David Kidman

Still making stylish, powerful and relevant category-defying electro-acoustic music with a keen sense of spaciousness and a supreme confidence that proves their personal chemistry is undimmed, Leo and Sonny are still a creative force to be reckoned with.

Couchville Sessions is unquestionably one of his finest collections balancing serious themes with hope-filled lyricism. It’s unbelievable that these recordings can have taken 15 years to surface, such is their total assured quality.

Gemma has an honesty of expression, a quality that’s indelibly imprinted on her vocal cords. Such Mortal Sport is highly captivating and absolutely compulsive listening.

This new EP clearly finds Said The Maiden coming of age, proudly displaying their great taste in covers and their uncanny aptitude for getting the deepest and best out of their chosen material.

Our favourite psych-folk outfit’s latest record ‘Wide Majestic Aire’, the followup to last year’s magnificent opus ‘The Sovereign Self’, takes the form of a subliminally exciting new seven-track mini-album that will not disappoint. Make sure you catch them on tour!

Round Tower Blues is one of those albums of near-perfection that both deserves your close attention and withstands close scrutiny in spite of its deceptive simplicity of expression.

From the opening track The Owl Service offer a triumph of execution against expectation if ever there was one, and a challenge that sets the bar for the remainder of the disc. Invigorating, bold, uncompromising and honest! If this is their final release then it’s a fitting one.

Brothers James and Sam Gillespie describe themselves as North Tyne troubadours – this debut album is entirely captivating and is surely destined to become one of my albums of 2016.

The album comes across vividly as a courage-of-his-convictions / labour-of-love and not in any way a showing-off / vanity exercise. It’s genuinely therapeutic, and a brilliant achievement; I’m so glad to have made its acquaintance.

Jess’s music can be deceptive in that it definitely also has hidden depths, accentuated here by the thoughtful and carefully configured instrumental backings. Like its predecessors Shine is a really delicious record, which cannot fail to please.

There’s something very special about any Archie Fisher album, and even more so when each successive disc is such a long time in coming. This, his seventh solo album, is delivered through a gentle expressiveness that through its very understatement is even more telling.

Dana Sipos’ ‘Roll Up The Night Sky’ is quite magical, slightly, subliminally hypnotic and the imagery can be quite stunning in its own calmly composed yet tenderly skewed way.