Albums

‘I’ll never write a song as good as Chuck Berry’s Maybellene,’ says Teddy Thompson when introducing these songs…but he comes oh so close, proving once again he is much more than the sum of his lineage.

Alex Rainer’s ‘Time Changes’ is a mature album which seems to meander between eras in terms of composition and lyrical style while portraying the sense that we are all transient and nothing is stable and there is nothing truer than that.

Avocet may not have been travelling that long but they are definitely travelling in the right direction. Their 2018 Borrowed Seed EP was an attention grabber and this, their first full-length album, is no different. Excellent.

A masterful, innovative, highly accomplished and persuasively entertaining work that reinforces their credentials as one of the truly pioneering acts in contemporary folk music, this is one gap you really do need to set your mind to.

We need more music like this; spontaneous, alive and affecting, The Haar, featuring Adam Summerhayes, Cormac Byrne, Murray Grainger and Molly Donnery, will take you on a journey and have you appreciating the purest of life’s pleasures. Wonderful stuff.

Lamentations, the new album from American Aquarium, is further testament to Barham’s storytelling skills as well as the painful honesty of the personal numbers; it may well be his best yet.

Having someone you can count on is of the utmost of importance these days and no one appreciates that more than M.C. Taylor and Hiss Golden Messenger. Forward, Children provides a testament to the unsung heroes who provide for our collective future.

Changing his gears and shining the spotlight on the things he believes, Mr. Alec Bowman’s I Used To Be Sad & Then I Forgot suggests, despite all the evidence to the contrary, we still need to look to find a reason to believe.

Featuring a number of guest musicians, on Cardinal in the Snow, love and loss, life and death, determination and defiance, all ripple through the songs of My Girl The River, come and immerse yourself in their waters.

A new benchmark in Lucinda Williams’ 40 years career, when it comes down to saving arseholes or good souls, the album is very clear on how the scales should be balanced.

Daphne’s Flight return with a terrific example of sisters doing it for themselves in their own ways and on their own terms, an arrival well worth breaking out the greeting banners for.

Will Pound is to be congratulated on not only capturing the essence of the traditional music of 27 countries but also producing an album that is as entertaining as it is instructive. He also demonstrates that what we hold in common is so much more than what divides us.