Nico Paulo’s voice and songs strike chords that are impossible to ignore. She goes places that have not been traversed, creating music in a genre all her own. This is merely the beginning of what will hopefully be a long and productive journey.
Stick in the Wheel have released an icy, stripped-back, harder and darker re-framing of the dystopian trad-offering, The Cuckoo, on St Tiburtius Day (14 April) – traditionally the first day cuckoos are heard.
Ulster trio TRÚ announce their forthcoming new album ‘Eternity Near’ and share their music video for their lead single ‘Long Black Veil’. The video is a small masterpiece, casting this classic song in a new contemporary light.
For their latest album Sølvstrøk, Sarah-Jane Summers & Juhani Silvola created a Chamber Orchestra, adding another dimension to their sound while maintaining the duo’s integrity. It is music that is as wonderfully performed as it is confident and generous; another masterpiece.
Drawing once more on his life on the rural farm he built in Indiana, including family, tradition and community issues, Tim Grimm charts a more internal and personal landscape on his new album The Little In-Between, that again marks him as one of America’s finest songwriters.
A standard bearer for Southern Gothic Americana noir, you don’t come to Ben de La Cour albums looking for an uplift to get you through the day, but his new album, Sweet Anhedonia, despite the comfortably numb evocation of the title, holds dark pleasures indeed.
Mike Tod’s self-titled debut is an excellent addition to the increasing interest in old time American music, both preserving its heritage and infusing it with contemporary musical relevance; I suspect and trust this is just the first committing Mike Tod’s ethnomusicological ventures to disc.
I heard ‘floral and full’ for the first time today, and for over nine minutes, I was completely transported by Brooklyn, NY-based improviser, composer, and percussionist, Lesley Mok and her chamber ensemble.
What To Do, How To Live? is the debut album from Lakiko, sung almost entirely in Bosnian using a vocal technique from the Sevdalinka tradition. The release is accompanied by a short film, Lakiko – A Hybrid Idea, directed by Manfred Borsch which premieres on Folk Radio today.
Brìghde Chaimbeul’s ‘Carry Them with Us’, is an extraordinary experience that has slowly begun to resemble a series of strange, beautiful dream-stories, told with flair, nuance and incredible technical proficiency, but more importantly, with a real sense of ambition and innovation.
Mariee Siou releases the title track of her new EP ‘Circle of Signs’, accompanied by a music video directed by the visionary multi-disciplinary artist Samantha Shay and featuring first-time actor Seraphia Behr.
Spencer Cullum’s Coin Collection 2 forms a perfect complement to the dawning of spring, offering a world of endless possibilities. He and his “nice little crowd of weirdos” have created something truly magical.
