Albums

While some may call Heavy Elevator a burst of fresh air, it seems more like a gale-force wind. Hawk seems to be the man of the moment and he feels up to the task of taking music into places it hasn’t often gone before.

Katy Rose Bennett’s ‘Alone on A Hill’ is a markedly unique release, which many will consider brave. She is to be applauded for pushing boundaries and creating a truly fascinating and intriguing album.

There are rare coins indeed lurking in Spencer Cullum’s Coin Collection, the kind most people dream about but never actually find. He has a gift for merging forms and styles in ways that simply transform the musical landscape.

With their songs often providing a social commentary for our times, Winter Wilson’s latest offering, The Passing of the Storm, tackles contemporary themes head on and showcases their maturing sound. It’s an unmissable album.

Their most ambitious, densest and experimental work to date, ‘From Dreams To Dust’ may also be The Felice Brothers finest hour.

Confidently marking the beginning of a new musical path, Dori Freeman’s Ten Thousand Roses is a hugely accessible and infectious work, packed with instantly memorable melodies and hooks.

José González’s “Local Valley” treads the line between the secular and the spiritual – the ideas put forward in this album probe the corners of human consciousness while ultimately being an expression of love, peace and unity.

There was plenty of highlights at a long-overdue Walton Folk Festival featuring Gilmore & Roberts, Odette Michell, Jenn & Laura-Beth, Kim Lowings and the Greenwood, Jacob & Drinkwater and Trials of Cato. It wasn’t without its serendipitous moments.

Johnny Whalley shares his highlights from this year’s Gate to Southwell festival including Anxo Lorenzo, Spiers & Boden, Gigspanner Big Band, Talisk, The Henry Girls, Banter, Damien O’Kane and David Kosky, Tom Lewis, The Breath, Chris Wood, The Young’uns and many more.

Springtime In New York, the latest Bootleg Series from Bob Dylan covering 1980-85, proves beyond doubt that Dylan, unlike many during this period, did not lose it in the early 1980s…so much of this strong material will rise deservedly towards the top end of the Dylan canon.

Della Mae deliver a compelling set with ‘Family Reunion’. Tracing themes of both loss and hope, it’s up there with their very best. This is one get together you will really want to celebrate.

One of Serious Sam Barrett’s stated aims was to release “a proper folk record”, he has succeeded admirably. The Seeds Of Love is a top-class release, sincerely delivered with alluring vocals and exemplary music throughout.