Mark Underwood

Mr Luck and Ms Doom, the fifth album by Portland-based country-soul band The Delines, demonstrates a mastery of big lounge ballads and further proves why Willy Vlautin is rightly considered one of America’s greatest songwriters and novelists.

It’s the sheer sense of enjoyment that Bonny Light Horseman have in each other’s company that is the key takeaway from tonight’s performance at The Roundhouse. As a band, their comradeship clearly runs deep.

In O Avalanche, Fionn Regan offers a quietly powerful experience. A rare voice capable of bridging vulnerability and resilience, the album is a testament to his enduring creativity and willingness to explore new territory without losing the authenticity that has always defined his music.

While Peter Bruntnell’s “Houdini and the Sucker Punch” may feature a collection of misfits and unfortunates, there are absolutely no missteps in a ten-song collection that is bound to feature on many people’s Albums of the Year for 2024.

The sixth in a series of Loose Music nights at the Betsey Trotwood pub featuring Roseanne Reid, Ollie Cook and surprise guest Will Varley provided a low-key and intimate alternative to the Glastonbury festival.

“Keep Me On Your Mind/See You Free” eclipses the already high standard of their previous two albums and demonstrates the value of genuine improvisation in popular music and the unique natural chemistry at the heart of Bonny Light Horseman.

The hugely successful theatrical production of Anaïs Mitchell’s Hadestown returns to London and this reissue of the Original Broadway Cast Recording is the next best thing to seeing the production in its entirety.

Frontier Ruckus’ ‘On the Northline’ is lifted over the minor keys as they explore the redemptive power of love and the potential for salvation when life can appear at its bleakest. A highly recommended album.

Steven Adams has already been called a national musical treasure, and on ‘Drops’, he charts a course between songs which contrast light and shade, the serious alongside the humourous. We should be grateful that some fifteen years on, he is still forging his own unique path.

Grace the Blue is the assured solo debut album from The Shee’s Olivia Ross. Given the strength of her songwriting and ability to choose a lineup of the finest backing musicians, it’s to be hoped that the wait for her sophomore release is far shorter. 

Alexander Ellis – Our Man In The Field – talks candidly about his experience of recording his latest album, Gold On The Horizon, with Tucker Martine, his approach to songwriting, the people who inspire his songs and more.

Jack Sharp, in his “post apocalyptic downer folk-rock” side project Large Plants, explores the natural world and his inner thoughts on his prickly sophomore release, The Thorn.