necessary to flambé ones objective juices, to periodically take a trip outside of what is often mistakenly referred to as your, “comfort zone”. United Bible Studies‘ latest release, ‘So As To Preserve The Mystery’, could be construed as one such foray. I have …
Album Review: Beirut – No No No
At its best ‘No No No’ is cheerful, breezy, spirit-lifting. But that same lightness is also what holds it back from being anything more than a solid, ultimately not-very-remarkable listen. There’s plenty here that is nice, and pleasant, and I can imagine looking out of a bay window onto autumnal parkland enjoying this record as …
Album Review: Gilmore & Roberts – Conflict Tourism
They say that folk music is the new rock and roll. Many would argue it’s also the original rock and roll. If this is the case, there shouldn’t be much doubt that award-winning duo Gilmore & Roberts are one of the young folk bands that have been leading the revival of a genre that has, …
Album Review: Small Feet – From Far Enough Away Everything Sounds Like the Ocean
From Far Enough Away Everything Sounds Like the Ocean is the debut album from Stockholm trio Small Feet, aka Simon Stalhamre (vocals/guitar) alongside Jacob Snavely (bass) and drummer Christopher Cantillo. Essentially a vehicle for Stalhamre’s songwriting, it’s been a long time coming as the bands focal figure battled demons, learning English from the TV after …
Album Review: Dar Williams – Emerald
Dar Williams’ music professes a great deal of heart; there’s little doubt for the listener that this songwriter sees and feels keenly, and wants to communicate her observations and conclusions. On her most recent release, and my first brush with her since 1996’s ‘Mortal City’, the most noticeable change is in Williams’ voice which seems to …
Album Review: 10,000 Maniacs – Twice Told Tales
‘In my Tribe’, the third album by Jamestown, New York band 10000 Maniacs released in 1987 remains in my top 50 albums of all time. The Wishing chair, their second album is in my top 100 and the MTV Unplugged sessions from 1993 still makes me shudder slightly…for the right reasons. So imagine my joy …
Album Review: Stornoway – Bonxie
Oxford four-piece Stornoway are back with a new album called ‘Bonxie’, released on 13th April through Cooking Vinyl. It’s the first of Stornoway’s albums to take the services of a producer, their previous releases being very much DIY efforts, but not DIY in quality I hasten to add. The producer in question is none other …