Albums

Kris Drever and Boo Hewerdine, both exceptional on their own, bring their collaborative skills to Last Man Standing a duo EP of song craft at its finest. With the tour just underway and the first date tonight, there will be a chance to see just how far that Kris and Boo can push this partnership. With two songwriters as good as this pairing you should make every effort to see …

Listening to These Gathered Branches, it’s hard to believe that it’s The Foxglove Trio’s debut album, such is its combined depth and breadth. Its wholeness and maturity bodes well for the band’s future.

On ‘Strange Tails’ Lord Huron has now blossomed into a full orchard of radio friendly, hugely infectious melodies and hooks, drenched in reverb and with punchy arrangements and instrumentation. This should see the band step out of the cult shadows and into the mainstream Americana spotlight.

Hailing from Glasgow, Robin Adams provides a garden of earthly delights on his latest release. The theme of the struggling artist informs much of the material – not surprising when you read of Robin’s own battles. Evocative at times of the vocals of John Martyn and the guitar work of Bert Jansch.

On Good Friday evening a fairly typical looking folk audience is filling the old malt room at the Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal to near capacity. But they’re waiting for anything but a typical folk band. Whilst 11-piece bands are not so unheard of today, Feast of Fiddles have been playing for 22 years.

Sharron Kraus’ latest album draws inspiration from the Mabinogi, a medieval Welsh collection of stories. It’s a highly original collection of compositions which can be enjoyed as a folk album like any other, but which repays a much closer listening to reveal a depth of understanding of its sources which shines a light on a classic text too often overlooked when we think of the great works of literature of …

Hold You Like A Harness is the fourth album from singer-songwriter Philippe Bronchtein best known as Hip Hatchet. It’s an open and honest work, intimate in its delivery yet still capable of reaching out to larger audiences. Wonderful keening rustic Americana.

Former Young Folk Award finalists, the Jaywalkers have now been recognised with an Emerging Excellence Award and the unique musical tapestry of Weave lives up to the billing. Their unique sound mixes their love for progressive American bluegrass forms with a Lancashire hotpot of working life and social injustice.

Constant innovators and superb musicians, Lau invited Joan As Police Woman to produce the new album The Bell That Never Rang. It charts bold new frontiers. Is it the best Lau album yet? There’s absolutely no doubt about it!

Perhaps the most delicious element of Raised By Wolves is the lack of resolution. Lyrically Ritter occupies the thin line in-between pain and pleasure, the hinterland where pack animals are as comfortable together as they are alone. The album is fun, feisty and on the odd occasion, feral.

Olivia Chaney’s been acclaimed as a major talent by media and critics, and naturally expectations have run high for the eventual release of a full-length album. This is probably one of the longest-awaited debut albums in the recent history of Brit-folk. She doesn’t disappoint.

Essentially 70s shaded pop-rock with a touch of Americana, Carry Illinois’ Alabaster is filled with bright music, but the lyrics not always so. There’s enough here to provide a solid foundation on which to build.