David Kidman

I eagerly look forward to the chance to see Hoodman Blind in live performance where I’d wager they cast an intense spell. Even on the evidence of this EP, though, they impress greatly with their presence and imagination. A real discovery.

Starfall is a natural follow-up to Slow Moving Clouds debut, on which members draw inspiration from Irish and Nordic traditions. An intriguing and compelling album.

Recorded live at the Crosskeys’ Inn, the oldest thatched pub in Ireland, Irish banjo player Stevie Dunne is accompanied by Gerdy Thompson, Brian McGrath, Cyril O’Donoghue and John Joe Kelly on what is a warm album, filled with bags of enjoyment.

Vesper Sky is a new project that comprises a unique collection of songs and poems. It’s a collaboration between Yvonne Lyon, Carol Henderson and Stewart Henderson, a poet, songwriter and broadcaster whose own work has significantly influenced Yvonne’s writing over many years.

This album from fourth-generation fiddle player Gerry O’Connor is so much more than just another collection of tunes outstandingly well played. The sense of total immersion in the music-making and the joy that brings is communicated par excellence.

Away To Tintinara looks every bit a work of art in the literal sense, and audio-wise too this is one of those exemplary releases that is destined to give much lasting pleasure. Don’t hesitate in buying a copy.

Jaywalkers return with ‘Time to Save the World’. The musicianship is truly tasty: both deft and impeccable but never soulless while their togetherness and interplay is mesmerising and attention-grabbing…

At its most persuasive, Pipes succeeds in involving the receptive listener in a freshly perceived melding of tradition and ambience through an ageless environmental presentation of time-honoured piping technique; the closing pibroch, A Lament For Hope, is probably its most pure and perfect distillation.

Steve Ashley will no doubt once again find his status as a truly quintessential British singer-songwriter heartily endorsed with this latest collection of original songs. All delivered with a potent combination of lyrical poetry, delicious wit and darkly puckish humour.

The sense of pure joy and unpretentious confidence in their music-making is tremendously powerful. With fine song notes, an insightful booklet essay and archive photos, Free Dirt’s presentation of this exceptional disc is impeccable.

While the Punch Brothers embrace a melting-pot of influences on All Ashore, it always feels organically driven. It’s intimate and inclusive, and the listener feels privileged to be in on the five musicians’ private session.

Even more so than its predecessor, Shelter is a series of teasingly enigmatic meditations leaving a distinct feeling that for all Olivia’s emotional candour there’s a persistent – albeit attractive – unknowability giving an added depth to her increasingly masterful songwriting.