Sometimes magical things happen by accident, completely spontaneously, with no planning. A few moments into folk three-piece, Leveret’s, second set at The New Room, the lights fizzed, popped and went out. All that was left in The Wesleyan Chapel were a handful of candles, a breathless hush and three of the most remarkable, acoustic musicians.Continue reading “Leveret – The New Room – October”
Category Archives: Folk
Skipinnish – The Fleece – October
To lose one member of your band just before a tour might be considered unlucky. To lose two is just damn unfortunate. A year after Celtic folk-rockers, Skipinnish, last played The Fleece they return with a line up with a couple of holes in it. Singer Norrie MacIver is off on paternity leave while ArchieContinue reading “Skipinnish – The Fleece – October”
Cinder Well – Cafe Kino – September
Storytellers need contrast. There needs to be hope in the hurt and light in the dark. There needs to be warmth in the iciest of places. Amelia Baker is dark-folk singer songwriter Cinder Well and contrast was all around her in Bristol’s Cafe Kino. For an artist that is able to conjure the most barren,Continue reading “Cinder Well – Cafe Kino – September”
The Endless Coloured Ways – The Songs of Nick Drake
Sometimes you need to re-evaluate. Sometimes you need to wonder whether those music snobs, the geeks, the nerds, are right. Sometimes you need to question the orthodoxies. Is it really true that The Byrds are better than The Beatles? Is it really true that Martin Carthy is the most important singer of the twentieth century?Continue reading “The Endless Coloured Ways – The Songs of Nick Drake”
Milkweed – The Mound People
There should be a name for that sensation when, as a child, you nagged away at a loose tooth no matter how much it hurt. When you welcomed the pain. When the discomfort was addictive. If there were a name for such a thing you would be able to attach it to this cassette/download onlyContinue reading “Milkweed – The Mound People”
Morvran – EP
It’s amazing quite how transportive four tracks of beautiful instrumental music can be, really. Plymouth’s Morvran take two instruments – a bouzouki and a violin – and use them to fashion a Celtic-powered vehicle, one that’s able to convey the listeners from the bottom of the British Isles, via France, then right to the topContinue reading “Morvran – EP”
Jim Ghedi & Toby Hay – Jim Ghedi & Toby Hay
There are times, when writing about English folk music, that it’s difficult not to reach for the clichés. Difficult not to dutifully witter on about birdsong, things that swoop and soar, music that looks back to the old whilst looking forward. It’s difficult not wax poetic about every squeak of a string, every hushed pause. Continue reading “Jim Ghedi & Toby Hay – Jim Ghedi & Toby Hay”
Cinderwell – Cadence
Even as the sunshine attempts to peek out from the Springtime clouds, there is still a chill in the air, there is still darkness in the light. If there is a perfect time to listen to Cinderwell’s third album then late April/early May is surely it. Amelia Baker’s experimental folk project is a thing ofContinue reading “Cinderwell – Cadence”
The Langan Band – Plights O’ Sheep
Is there anything more tedious than the cliché, “good things come to those who wait”? Is it just an excuse to sit on your hands? A charter for the meek? Maybe, but it is also, in the case of the new album from Scottish whirlwind The Langan Band, very true indeed. Ten years on fromContinue reading “The Langan Band – Plights O’ Sheep”
Imar – Awakening
Even the sleepiest amongst us have probably noticed that quite a lot has happened over the last five years. Not quite pestilence, famine and flood but pretty close. Basically, it’s been a pretty depressing time since 2018; too many idiots and too much idiocy. Listening to the latest Ímar album, Awakening, it’s blindingly obvious what’sContinue reading “Imar – Awakening”
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