Invested with reflections and memories, Judy Collins’ Spellbound is quite literally an album of a lifetime that, spurred by a pandemic that put life on hold, has equally taken almost a lifetime to find its purpose in coming into existence. Indisputably a late career high.
Counting Down the Hours, the debut album from Rakish, a New England-based duo consisting of Maura Shawn Scanlin and Conor Hearn, is an invigorating blend of beauty and emotion that’s produced some seriously enduring music.
Ana Silvera shares an insight into ‘Halos’, the latest single from her forthcoming album ‘The Fabulist’. “…Frozen furrows of barren fields and the crows pecking and wheeling about the withered crops. The bright skirts of fog encircling black trees.”
Anaïs Mitchell’s self-titled new album draws on the past and looks to the future – quietly affecting and beguiling, delivered with quiet, introspective emotion and perfectly attuned musical arrangements.
West Wales-based band Sky Barkers are now a trio, a change that has given their music a whole new dynamic and drive, as can be heard on their new single “Beholden to None” on which they invite you into one of their regular daydreams.
Kyle Morgan’s ‘Younger at Most Everything’ is one of those gems that’s so good and so atmospheric that it stops you in your tracks. If the rest of the year continues to deliver music of this soaring standard, we could be in for a vintage twelve months.
At every turn, Big Thief exposes their willingness to experiment and create sounds that puts them in a category all their own. Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You is a stunning new collection that goes everywhere with the most impressive results.
There can be no doubt that with ‘Needle and Thread’, Dom Prag’s sophomore album, he has propelled himself straight from the “definitely one to watch” category straight to the top rank of distinctive, individual folk performers.
Watch Joshua Burnell’s new single, The Snow It Melts The Soonest. “Throughout the past five…, I’ve been searching for where I fit into the world of trad music, and where the music fits in with me. This track is the moment I have found that place.”
Drawn To The Light signals ALAW’s triumphant re-emergence from lockdown. And its strong, vital sense of togetherness is but one of the myriad of qualities that make it such an exceptional album.
The Pine Hearts expand their musical horizons and refine their newgrass sound on Lost Love Songs on which thoughtful lyrics touch on emotions to which we can all relate…well worth discovering and giving a home.
Our EP of the Week is a joint collaboration between Cinder Well and Jim Ghedi who are also on tour together through March 2022. The songs are both haunting and emotionally stirring at the same time…”it’s as if the song chose them”.
