Albums

Symbiosis sees Ross Ainslie and Ali Hutton bring their musical intuition and unity to the studio in a collection of tune sets that expertly brings their combined skills as composers, multi-instrumentalists, and arrangers to an eager audience.

The Golden Hum featured the transcendent vocal and sparse instrumentation of Brigid Mae Power, Gareth Dickson’s graceful songs and mesmerising finger-picked guitar; and event organiser Constant Follower’s début live performance.

SERA has an impressive ability to weave together strands from different genres to create songs which allow her individuality to shine through. Little Girl looks set to reach a wide audience and bring Sera the commercial success she so richly deserves.

Jim Causley could croon the phone book and it would still be worth a listen. But with this latest release he has put his pipes to much better use, setting the verses of visionary Cornish poet Jack Clemo to soaring and often profoundly moving music.

With Grammy award-winner Larry Campbell on production, The Stray Birds return with a fuller sounding album and their first fully collaborative songwriting effort. Flaming brilliant!

The Private Press is a very interesting collection of music, much of which might have been lost but for the efforts of the Tompkins Square team – Michael Klausman, Brooks Rice and Josh Rosenthal should be commended for their work in compiling both the album and its informative liner notes.

Rob heads to London’s Slaughtered Lamb for a live preview performance of Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker’s new album ‘Overnight’ due for release on Rough trade records on 14 Oct. 2016

The Honeycutters return with a follow-up to last year’s breakout ‘Me Oh My’. ‘On the Ropes’ is unquestionably one of the finest Americana albums of 2016; you really do want to be in their corner.

Ruth Keggin’s passion for bringing traditional Manx songs and melodies to a wider audience shines through on Turrys. The contemporary nuances are enriched by imaginative and uplifting musicianship from her band.

Over six years after his self-released lost classic debut, My Lovely Son returns with an album documenting a period of both apprehension and hope at a crossroads in the musician’s life. “Despite the pain of its creation, I can assure Minhas that the end result was well, well worth it. “

This is an extraordinary album: exceedingly hypnotic and strongly individual, while at the same time intensely moving, elemental and Powerful. It’s proved all too easy to fall under its spell, and I’m hooked for good, with the disc on pretty constant replay.

Much like the album’s title the songs on Emily Jane White’s latest offering share a special musical and dramatic unity, whose intimacy is sometimes quite overpowering in spite of its pervasive sense of distance and shadowy remove.