Glenn Kimpton
Glenn Kimpton
Glenn Kimpton is a freelance writer and instrumental musician whose own playing is rooted in improvisation, drawing on nature and landscape. He specialises in reviewing experimental and traditional folk for KLOF, especially solo guitar and improvised music, and has also written for Acoustic Guitar, Guitar World and Songlines.
Sir Richard Bishop’s “Hillbilly Erotica” moves away from the gnarly aggression of “Hillbilly Ragas” into gentler territory, with mostly improvised solo guitar that ebbs and flows with sharp dexterity. The music soars with clusters of notes in places and creates space and quiet with minimal, precise picking in others — minimalist maximalism from a guitarist of remarkable prowess.
Prairiewolf’s “Zone Poems” blurs the line between studio recording and live album, its material cherry-picked from 2025 sets in Crestone and Denver, then layered, manipulated and rearranged. Each decision is discerning, the sound never overcrowded. Previously made recordings have been examined, forensically operated on and crafted into a precise, clean set of songs that captures a trio’s energy.
Kevin Coleman’s “K.C. Blues” is happy to sweep through styles and moods, bringing in experimental folk, Americana and blues over six tracks and forty minutes. Made in bedrooms and basements, it is looser and more open-ended than “Imaginary Conversations”, each musician seamlessly contributing to a coherent sound. An exciting, impressive album that rewards deep listening.
D.C Cross’s “Open Guitar (Volume Two)” documents thirteen acoustic guitar improvisations across 3.5 hours, using locations across Australia — and their ambient sounds — to add subtle texture. The constant rush of water on Rainforest Maleny, the bird calls that punctuate This Sound at Dusk (Hobbit Tree): these details allow Cross to ease up and let the natural world share the space. Complex, experienced playing; take some time and explore.
“Stash,” the second album from BCMC — the Chicago guitar-and-keys duo of Bill MacKay and Cooper Crain — pulls a range of styles from their minimalist set-up. More excitable than 2023’s “Foreign Smokes,” the musicians are happy to explore dynamically within a song. This is a generous, joyous album, brimming with life, energy and a real love of music.
“Sam Carter Sings Nic Jones,” recorded live at Celtic Connections, is a faithful, generous tribute to one of the UK’s finest folk musicians. Carter knows these songs inside out, and he delivers them with a real passion, as well as the care they deserve. It’s a record that hands the tradition on, proof that the cycle of folk music and storytelling is in good health.
MMM (Gayle Brogan, Elizabeth Still, Nick Jonah Davis) provide a fascinating, deep listening experience on “Lunistice Alignments”. The record covers a lot of sonic ground, each of the six tracks occupying a very different space and mood. Somehow sounding ancient and contemporary, light and dense: MMM ask for close attention and repay it in full.
New Mexico banjoist Johnny Bell builds “Mountain States” around the character of the five-string banjo, though his focus is far from traditional. There is unease and an underlying gravity to music that is stark, edgy and gnarly in places, with an ominous drone haunting throughout. He set out to make a modern solo banjo album, and he’s done exactly that.
On “The Anthology of UnAmerican Folk Music”, Marisa Anderson reinterprets music from places the United States has been in conflict with since 1970, drawn from Harry Smith’s private collection of nearly a thousand records. It feels like a very open-armed project and a gesture of connecting that could hardly be better timed — beautifully studied and played, and a resounding success.
On “Counting Sunsets”, out now on Northern Spy Records, the New York trio SUSS further distil their sound across ten songs, allowing plenty of space between the instrumentation. An intricate fusion of Americana ingredients and electronic soundscapes, this is their finest, most fully realised expression of “ambient country” yet — a lesson in minimalism from a band with delicate, discerning touches.
Henry Parker’s “The Dark Peak” delivers pristine, impeccably fingerpicked acoustic music recorded on the moors of the Peak District. An educated, high-end player, Parker shows a broad skillset and technical prowess throughout, without being overly flashy. With tight melodies and wonderfully evocative natural sounds permeating the songs, this mini-album is a gem.
Setting’s self-titled second studio album sees the North Carolina-based experimental trio of Nathan Bowles, Jaime Fennelly and Joe Westerlund, distilling their blend of acoustic instrumentation, cassette loops and electronics to thrilling effect. The intricate detailing and impeccable construction, along with a clear confidence across the five songs, make “Setting” their clearest expression yet — without a doubt, the perfect title.