August 2021

Crow Flies is the forthcoming new single from Mànran and their first release since Scottish songstress Kim Carnie and guitarist Aidan Moodie joined their ranks. The single is taken from their new album ÙRAR (pronounced oo-rar), meaning ‘fresh’ or ‘flourishing’, out on 1st October.

A new film featuring music inspired by the wild and remote landscapes of Scotland is set to premiere online at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe alongside incredible live performances from Scottish composer and percussionist Oliver Cox, with award-winning Gaelic vocalist Julie Fowlis.

Alex Rex’s aphoristic approach to songwriting means that every line he writes sounds like a defining statement, but on Paradise, those statements come together (albeit in a ragged and even contradictory way) to form perhaps his most rewarding piece of work to date.

Featuring Aidan O’Rourke, Alasdair Roberts and Robin Robertson, Brìghde Chaimbeul, Rachel Newton, Joe Heaney, Lankum, John Francis Flynn, Kathryn Tickell & The Darkening, Dàimh, Tim Dennehy, Martin Simpson, Seamus Heaney & Liam O’Flynn, The Boys of the Lough, Skipper’s Alley, The Bonny Men & Rónán Ó Snodaigh.

While in Orkney, Kathryn Tickell drops in on Karen Tweed and they record a lovely performance of Lurand, a tune by Heather Woodbridge, an Orkney fiddler from North Ronaldsay. Don’t miss Kathryn Tickell and The Darkening on tour.

Lochaber based Gaelic Supergroup Dàimh have been busy…If you are looking to improve your session skills, learn some tunes and a Gaelic song then check out School of Dàimh : Home Schoolin’ via Youtube.

Martin Simpson is back on the road with a very long list of tour dates. This year also marks the 20th Anniversary of Martin’s album “The Bramble Briar”, an English folk gem if ever there was one. He has also written a new song for Hen Harrier Day titled ‘Sky …

This October sees the release of Grace Petrie’s new album Connectivity, watch her euphoric new video for Storm to Weather, “a message of hope and solidarity from the midst of chaos and separation.”

The Magic Lantern releases his new single “Blades of Grass” today. Watch the accompanying video by musician Leena Culhane which “centres around our everyday acts of finding joy in desperate times and the memories we carry with us wherever we go.”

Aidan O’Rourke’s Iorram is a truly magical listening experience, one that, for all its outward quietness, is bursting with ideas…Even without the context of the film it accompanies, this masterful document has a vividness that is almost visual in its own right.

Recorded and produced alone, Maarja Nuut’s ‘Hinged’, is an album of exploratory playfulness, enshrined in a strong original approach that’s hard to relate or compare to others. In part, this is where her strength lies…and not knowing where she will take her music next adds to that attraction.

The Teesside Troubadour Vin Garbutt who passed away in 2017 at the age of 69, is to have his autobiography published. Written in the years before his death, “this is Vin’s touching, funny and life-affirming story in his own words”. The book is available to pre-order now.

The Harbottle & Jonas Trio, featuring David Harbottle, Freya Jonas and Annie Baylis, join forces with Phil Beer for a great cover of The Grateful Dead’s ‘Black Muddy River’.

Today marks the release of Kíla frontman Rónán Ó Snodaigh’s new album Tá Go Maith. Watch him performing the first single ‘Tá’n t’Ádh Liom’ alongside Myles O’Reilly who also produced the album.