Folk
Track: Polly Paulusma revives the folk classic with sublime ‘ Barbary Allen ‘
Folk Singer, composer of English Literature Professor, Polly Paulusma is a force to be reckoned with. Already a highly established folk singer , Paulusma recorded her latest album ‘Invisible Man Music ‘ , a collection of traditional folk songs that influenced novelist Angela Carter, gracefully re-told by Polly Paulusma. The album is a sonic portrait readings …
Album Review: Jackie Leven – Straight Outta Caledonia…The Songs of Jackie Leven
I remember vividly the first time that I heard ‘The Sexual Loneliness of Jesus Christ’ by outsider, Scottish troubadour Jackie Leven. It was 2001 and I was totally unprepared for and utterly mesmerised by the sheer audacity of Leven’s artistic reach and the epic sweep of his lyrics and music on that track. I couldn’t …
Album Review: Otherish cast a glittering, intrigue-filled environment with their self-titled debut
Featuring a blend of Belfast and Bristol musical genes – primarily from four multi-instrumentalist’s – the first full statement from Otherish splices Pink Floyd, Radiohead, and folk elements to nourish their fermenting threads of philosophy, humanity, and fallibility. The band carry deliver these themes with deserving musical diversity and grandiosity; along with their rippling drums …
Track: Rachel Singh’s dreamy single ‘Owl Eyes’ has an ethereal and haunting beauty.
‘Owl Eyes’ from Mumbai’s Rachel Singh is a gorgeously delicate track with Singh’s voice a deliciously soft and expressive veil over a muted instrumentation, punctuated by a wind instrument with wailing cry in the distance. She has the tone and range that remind me of The Cocteau Twins’ Elizabeth Fraser: a floating ethereal aura that …
EP Review: Dan Baker’s ‘From Corner’s Quiet’ is an elegant and beautiful collection of heartbreak, despair and hope.
Dan Baker‘s single ‘Freeze Dried Coffee’ last month indicated an enigmatic and visceral power. His new EP, ‘From Corner’s Quiet’ provides a broader and even more compelling collection of deeply evocative tracks that have an ethereal beauty and presence. There is a folk-infused air to the songs, but such a description is too reductive – …
Track: Romanie’s shining ‘Stranger in my Skin’ is a reflective and contemplative ode to uncertainty and isolation, and comes off her newly announced EP ‘Little Big Steps’ due out on 13 August 2021.
Originally from Belgium, Romanie relocated to Melbourne a few years ago and found herself in the midst of the COVID pandemic and a number of lockdowns: events that can create anxiety and uncertainty for locals, feelings that can only be even more exaggerated if you are far from home. This bleeds into Roanie’s new single, …
PREMIERE: Field Guide wants to ‘Make Peace With That’, shares loved-up new song ‘Me & You’
Sometimes you uproot your life right before a global pandemic, which is to say that it was incredibly unfortunate timing for Canadian Dylan MacDonald when he did that early last year, moving to Toronto where it rapidly became clear that his only option was to focus on writing music – it was a fraught but …
Premiere: Aphra unveils an effervescent and buoyant track ‘Tide In Tide Out’ in advance of EP ‘Sticky Toffee Pudding’
We are very pleased to premiere the new track ‘Tide In Tide Out’ from Aphra. ‘Tide In Tide Out’ is a bright and effervescent track that has a folkish tinge and an aquatic, seaside feel about it – lapping waves and seagulls sounds give way to a bright pace and a muscular pop melody. The …
PREMIERE: Moira Smiley shares captivating collaborative performance video of ‘Silverlake’
In February, the Vermont-based Moira Smiley released her most recent album In Our Voices, her attempt to reconnect with the world of a capella singing from which she came – regularly performing with VOCO, their plans for a tour of the US in early 2020 were scuppered for obvious reasons. Unable to perform live for …
Album review: Alasdair Roberts og Völvur – ‘The Old Fabled River’: Scots-Norwegian sextet debut a record of correspondences, life cycles and exploratory depth
HE’S GRACED us with a very Northern European and delicious take on introspective folk since that trio of lovely albums, The Rye Bears A Poison, Daylight Saving and The Night Is Advancing as Appendix Out, beginning back in ’97; and it should come as no surprise that a man whose music arguably sounds best with …