Glenn Kimpton

Throughout ‘Uncharted’, the new album from Rachael McShane & The Cartographers, the music sounds fresh and vibrant alongside Rachael’s bright vocals. It’s perfect for spring and hugely enjoyable to listen to. And for that, we can be grateful.

Dylan Golden Aycock’s ‘No New Summers’ is a probing, mercurial piece of art that looks to expand upon the norms of the so-called American Primitive brand of instrumental guitar music…rejoice in the artists daring to challenge the norms and bringing us music to shout about.

On ‘Fits and Starts’, maverick sonic sculptors Rami Atassi & Caleb Willitz pack a tonne of creativity and ace music into barely twenty minutes. A great way to kickstart their new record label ‘Midnight Tea’.

Chris Brain’s ‘New Light’ feels like spring; from the first notes of the opening title track, there is a lightness of touch that gives the songs a sense of freshness and optimism…a deeply satisfying listen and his best work to date.

Daniel Bachman’s ‘Moving Through Light’ is a remarkable recording that turns the guitar soli genre inside out…It is a startlingly beautiful, challenging, painstaking piece of work from an artist who continues to push boundaries and create the work that means the most to him.

Inspired by the magic of collaboration and built around the philosophy of minimalism, David Grubbs’ ‘Whistle from Above’ hits so many moods and emotions that it positively demands multiple listens–a bumper crop of excellent mercurial music from an eternally fascinating artist.

With April is Passing, Virginia-based violinist and multi-instrumentalist Mike Gangloff has once again presented us with beautiful, complex, original pieces of music, another excellent example of the unique ability of this fascinating musician.

Park Jiha is a master of creating conceptual soundscapes, and ‘All Living Things’ is humbling, enchanting and sometimes quietly alarming in the starkness of its structure. It is a beautiful, inimitable creation.

Acoustic guitar badass and prolific tourer Liam Grant’s ‘Prodigal Son’ comes in like a thunderstorm, with distorted fingerpicked guitar notes hitting the speakers in a barrage of metal and wood.

In an age of ‘homogenisation and mass amnesia’, Cynefin’s ‘Shimli’ looks to the diversity of the past for answers, a role he’s well placed to comment on as a researcher and cultural historian. Beautifully presented, it is another remarkable release from this unique musician.

While Blue Lake’s ‘Weft’ may be a mini-album, it feels like a major work with the delicate, complex music drifting away after five songs and leaving us grateful for the experience and wondering where this craftsman will take us next.

Within the meticulous nature of the sound of ‘Onilu’ is a paradoxically careful abandon, and the love of the playing and bouncing off of one another shines through brightly. I’ve not come across anything quite like it.