Albums

Hieroglyphs That Tell the Tale is so wonderful that words really can’t do it justice. As nature writer Robert McFarlane once said “Language is always late for its subject. Sometimes …I just say ‘wow’”. Listen and be wowed. Her best album yet.

Kirsty Merryn arrived in London to deliver a fabulous concert at Camden’s Green Note in support of her highly regarded debut album She & I. The emotion she conveyed and her breathtaking vocals were the stars of the show.

The album’s strongest standalone tracks come in the middle, as the LP slowly builds its own sort of momentum between the lo-fi Elliot Smith sounding ‘out of your mind’ and ‘blue-red horses’. In between, ‘cradle’ has a gorgeous serenity that recalls Julie Byrne’s 2017 release Not Even Happiness.

It’s hard to think of a band that has achieved so much and made such an impact on the trad music scene in their first 3 years, as Glasgow based trio Talisk. ‘Beyond’ is the next thrilling step on that journey as they bring ever more craft and excitement to their music.

Experiencing Declan O’Rourke’s ‘Chronicles of the Great Irish Famine’ live is frankly quite unlike any other show I have ever seen. It is both completely engrossing and literally unforgettable.

In Comet, Carly Dow reclaims tales of loneliness and heartbreak: she is willing to admit when she is afraid, but proud to proclaim when she feels fearless. No stone is left unturned in this resonant ode to female independence.

As a producer, Hubbard has been attached to some of the finest Americana albums of the past decade, most recently Mary Gauthier’s Rifles and Rosary Beads. He can now add his own to that list.

Robb Johnson’s extensive 3-CD album Ordinary Giants is a monumental release. Supported by the likes of Roy Bailey, Boff Whalley, Tom Robinson, Miranda Sykes, Matthew Crampton, Phil Odgers and more, it tells of how we got to where we are today, told through the life and times of Robb’s father, Ron.

Paradise and Thorns is a rewarding and precious double album from Ashley Hutchings – ‘the single most important figure in English folk-rock’. Handsomely packaged, it’s a companion piece to his 1987 Gloucester Docks, an album that told a very personal love story.

This album from fourth-generation fiddle player Gerry O’Connor is so much more than just another collection of tunes outstandingly well played. The sense of total immersion in the music-making and the joy that brings is communicated par excellence.

On A Problem Of Our Kind Katriona Gilmore and Jamie Roberts have produced an album capable of making you dance, cry and think. And what is more, they do it straight from the off. This album is a masterclass in songwriting.

We catch Kelly Oliver at Cranleigh Art Centre, midway through a sixteen date tour supporting her accomplished new Album “Botany Bay”. Her vocal clarity and strength were evident, and the stripped back production of the show only served to enhance this.