Albums

The images Ben Kunder lays out on Searching For The Stranger establish a songwriter who is not afraid to expose himself. The raw emotion that he displays gives us a glimpse of what it is like to be alive in a word that swings wildly from one direction to the next.

While this unapologetically no-frills and sounding true to the originals album will appeal to old-time and Black string music fans, banjo and fiddle player Jake Blount offers plenty here to engage the casual listener too.

This line sums up ‘Placebound Spirits’ perfectly – “I have found myself going back to this splendid little EP time and again, becoming utterly mesmerised by its subtle charms, strange nuances and, vitally, the gorgeous music.”

Tompkins Square’s most recent obscure delight comes in the shape of Wall Matthews, a composer, guitarist and pianist with an unusual, diverse album of music from a significantly talented musician.

Never Work is by far Kom’s most impassioned and political lyrical statement to date. Augmented by Sharratt’s superb, understated singing and musicianship, it shows just how relevant protest music is, and how much fun it can be.

City Of Love is another important forward step in Ma Polaine’s Great Decline’s musical journey and confirms their continuing upward trajectory, an album to be cherished, replete with enchanting musical treats around every corner.

Composer, musician, luthier and curator Buck Curran is a man of many talents, as No Love is Sorrow further testifies. A bewitching album that pulls the listener in many directions and exposes them to many emotions.

A set full of character, depth and textured music made with unpretentious skill and consideration, Under the Red Island Bakery is a special kind of album that doesn’t appear very often. An enduring treat that will be played to death, this one will stick to your stereo and make itself hard to forget.

Keep On Running is the debut offering from Joe Edwards who hails from Devizes in rural Wiltshire. While it’s a well-travelled path, it’s a well-played, engagingly sung and assured calling card for future progress.

Brian Ó hEadhra and Fiona MacKenzie return with Tuath…a tribute to the Gaelic Northlands and their peoples, an amalgam of their culture, their history and their mythologies. …a breath-taking and hugely enjoyable album.

Recorded at home during the lockdown, Howling at the Sun feels like the much-needed companion to a season of uncertainty and isolation: it is by turns sad, cheering and reflective, and full of the melodic inventiveness, the freshness and, ultimately, the positivity we have come to expect from Randolph’s Leap.

Steve Earle’s Ghosts of West Virginia draws on 2010’s Upper Big Branch coal mine explosion which, killing 29 miners, was one of the worst mining disasters in American history…The echoes of these ghosts haunt long after the album ends.