Albums

The genius of Opsi lies in the ability of Jens Carelius to capture a portrait of a man who was fascinating not only for what he did but who he was… the portrait we observe is of a man in total, complete with gifts and faults, but a man well worth knowing.

Throughout “An Evening With…” I’m struck over and again by the sheer wow factor, the spine-tingling effectiveness of this particular extraordinary musical partnership of John Renbourn & Jacqui McShee. However many albums you own by these two musicians, you’ll still need this one!

It’s been said that being happy is the death blow to artistic creation, especially as a songwriter, but Dori Freeman is ample testament that a swelling heart can produce songs every bit as good as a broken one.

With this second remarkable album, Jack Rutter has confirmed himself to be one of the foremost performers of traditional material in the British folk scene. With his voice, alongside his guitar, proving to be an equally enthralling instrument.

Few artists can so effectively use the strangeness of the old to pin down the strangeness of the new. The Fiery Margin achieves this with the vigour and surefootedness of an artist fully engaged with the world and yet never fully at peace with it.

With ‘Battlefield Dance Floor’, Show of Hands have put together one of the most cohesive, diverse and persuasive sets of their entire career and one of the most consistently adventurous collections in their catalogue.

It’s not that often that an album from an unknown quantity totally blindsides you, forcing you to listen, once, twice, thrice and more, all the better to wallow in its excellence. Such is the case with Workin’ And Dreamin’.

Sara and Kieron have been touring together for a good ten years now, and their bond is palpably close and empathic; an evening spent in their company is a treasurable experience indeed – as is this CD.

The latest from the Canadian singer-songwriter Del Barber follows his relocation from Winnipeg back to his rural Manitoba to become a farmer, a move that actually recharged his songwriting and gave him a clearer vision of what he was about.

Recorded live, Los Pirañas’s “Historia Natural” tumbles out of the speakers as an eccentric cacophony of experimentation and retroism, it has more flavours and blends than a Bogota coffee house. A potent brew indeed.

On ‘Being Myself’, Tim Edey captures the spontaneity, energy, virtuosity and emotion that we’ve come to associate with his live performances. Brilliant!

The Lost Tapes features over 20 previously unreleased recordings from Canadian folk duo Ian & Sylvia Tyson. Recorded in the 1970s, it finds them in cracking vocal form; an album that fans of the duo will doubtless be very pleased to now own.