Thomas Blake

We chat to Ruth Clinton and Cormac MacDiarmada of Poor Creature about their debut album, All Smiles Tonight. A deep dive into its making, their influences (from the Cocteau Twins to Ellen Arkbro) and more. The album feels like a new high point in the constantly evolving experimental folk scene centred around Dublin and a thoroughly modern foray into ancient musical territory. But is it folk?

On Columbia Deluxe, Fuubutsushi sound simultaneously like a bunch of musicians who have never met and a group who have been playing together for an eternity. These tracks, in a live setting, have developed a life beyond the logistical constraints of their conception. Beautiful and increasingly complex, they have become a celebration of live performance and a reminder of how music still plays a vital role in human interaction.

This month’s edition of the Ceremonial Counties tape series from Folklore Tapes features Essex and Rutland, two counties that share strong links to Britain’s Roman history. Laurel Morgan’s contribution, The Last Stand at Ambresbury, draws lines between the mythic Boudicca and modern ideas about landscape, ecology, feminism and rebellion, while guitarist and improviser Richard Chamberlain creates seven distinct pieces, each inspired by a different phase of Rutland’s history.

This Material Moment is Me Lost Me’s most personal album yet. On this new release, Newcastle-based Jayne Dent’s songwriting has become both more immediate and more accomplished, with each song existing in its own undeniable present. It’s an alarmingly good album, stormy and intense at one moment, wise and contemplative the next.

Tension, contrast and juxtaposition are words that inevitably come to mind at multiple points throughout All Smiles Tonight. Poor Creature are masters at harnessing that tension and creating soundworlds that are utterly compelling from start to finish. This is music that straddles darkness and light, and traverses the blasted terrain of loss in wholly unexpected ways, picking apart and reassembling the whole idea of folk music as it goes.

While Brìghde Chaimbeul has already established a distinctive musical voice, on Sunwise, she utilises it in new and unfettered ways; she treats experimentation and tradition with equal respect, always with an overriding sense that music is meant to be enjoyed.

Like Eric Satie in his day, Jeremiah Chiu & Marta Sofia Honer realise that intelligent, modern music doesn’t have to be brow-furrowingly serious, even when serious themes are being explored. Different Rooms is the perfect example of how quick and luminous this kind of music can be.  

Matmos evidently revel in the spark that comes from intense collaboration. It’s a spark that has remained alight for nearly thirty years and shows no sign of dimming. Metallic Life Review is, above all else, a masterly repositioning of music into the realm of physical substance, where the inanimate becomes animate, and metal’s perceived harshness and coldness is alchemised into warmth and humanity. There’s something magical about that.

For Old Time Fantasias, Joseph Allred enlisted the help of pianist Hans Chew. Before long, the project had burgeoned into what Allred calls ‘probably the most involved and densely orchestrated album I’ve made to date.’ Featuring banjo, strings, pump organ and trombones, Allred’s visionary music will carry you into an ever-changing world of dreamy American pastoralia.

David Ivar, aka Herman Dune, offers his fifteenth album, Odysseús, a testament to his open and humanistic musical philosophy. Born from a period of isolation during the pandemic, the songs blend classic Herman Dune with a profound sense of yearning. A consummate artist and a songwriter adept at hiding emotional depths in plain sight, Odysseús is another outstanding example of his work.

Ben LaMar Gay’s Yowzers is a soulful journey where tradition meets boundless creativity. Gay blends bluesy gospel, improvisational jazz, and cosmic folklore into something fresh and deeply moving. This eclectic and graceful album, built with immense detail and an even greater heart, unfolds like passing clouds, revealing new wonders with each listen.

Although the sound of Barcelona native Ferran Orriols may initially seem quite self-contained, in reality, he is well-versed in a wide variety of musical forms, and he mixes them with ease and lightness throughout Darrere els horts. Highlights include a Heron cover featuring Steve Jones and a jubilant closing title track that provides a joyous coda to one of the most unexpected triumphs of the year so far.