Albums

Recording in Nashville with Band Of Horses Lotte Mullan tells finely etched tales of heartbreak and hope on Love’s Bonfire, one of our Featured Albums of the Month, an album ablaze with superb songcraft throughout. Read our in-depth review and interview.

VIP: Very Interesting Persons takes the trawler’s approach with Findlay Napier & Boo Hewerdine dragging their net across the globe in search of characters worthy of a song. As an album it marries musicality with individuality, hits the sweet spot early and keeps giving ‘til the end.

A new name on the folk circuit, David Roberts makes his debut with the obliquely beautiful and poetic St Clears, an album inspired by a stay in the Carmarthenshire town of the same name. The album is full of references to nature, but cast in impressionistic lines that conjure a dreamy haze to wander through. A dappled musical dream that you won’t want to wake up from.

Since the current Fairport Convention line-up (Leslie, Pegg, Sanders, Nicol, Conway) came together in 1998 they’ve not put a foot wrong. Indeed, each successive album has, arguably, been better than the last. Myths And Heroes proves no exception as they set yet another high bar to be surpassed as they contemplate a follow up to coincide with their 50th anniversary.

Paul heads to Servant Jazz Quarters on a February Thursday to see relocated Canadian native Miriam Jones faithfully reproduce tracks from her latest album, ‘Between Green And Gone’.

Kristin McClement has created a debut album of gravitas and maturity which should secure her reputation as a songwriter and musician of depth and character.

The Iron and Wine Archive Series Volume No. 1 offers previously unreleased stripped back bare bones recordings. These early-day songs make them a must for any fan of Sam Beam.

Energetic and joyous, tranquil and reflective, ‘Music in Exile’ looks set to be one of the most well-balanced and optimistic records you’re likely to hear this year.

Sam Lee’s follow-up album ‘The Fade in Time’ is an impassioned album of hugely ambitious scope; a historical document that at the same time belongs firmly in the 21st century.

Canadian Michael Feuerstack is a one man music industry and The Forgettable Truth is the latest poetic bulletin in an extraordinary career and a record to harmonise head and heart.

To say the album is accomplished would belittle the talent on show and the consistency of Steve Ashley’s output over five decades. ‘This Little Game’ may just be one of his best.

James McMurtry’s latest offering ‘Complicated Game’ is unflinching in its storytelling, delivered with unembellished honesty and deep empathy, it may well prove one of the finest Americana albums of the year.