Albums

Martin Simpson’s ‘Trails and Tribulations’ is a classy, elegant and very confident set that doffs its cap to some top-drawer contributions from some of the country’s very best musician’s and that also benefits from an engineer and producer in mean form.

While no means a typical Bella Hardy album, many will adore the fusion of cultures, traditions and musical styles that populate Eternal Springs, it is a beautiful recording.

Multi-platinum and 7-time Grammy nominated singer-songwriter Joan Osborne offers up her interpretations of material spanning Bob Dylan’s oeuvre from the early classics to more recent material.

On David Rawlings latest offering, Poor David’s Almanack, there is a sense of playfulness that is as welcome as it is irresistible. An uplifting, gentle and hugely enjoyable record.

Double albums can often be an overindulgence with a surfeit of padding, but, a chance to show two sides to her musical sensibilities, this is well up there with the better ones.

Hoge may not be pushing any thematic or musical envelopes, but you can hear his heart beating in every track of what is a very solid and immensely listenable album.

For Beast Epic, his fourth solo release via Seattle’s Sub-Pop label, Iron & Wine returns to his introspective, confessional style with which he first made his name. It is the quieter more fragile moments that glow the brightest.

In many respects the community choir is the perfect vehicle for social commentary, they are collectivist, everyone working together with a common aim. In this regard, the Commoners Choir are at the top of their game, they excel at entertaining, provoking and engaging.

Binary is an album born in the grey area between defiance and freedom. It is a means to an end which, if you understand DiFranco’s legacy, is far greater than the sum of its parts. For her most dedicated fans, Binary will prove both gratifying and unifying. For newcomers, Ani DiFranco is at home as an enlightened voice in a collective singalong.

Joe Newberry and April Verch clearly had a great time recording ‘Going Home’ together and their enthusiasm for the material springs from the speakers, you just can’t help but be swept along on the tide.

EB=MC² is the new album from British folk legend Michael Chapman and one of Israel’s most successful singer songwriters, Ehud Banai. “A genuine piece of life captured by the flexibility of words and melody.”

Rather than collaborate on self-written material, Moorer and Lynne have come together to share the music that’s been the backdrop to their lives. In sharing with their audience the songs that each has held dear, they bring their music to new levels that an even wider audience can enjoy. Not Dark Yet was well worth the wait.