Mike Davies

With a line-up of international musicians, The Year of the Rat, the latest offering from Gabriel Moreno, a bilingual Gibraltarian poet and singer songwriter, has indeed given us an album of the times.

Brave Land is an otherworldly and, at times, serene album that seeps deeper into your soul with each unfolding listen; it marks Raine Hamilton as a unique voice and songwriting talent; this is quite literally a landmark achievement.

The Light At The End Of The Line is unquestionably Janis Ian’s finest work in the 47 years since ‘Between The Lines’ and, if it is indeed her recorded swan song, she bows out on an unequivocal high.

Eliza Gilkyson’s ‘Songs from the River Wind’ is an ode to simpler times, a life shaped by the love of the land…a truly wonderful evocation of the foundations of her heart and hearth that transports you to the rivers and hills it so beautifully celebrates.

Since they made their album debut back in 2010, Police Dog Hogan have been building a reputation as one of the country’s finest live bands and folk-country acts. Overground is their finest hour yet.

Mike Davies shares his Top 10 Albums of 2021 – including Katherine Priddy, Martyn Joseph, Grace Petrie, Harbottle & Jonas, Amy Speace & The Orphan Brigade, Serious Sam Barrett, John Smith and more.

While London-based Treetop Flyers stay comfortably within their established sound for their fourth album Old Habits, it is veined with affecting understated new tricks to produce a sublime experience.

There’s an affecting tenderness to Ken Pomeroy’s words and delivery that touches on emotions we can all relate to. It’ll be interesting to hear how she develops her craft over the next few years, but her lights shine brightly enough for now.

In the wake of the experience of the past two years, ‘The Beat Goes On’ is clearly an album Sean Taylor needed to make, and, as we emerge back into some sort of light, it is very much one we need to hear.

On one song, Love asks “Are you ready to be wonderful?”. “Will You Be There” clearly suggests O’Connell & Love were most certainly well-prepared.

Introspective, reflective, and, at times, steeped in memories of darkness and despair, but always reaching to take hold of the light, People in Cars is Curse of Lono’s most personal album to date and, while not as urgent as past outings, the accumulative impact is mesmerising.

As you may have gathered from the title, The Man Who Built Christmas is an early musical tinsel treat from Charlie Dore…anyone would be well-pleased to find this EP in their stocking.