Albums

Bears Den distilled all their fine song writing, accomplished musicianship and splendid vocals into a great performance at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow, the audience were with them all the way!

Having been to the first leg of the recording of this new UFQ Live II CD, it feels great to reconnect with this supremely talented foursome, a band that lives up to its promises.

Good music should lock your feet and jaw to the floor…Those particular objectives were achieved by Luke Sital-Singh in spectacular style at London’s Tabernacle. If you get the chance to see him, you know what to do.

Haiku Salut’s debut album Tricolore can’t be taken at face value, there are depths of colour and emotion here to set the imagination wandering (or wondering) and the spine tingling. This is an absolute gem of an album.

Willy Gantrim has scored up an impressive debut album with Alone and Adrift. A truly honest delta-blues record, loaded with the dusty sounds of the American South West and Gantrim’s Dylan-esque rusty timbre.

Aventine finds Agnes Obel in a darker, more plaintive mood following her 2010 breakthrough but all the signs point to a songwriter going from strength to strength.

Caz Forbes and Ste Moncrieff release their first studio produced album. The Green Lady highlights their skills and imagination to tease out the subtleties of meaning and melody from songs both familiar and not so well known.

Over a series of EPs Luke Sital-Singh has emerged as a star in the ascendant, his vibrant, passionate songs stir the emotions and the latest Tornados EP is something very special.

Dan Haywood’s ‘Dapple’ has a deep and symbiotic relationship with nature and place. The roots of which seem to have seeped up from the ancient ground on which he made these airy and beautifully understated recordings.

A musical flame is reignited as the Water Rats plays host to Peter Bruntnell and a cracking night is had by all. The excellent Retospective CD is overdue some serious airtime.

Glasgow-formed four-pieced Monoganon release F A M I L Y…fitting that the album has been released at this time of the year, as autumn often induces a sense of something lost as we wait for life to renew itself all over again.

John Parkes’ homespun musical journey is instantly familiar and brings him to the cusp of greatness with, the immediately likeable and richly rewarding Bleeding Edge/Distant Past.