William Patrick Owen

While Shade perhaps doesn’t quite possess the textural warmth of Paradise Valley or hypnotic pull of Dragging a Dead Deer, its greater clarity and confidence offers a glimmer of hope that is perhaps unprecedented in Harris’ previous music as Grouper.

Named after and solely played on a telyn rawn, a mediaeval Welsh harp, Rhodri Davies reimagines a land of Welsh bardic poetry and horse cults.

As the playing fades out into the lingering resonances of Machida’s steelpans, you are left with a warm sense of calm…you finish with a feeling of great focus…

LA-based experimental songwriter Julia Holter will score a screening of the classic 1920s silent film The Passion of Joan Arc in the latest commission from Opera North.

At Bush Hall, Big Thief play through their upcoming second release for 2019, Two Hands, from top to bottom. This is the first time they have played the new album in this way and many of the songs have never been played in live performances till now.

Philos, the new album from Park Jiha, creates a world not quite at ease with itself, calling for pauses and spaces to be moments of reflection, not for inaction. In this sense, it possesses a more substantial spirituality and timelessness, creating a distinct soundworld that is both heavy with memory and possibility.

‘Lunar Vortex Incantations’ is unapologetically pagan in its motifs, but in referring to such innate, almost prehistoric versions of wonder, Burnt Paw does indeed generate a sense of mystic awe.

On her latest album, Laura Cannell seeks to reveal the sounds of the universe that humans do not hear, doing so through a theory of the music of the spheres – The world is de-reified, shown up to be as transient as the experiences we have in it.

The album’s strongest standalone tracks come in the middle, as the LP slowly builds its own sort of momentum between the lo-fi Elliot Smith sounding ‘out of your mind’ and ‘blue-red horses’. In between, ‘cradle’ has a gorgeous serenity that recalls Julie Byrne’s 2017 release Not Even Happiness.

We catch up with Koichi Yamanoha, aka Grimm Grimm to talk about his new album Cliffhanger. An album that despite its gentle whimsy is a deeply endearing and emotional space to float in, an enduring space to pass the world by in.

We talk to Experimental musician Laura Cannell about her Modern Ritual project…”I now feel that I have found my place and it isn’t a fixed place, but I can bring all of my traditions, study, experience and rituals into the music, playing these pieces of wood, strings and horsehairs that haven’t changed their technology in over a thousand years.”

Stripped back to just herself on guitar and vocals and an accompanying guitarist, the HC McEntire we get on stage here is more raw and yet also more pure. Her voice is impeccable and the emotions of her lyrics feel more immediate and defined without the whole band setup.