Albums

Winner of International Artist of the Year at the 2018 UK Americana Awards, Courtney Marie Andrews’ follow up to ‘Honest Life’ has arrived with high expectations. From the opening of ‘May Your Kindness Remain’, there’s no doubt that expectations have not only been met but also surpassed.

Dungeness provides further persuasive evidence of Trembling Bells’s ever-broadening evolutionary (and revolutionary) scope of their music. They are still very much a force to be reckoned with, of that let me leave you in no doubt.

Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman have steadily grown in reputation and admiration and they have reached a peak with Personae, a fine and accessible album on the surface but built on firm foundations of skilful songwriting, world-class arrangements and performances underneath.

What is so impressive about this release is the level of immersive intimacy that the quintet achieves in a live setting. Only the audience appreciation at the end of each track reminds you that they aren’t playing just for you. This is music deeply rooted in its time and in its space yet played without borders – and it’s all the better for it.

While Alasdair Roberts throws a curve ball with the arrangements on his latest offering, aided by Amble Skuse & David McGuinness he places vocals and song firmly in the foreground. What News offers a set of minimalist music and vocal clarity that is starkly beautiful in all its boldness.

Norwegian singer and songwriter Torgeir Waldemar’s latest offering ‘Jamais Vu’ contains slices of sonic beauty – this is high-class music that certainly deserves a wider audience.

Its charm lies in its easy, intimate delivery; its low-fi approach; and an engaging sense of humanity that comes from someone just playing what matters to them simply because it matters to them.

Sweet Unknown finds Erika Wennerstrom of ‘Heatless Bastards’ letting loose with confidence and conviction. It’s a big piece of work that isn’t the easiest to digest in one hit, but it absolutely works and will undoubtedly weave its spell before long.

Throughout, Faeland exhibit a soft, measured assurance in the performances and a rich, inviting warmth in the production. All My Swim is a debut that does far more than impress, it delights.

Their early work was full of frailty; now, on this album, there is a new maturity that is reflected in strength with, perhaps, more than a touch of grit. The melancholia is still there, the introspection and self-reflection survive, but the control has shifted.

Playing at The Lexington it initially looks as though she’s set to downscale, accompanied by just cello and drums, occasionally playing a 12-string guitar herself…Yet Fohr’s voice alone fills the stage, with its range of deep swoons and anguished yelps.

Majestic Halls oozes warm, honeyed southern soul and a gospel vibe that will inevitably draw comparisons to Van Morrison but there are other more country and bluesier colours to its palette, Robins wielding his brush with the mastery of a Van Gogh as he paints his musical canvas.