Albums

With Orange Whip, the latest offering from Honeyfeet, fronted by flute player and singer extraordinaire Ríoghnach Connolly, you really don’t know what’s coming next but every surprise is a real delight.

Young Valley are an Americana five-piece from Jackson, Mississippi, their eponymous sophomore release augers well with its balance of ballads and more southern infused rock. One to watch for.

Kadia’s business card states that they perform, ‘Uplifting melodic folk music’ – and this fantastic young band do precisely that, and so much more besides, as ably demonstrated at this fantastic live performance.

Great art can often come from the darkest places…many of these songs were born out of very real human experience. They are musically inventive and lyrically astute documents of this experience, but more than that they offer a clearer way of understanding it, and perhaps even a way of helping to overcome its darker periods.

The Nelson Brothers are undeniably very fine songwriters and musicians – Migrant Tales leads the listener on a thoroughly enjoyable and evocative musical trip, it would be foolish not to get on board and share in their journey.

While Iona Fyfe’s tone is youthful and abundantly charming, the sense of assurance in her delivery is astonishing for someone of her tender years. “I’ll be very surprised indeed if Away From My Window doesn’t feature in the year’s best-of lists.”

On her latest album, Lions Den, Jess Vincent opens up a whole new chapter. A sense of dislocation and slightly dreamy aura pervades several of the songs, giving the album as a whole a special ambience.

Brilliant writing and no-frills singing from a veteran of the game and a band of experienced musicians and guests who leave the words and the nuanced experience coming through in the vocals and lyrics to stand in the foreground, while weaving a musical web that keeps the whole thing perfectly cohesive throughout.

Sweet Old Religion communicates genuine warmth and feel-good grooves, delivered with beautifully crafted musicianship and singing – a textbook illustration of Pharis and Jason’s delightfully handmade, homegrown music.

Kacy & Clayton are operating at a point where youth, experience, inspiration, enthusiasm, energy and talent are all combining to work together in the creation of something new and stimulating.

…let me tell you that this is an excellent first album. It is melancholia but in the tradition of British folk music that leaves you feeling good. The music does not impose itself, it laps around you, encourages you to become immersed and wants you to explore the words.

The fire and fury and commitment of Planxty as a hell of a performing unit is there in full force. Live sets are by their nature usually best aimed at the converted, but for someone outside of the established Planxty fan-base One Night In Bremen certainly steers closer into the “worth acquiring” category than the majority of live releases.