KLOF

I head off to WOMAD tomorrow with a long list of acts to see from around the globe. As with previous years, I doubt I will be physically able to see them all and I’m sure to discover plenty of new music along the way. This year, rather than pour through a numerous list I decided to compile a more manageable Top 10 list of artists that I’m looking forward …

Lisa Knapp’s Branch of May sequel ‘The Summer Draws Near’ is available via digitally for the first time. Opting for a more pared-back approach her voice is brought to the fore highlighting her ability to balance the skills of singer and storyteller – We look forward to more tales from the May Queen.

This October sees the release of ’Plainly Mistaken’, the fourth solo album from Nathan Bowles. Listen to the mind-blowing lead-track featuring Bowles on banjo, joined by Casey Toll on bowed double bass and Rex McMurry on drums.

Iron & Wine announces new EP “Weed Garden” due August 31st via Sub Pop and shares lead track What Hurts Worse. It serves as the perfect companion piece to last years full length.

Check out this darker cover of the Rolling Stones ‘It’s All Over Now’ by five-piece band Ransom Pier who hail from Queens, New York. Hayley Harrington’s jazzy vocals nail it.

I guess that the song ‘Echoes’ is about the pain of letting go of a relationship that isn’t working. The lyrics were still forming when I came to the session, and that gives the performance a bit more immediacy and spontaneity than a song that has settled.

Featuring Jenny Sturgeon, Inge Thomson, Jason Singh, Sarah Hayes and Magnus Robb and The Sound Approach, watch the video for Northern Flyway’s ‘Curlew’ taken from their forthcoming album on Hudson Records.

The pure joy that Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard found playing together is perfectly captured on a set of newly unearthed recordings, Sing Me Back Home: The DC Tapes, 1965-1969, out September 21 on Free Dirt Records.

Watch the latest video from Los Angeles-based Thumpasaurus for their new single ‘Flamingo Song’. Without a doubt, one of the best videos I’ve seen all year. The band are currently preparing for the release of their debut album The Book Of Thump, due July 24th.

Richard Thompson is set to return with 13 Rivers on September 14 2018, via Proper Records. The 13-song set is the Grammy-nominated artist’s first self-produced album in over a decade and was recorded 100% analogue in just ten days.

Cat Power, the vocalist, songwriter, musician, and producer Chan Marshall, will release her new album Wanderer on October 5th 2018, via Domino. Watch an introduction to Wanderer.

Acclaimed folk and jazz musician Ben Somers releases his brand new album, ‘Poor Stuart’ on 7 September 2018 – heavily influenced by American, Scandinavian and English roots music, watch Ben and his String band performing the title track live.