Albums

Bridge Carols, the new project from Portland, OR friends Laura Gibson and Ethan Rose, began as a conversation of mutual appreciation and curiosity – a shared desire to challenge old ways of working. Ethan had mostly distanced his music from words, while Laura had often felt bound by them.

The official release of Valgeir Sigurdsson’s Draumalandið (Dreamland) is today! This is an original-soundtrack album from the film Dreamland, with music written for a + 20 piece chamber ensemble and electronics. The recording features Nico Muhly (arrangements, piano, celesta, harmonium), Sam Amidon (vocals, banjo, guitar) Ben Frost (electronics),

Tune Yards caught my attention a while back when 4AD released a video of Meril Garbus performing in studio. I’m not going to post it again…but I was hunting around the net to find out what Tune Yards had been up to and came across this live footage at Cargo this week.

An explorer, ecologist, and folk hero, Jonathan Meiburg is the Jacques Cousteau of indie-rock. A former graduate student with a specialty in geography and ornithology, the Shearwater frontman named both his Austin, Texas-based band and their critically-acclaimed 2008 album Rook after types of birds, and his gorgeously pastoral music examines nature with a scientist’s eye.

The long-awaited second album from Breabach titled The Desperate Battle of the Birds is due for release on 22nd March. Breabach caught the attention of Folk Radio UK and many celtic folk music fans back in 2007 with release of their debut album “The Big Spree”. They had a very clear Scottish stamp on their work thanks to a great line-up as well as a double bagpipes.

The artwork for Salamander greets you with a vibrant warmth: a glowing and alluring amalgam of reds and oranges that is both classy and intense. It is therefore the perfect visual embodiment of the aural splendour that awaits the listener, for the music presented on Salamander is all of these things… and so much more.

Midlake have just released their third album The Courage of Others which has already been primed by Mojo as possibly the album of the year. They have spent the last three years making this album which has led them on a musical journey they have never been on before. They have discovered Fairport, Steeleye Span and ’70s British Folk, all of which has been an influence on this album.

To the opening strains of Sheema Mukerjhee’s sitar joined by Mr Carthy’s trademark guitar the Imagined Village cross fertilisation of different cultures continues apace with a clever re-interpretation of the ballad “My Son John” utilising a more chilling, modern ‘take’ on the song’s powerful anti-war

In the music of Mike Edel, listeners are gently brought into contact with what it means to be a human being. Born in rural Alberta with a constantly reflective mind, adventurous spirit, and compassionate heart, his honest lyrics poignantly and humanly wrestle with such universal themes as lost love, fear,

From the first, Curtis Harvey’s solo debut reveals itself as quite a departure for the man best known until now as the prodigious multi-instrumentalist behind Rex (Southern) and Pullman (Thrill Jockey).

Megan Henwood was a winner of the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Awards 2009. She has just released a single which we have the pleasure of adding to our Roots stream here on Folk Radio UK. There is a purity about Megan’s singing that falls outside of genre tags. She is simply a great singer songwriter with a fantastic voice.

First Aid Kit are young swedish sisters, Johanna and Klara Soderberg. They came to the attention of the public following a very innocent tribute to Fleet Foxes. After seeing Fleet Foxes perform in Sweden that weekend they felt inspired and went into the forest to record a cover of “Tiger Mountain Peasant Song”.