Helen Gregory
Helen Gregory
Grew up in the foothills of the Misty Mountains in North Wales before packing my spotted hanky on a stick and moving to London. Music fan since forever, contributor at FRUK since 2013.
There’s no doubt that Emily Portman has, with a little help from her friends, created and curated a dazzling display of writing and musicianship, but the real success of Coracle lies in the balancing of many seemingly disparate aspects to create an intensely luminous collection of songs whose articulate lyrics, virtuoso performances and intricate arrangements never overshadow the very real humanity which is at the heart of it all.
The Wooden House places Holly Lerski’s songwriting at the centre and it’s this focus which is the album’s real strength. To be able to look beyond the surfaces of everyday concerns and find new insights may seem a small thing, but it’s a rare skill which should get a big thumbs-up from anyone with a penchant for a finely-turned phrase, something which Holly Lerski has in abundance.
It’s been a long time coming, but ‘Boy In A Boat’ is a fine record, which combines literate songwriting and top class musicianship with high production values and painstaking attention to detail. The result is an album of which Barry Kerr can be justifiably proud; one which more than holds its own with the big names of the contemporary Celtic music scene.
We’re not even halfway through the year but we’ve already seen a number of astonishingly high quality records from many quarters; even so, Murmurs stands head and shoulders against much of this extraordinarily stiff competition. By anybody’s standards it’s a top-notch album by three of our best musicians and, if there’s any justice in this world, will soon find its way into the collections of all self-respecting fans of folk …
Theming an album around a book as intense as The Bell Jar was never going to be an easy task but to her credit, Kathryn Williams has brought great sensitivity and empathy to her writing of the nine songs on Hypoxia. The result is a fine collection of contemporary folk songs which can be enjoyed at face value but which, on deeper listening, reveal an intelligent and thoughtful reevaluation of …
22 Strings finds Seckou Keita at the top of his game in a never less than compelling collection which draws together many threads: musings on identity, place, history, of music viewed through the lenses of past and present. An absorbing document of his inner search for answers to some of the essential questions of existence, filtered through his deep respect for tradition while facing the future with an irrepressible positivity.
Sharron Kraus’ latest album draws inspiration from the Mabinogi, a medieval Welsh collection of stories. It’s a highly original collection of compositions which can be enjoyed as a folk album like any other, but which repays a much closer listening to reveal a depth of understanding of its sources which shines a light on a classic text too often overlooked when we think of the great works of literature of …