Albums

There’s far more to Undersong than the time Salt House spent recording on the tiny Hebridean island of Berensay, with seasoned producer Andy Bell. Undersong is a highly accomplished album of wonderful music, that singles Salt House out as a trio of exceptional talent.

All On Red is the debut album from Orphan Colours (ft. members of ahab, Noah & the Whale and Danny & The Champions of The World). With a groundswell of acclaim and awareness already building, this could indeed be the start of something beautiful.

Rifles And Rosary Beads is a small selection of exceptional songs from a unique, and valuable project. In fact, remarkable really doesn’t cover it. When Mary Gauthier writes, records, performs, you expect remarkable; that’s what her music is. Rifles And Rosary Beads goes far beyond this.

Every song is an adventure on a Calexico’s new album “The Thread That Keeps Us.” You’ll find robust songwriting, finely crafted soundscapes, tight horn arrangements and sporadic explosions of layered chaos. A precious gift for difficult times.

As Greg Lawson said on the night – this was one man’s music, and it took this immense event to bring that music back to the stage. This week is the 13th anniversary of Martyn Bennett’s passing, and the music he was making 20 years ago continues to inspire today’s musicians.

What Sam Carter and Jim Moray have created with Harmonograph is fittingly detailed, truly collaborative, varied and often beautiful. It is the work of two modern masters in perfect harmony. In the world of folk and roots music, collaborations don’t get much bigger and better than this.

While not pushing any new musical frontiers, Tyler Childers does make familiar landscapes feel freshly tilled on these songs about the trials, tribulations and temptations of a hardscrabble working life.

Metatonia is Yvonne Lyon’s eighth album – a treat for both existing fans and new audiences alike, this really deserves to make her name and music much wider known.

An album that deserves to be showered with awards, a  testament to both the superb musicianship and songwriting skills of its assembled cast and the continuing relevance and durability of the world’s greatest playwright.

There’s nothing particularly musically fussy here, just the sound of two musicians in perfect synch doing what they do so well and, in the process, crafting what is sure to prove one of this year’s finest albums.

Medicine Songs is a dynamic, full-blooded reminder that, after 54 years of performing, the Canadian-born Cree singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie remains a voice that demands and needs to be heard.

Underscoring both her skill as a storyteller and her background as a musical ethnologist alongside her songwriting craft and understated, intimate and engaging vocals, if North Star was a coming of age, Carey’s third album marks her blossoming into a rich maturity.