Albums

Will Beeley’s first album in forty years is written with dry wit and performed with a relaxed vibe. Beautifully written and performed, if Highways and Heart Attacks is your first taste of Will Beeley, you will soon be seeking out the rest of the catalogue.

It’s the water of life that gives Chip Taylor’s new album its title and the opening recollection of a time back in 1958 when that’s what he briefly did for a living. As any whiskey connoisseur will tell you, this album is a mellow, aged in the cask of life 18-year old singular malt. Sip and savour.

The simplicity and apparent effortless ease of Damien O’Reilly’s playing is highly deceptive and inevitably there’s more to his artistry that’s revealed primarily by further attentive listening to Dúchas.

Curve of Earth is an amazing album of emotional depth, scolding honesty amidst self-reflection but above all, a sharp focus on the basic truth that where there’s life there’s hope. Ohtis scoops up buckets of hope as it sails doggedly through these real-life troubled waters.

On this “difficult third album”, then, Dallahan have not only proved themselves again but have also demonstrated a thirst for musical adventure that ventures even further beyond the tried-and-tested of their earlier album experiments.

Inni-K, one of Ireland’s most exciting young musicians, delivers a boundary-pushing enigmatic and multi-faceted indie-folk record which unfolds with heartfelt songs, elements of traditional Irish music and an echo of the folk/pop heard on her acclaimed first album.

Two exceptional bands, Calexico and Iron and Wine reunite for a new album “Years to Burn”. This 8-song release is more of a collaboration than their previous effort “In the Reins,” with layers of music and stories worthy of these musical explorers.

Whether you just want to drift away in the soothing vocals and musical ambience or dig into her lyrical concerns, the album offers many rewards and, while it may confront death, it also embraces life.

The journey taken to create Daughter of Swords’ (Alexandra Sauser-Monnig of Mountain Man) ‘Dawnbreaker’ dazzles in its simplicity.  And it surprises in the ability to put a positive spin onto some of life’s heartbreaking moments.

Featuring a number of special guests including Laura-Beth Salter, Innes Watson, Mike Vass, Rosie Hood and Paul Carrack, ‘The Way is Clear’ unequivocally confirms Morris’s own must visit place on the contemporary folk scene. 

75 Dollar Bill have stitched their diverse influences together into a powerful, hypnotic sound that is as unique as it is mesmerizing. I Was Real showcases the band’s scope, imagination and raw power.

On Water, Sadgirl’s first album after five years of EPs and singles, they throw all their influences into a pot and come up with a cross-cultural blending that sounds unlike anyone else.