Albums

Linking to their last album, Edward II’s Dancing Tunes nods to the shared hardships of communities some 4000 miles apart but, more importantly, the resolve to dance through the bad times and soak up the sun when it shines. Kick-off your shoes and lively up your own dancehall days.

Gillian Welch & David Rawlings have long been established as immaculate interpreters of old-time acoustic folk and country and this is another outstanding addition to that catalogue.

The pictures on Reekinhame, the latest offering from the prolific Kitchen Cynics, are dark but there is a gentle humour that pervades all the songs, and a lightness of touch that endears you to them…Echoes of, The Incredible String Band, Ivor Cutler and Espers at their most genteel.

Featuring a host of artists from Second Language, Drifts & Flurries is a sonically varied but thematically coherent album which at every turn is ambitious and surprising, always in tune with the wintry landscape but also with the interior landscapes of the human mind, which can be just as cold and just as beautiful.

Recorded over the course of a year in his Texas studio, Israel Nash’s ‘Topaz’ is a captivating album that runs the gamut from the personal to the political, the urgent to the dreamily laid back.

Better known for her work with Wilde Roses and the Mediaeval Baebes, Anna Tam’s debut album ‘Anchoress’ is a beautifully produced and arresting listen. Those who love traditional songs and tunes delivered with confidence and expertise won’t go wrong here. A delightful and entirely enchanting album.

Born and raised in Lombardy-speaking Rivoltano, double-bass player Roberto Cassini now calls Perthshire home. Ansema We Stand finds him combining the sounds of his homeland with Scotland, aided by the likes of Anna Massie, Ross Ainslie, Hamish Napier and Greg Lawson. It’s a musical experience that will repay a little patience with huge pleasure.

Just Behind The Creek is a wonderful testament to just how vibrant the current music scene is in the Estill Mountain region of Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia. If you like traditional Folk, Bluegrass, Blues and Mountain Music this album will bring a smile of appreciation to your face, if you don’t, then this release might just convert you.

Maverick Thinker is an uplifting and unrelenting joy that, melodically and lyrically, displays the coming of age of Ruarri Joseph. It deserves your attention.

Cedars is a beguiling and quietly astonishing piece of work, where Stuart Hyatt’s overarching vision finds its perfect counterweight in an immensely talented and varied array of musicians.

‘A Pocket Full of Acorns’ is Ninebarrow’s strongest and most ambitious album to date on which they are joined by the Ninebarrow band for an expanded sound and even some grittier moments.

Jimbo Mathus and Andrew Bird’s ‘These 13’ is the kind of effort that illustrates how traditions can be passed down from generation to generation while adding elements that continue to breathe new life into old forms.