Albums

The songs on Shirley Collins’ ‘Crowlink’ are simultaneously ancient and new. It is an EP that can be elementally charged or unnervingly intimate but is never less than exquisite. 

Lila Tristram shares her highlights from this year’s Green Man Festival which culminated in the burning of the Green Man, the perfect ceremonial ritual to celebrate the long, long-awaited reunion of artists, fans and friends.

Calling to mind the summer of love, The Heartless Bastards’ ‘A Beautiful Life’, serves as a reminder that it’s a beautiful life and it’s one that deserves to be lived and celebrated.

Despite the difficulties and the blood sweat and tears behind this album, it holds together perfectly as a fully coherent whole. Phil Odgers’ “Ghosts of Rock n Roll’ is a wonderful record of folky pop and melancholic twang that demands your ears.

Individually, the four albums that form Blek’s Catharsis Project are each standout works, together forming a heart-swelling conceptual quartet. The finale, On Ether & Air, which is fuelled by and founded on an intermingling of loss and hope, proves a triumphant climax.

The Burner Band’s ‘Signs and Wonders’ is a bristlingly confident, musically infectious and assured debut. While they only once break the three-minute mark, they deliver by simply going in, doing the job, and getting out again with a less is more attitude.

The line-up on David Ferguson’s ‘Nashville No More’ is a testament to the respect this celebrated Nashville musician commands. This debut album is a testament to the fact he most certainly deserves it.

While Coyote Canyon is unmistakably a Rick Deitrick album that will seamlessly slip into his catalogue, there are also intriguing moods and techniques at play that give it its own identity. In short, Coyote Canyon is an altogether intriguing and rather lovely album.

The August List’s ‘Wax Cat’ is a thrilling and bizarre concoction of retro influences that’s delivered in a glorious jumble of melodic chaos. The near-collision between the myriad competing forces provides a near-perfect record.

Hailing from Yukon, The Lucky Ones deliver their own brand of bluegrass on a promising self-titled debut throughout which there’s a strong sense of family and community.

The idea behind Brooks Williams’ ‘Ghost Owl’ may have been relatively simple but the magic lies in its execution. Joined by Aaron Catlow, Ghost Owl is a thing of beauty and the barn owl has the perfect soundtrack to its twilight habits.

At the heart of Spiers & Boden’s “Fallow Ground” is the utter joy of two friends making music together. It’s a joyful, exciting, and beautifully produced release and it’s so great to have them back.