Sarah Louise: Earth and its Contents
Originally, this new album from experimentalist Sarah Louise (interviewed here) was created to be used as a soundtrack for animator Nick Crockett’s amazing new Appalachian industry themed Fire Underground project… In troubled times such as these, music is one of the most powerful remedies and I have considered Sarah Louise’s output as some of the most effective and therapeutic material I have heard. It can be soothing but often challenging, with her earlier albums featuring original twelve-string guitar tunings and unusual playing techniques and her more recent music experimenting more with guitar effects and recording techniques, all while remaining organic in spirit and always close to and considering nature…another rich, intelligent and resilient album from, for me, one of the most hard-working, aware and important composers and performers we have. Relish this music at this time and let it help you consider things in different ways.
Serious Child: Time in the Trees
…an album which should get us all thinking about our relationship with the natural world amid the clutter of the electronic jungle that can monopolise our attention. Appropriately, ‘Time In The Trees’ is set to be released to coincide with the Spring Equinox. It’s an album that reveals so much more than you may initially be ready for, making it ripe for repeated listening. I hope its message resonates during the loveliest season when we all begin to step back out and breathe in the fresh spring air.
Seth Lakeman: A Pilgrim’s Tale
‘If you’d never heard anything about the Mayflower and the birth of the modern USA these words and music could be your primer,’ explains Seth. And he’s absolutely right. The album condenses the story with purpose and vigour. But it also tantalizes, leaving stories unresolved and details to uncover.
Based on extensive research, the journey has certainly energised Seth and resulted in a powerful and poignant song cycle. Of course, it’s not possible to tell the whole story in a dozen songs, but what it does do is bring to life a world-changing historical event with economy, skill and subtlety.
For me, it has started a journey where I want to know more about this pivotal event in history – an ocean adventure that made waves which still carry the course history forward to this day. And there’s no better place to start your voyage than here.
Shiran: Glsah Sanaanea with Shiran
Not only is this a great album, it is also an important one. Raised in Israel, Shiran knows that her Yemeni background, her heritage is important, to her and the wider world. Her songs are both in Arabic and Hebrew, and she sees no boundaries in her art. She’s a powerful female voice in the contemporary Arabic world and her Yemeni and Iraqi heritage are reflected in the players on the album who come from across Israel and the Arabic world. Given that when most of us in the West consider the Middle East as a place in turmoil and particularly Yemen as a country where all hope had left a long time ago, perhaps we can take some solace from the fact that performers like Shiran are bringing people together to celebrate their shared heritage and not further divide their perceived differences.
I do more than encourage you to listen to this. Grab it. Excellent.
Shirley Collins: Heart’s Ease
Shirley Collins has always had a playful side, a lightness of touch that balances out some of the more serious ground covered by her material, and this is still the case on Heart’s Ease. The final two songs are a brisk morris tune from the south of England (Orange In Bloom) and a thrilling experimental finale called Crowlink, which builds up an uncanny patchwork of field recordings and dark drones (courtesy of Ossian Brown’s hurdy-gurdy) before Collins’ voice filters back in, singing snatches of song from earlier in the album as gulls cry overhead and waves crash. It is an audacious piece, but somehow Collins’ presence makes it fit perfectly with what has gone before. It seems rooted in her home county of Sussex, the place that helped to form her distinctive voice, but it is also universal and provides a tantalising glimpse of what may still be to come in this long and outstanding musical career. But for now, we have Heart’s Ease, an album even better than its predecessor, an album as good as folk music gets.
Shooglenifty: Acid Croft Vol 9
Eilidh has brought with her a freshness and vitality that perfectly matches and amplifies the Shooglenifty vibe, while the pairing of her fiddle with Ewan’s mandolin and banjo is producing tunes that are pure joy. Plus, even though it’s five years since Kaela joined, we’re still discovering just how much her voice and personality adds to the band. When Garry was asked how he felt about the new album, his response was “It feels very much like another first album. It’s got life in it… and enthusiasm and love that our first album had. So, it’s like a new start, it’s great.” Does that help make sense of the album title? Not really, but I guess that’s just the Shoogle way. The thought of Shooglenifty heading out on a new start brings a warm glow and, having heard its first fruits, I know the magic is brighter than ever. I can look forward to many more tunes that will get the family dancing around the kitchen. With song firmly embedded in the repertoire, they’re even including pauses to catch breath and appreciate the beauty of the Gaelic oral tradition, a tradition presented with that special Shooglenifty twist.
Sidi Touré: Afrik Toun Mé
The resultant eight songs on Afrik Toun Mé, which translates as ‘Africa Must Unite’ are sparse, but ultimately engaging, things of great beauty, which “blend parables and tales of inspiration that honor courage and resilience in the face of trial and tragedy”.
Afrik Toun Mé is a passionate recording, intimate in the sense that one can imagine listening to the trio playing live around a desert campfire, but at the same time complex in its sonic palette. The vocal structures, the dynamism of the textures and utterly compelling rhythms produce an alchemy all of their own.
Siobhan Miller: All Is Not Forgotten
With three solo albums, and three MG Alba Scots Trad Music Award wins to go along with them, the expectations for Siobhan Miller’s All Is Not Forgotten couldn’t be much higher.
It is a perfect antidote for these unsettled times. She brings out the best in a musical landscape, from traditional to modern. Along the way, we all share the experiences that help us weather the sorrows and the joys life offers.
Skipper’s Alley: The Oul Fip (Physical release)
Part of the ever-changing Dublin folk scene, Skipper’s Alley take the old, the traditional, and move it on to suit the current and by turn, the times ahead. All in all, a great album – a great collection of tunes, not limited in style or type, and full of invention, excitement and tradition. It will be interesting to see where Skipper’s Alley take us next. Excellent.
Soundwalk Collective with Patti Smith – Peradam
It is not the end. It becomes what you want. Now you have taken that journey, you know some of it, filled with memories and impressions, the seen and the unseen. What is visible and what is invisible? Are you able, willing, to see the peradam? You will go back and listen again, and again. You will take it with you. In your ears? Perhaps? In your head? Yes. Once heard you will want to hear it again. But beware. There is no correct interpretation. There is no answer. It is what you make of it. As Smith, herself says “In the end, it goes out into the world and becomes whatever it becomes”. It is not what it is, it is what it does. It could be the place where you are, the place where you have to begin.
Intriguing; absorbing; excellent.