Albums

Diana Jones’ ‘Song to a Refugee’ engenders empathy with those forced to flee, while at its heart, there is a deep compassion that will stop you in your tracks.

Superbly mastered by Tony Poole, “Where Does It Hurt?” showcases the prodigious and varied talents of a singer-songwriter who deserves a much wider audience and recognition.

Michael J. Sheehy returns with his first solo album in ten years – Distance may indeed bring beauty into perspective, but I highly recommend you get up and close and intimate with this.

Taken as a whole, Sing Leaf’s ‘Not Earth’, described holds promise for other worlds. It’s up to us to find them.

While The Marriage are a musical rather than a connubial relationship featuring Kirsten Adamson and Dave Burn, this debut sounds like the dawning of a very bright future.

Crescent, the second offering from Speaker Face, is an album of pure class, indisputable elegance, compositional invention and, above all, rich emotional rewards.

Nan Shepherd’s writing has found a perfect musical equivalent in Sturgeon’s stunning new album…a work of rare beauty: to hear The Living Mountain is to hear the song of the Cairngorms.

With ‘Sowing Acorns’, Emma Langford has delivered a mature, assured and eminently listenable album, frothing with melodic charm and lyrical intrigue.

Taken as a whole, La Locura De Machuca amounts to another astounding entry in the Analog Africa catalogue. The artistic statements rendered here are joyous, enticing and a boon for the soul.

It’s a clever musician who can weave such a human image through sparse improvised playing, but Samuels is clearly one such player and this small, cohesive and unassuming album contains multitudes of such touches.

Ewan MacPherson’s ‘Norther’ is a curious and utterly beguiling beast. Released in 2008, it’s a self-assured and impressively produced debut that takes you back to the roots revival of the mid-2000s.

Tired of the same old? Then Gap In The Fence from Scotland’s Tom Houston will bring refreshingly welcome rays of musical sunshine into your life.